Communicating for a Change urges preachers to choose one point and drive it home by all means possible. In an era of shortening attention spans (which, oddly enough, Stanley doesn’t agree with), preachers need to do everything they can to make one point stick. Consider this the Andy Stanley method of communication.

There is much to value here—despite the cringe-worthy pseudo-narrative about a trucker teaching a preacher how to communicate takes up the first half of the book. Stanley lays out his method of sermon preparation in seven “imperatives:”

1. Determine your goal
2. Pick a point
3. Create a map
4. Internalize the message
5. Engage the audience
6. Find your voice
7. Find some traction

This book comes of condescending at times, but it does an excellent job deconstructing the classic three-point sermon methodology and suggesting something more impactful in its place.

Stanley, Andy and Lane Jones. Communicating for a Change. Multnomah, 2006.