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Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Guided / Interview Testimony in Church - Part 1

Mention the idea of a testimony in church and many pastors and church leaders shudder (at least inwardly). They sometimes think back to testimony horror stories from the platform where dreadful theology or long meandering homilies overtook the worship service. Often, this was by a well-meaning layperson so nervous that they couldn’t think clearly. 
Truth be told, we’ve all inflicted weak testimonies on people whether it’s from the platform or one on one with our neighbours.
The challenges of the open-ended testimony are one of the reasons why so many churches are going to the “guided” or “interview” format. It’s not a foreign concept to anyone; we’ve all seen this format on television more times than we can count.
By leading the testimony in this interview format you break the testimony into bite sized pieces, you relieve some of the fear of the witness and you have an opportunity to guide it as far as length and theological integrity is concerned.
In order to help us all in this area, here are a few tips for both the interviewer and the interviewee.
Tips for the Interviewer:
·        Choose the appropriate posture for what you are trying to communicate: standing communicates power, sitting communicates informality. Neither is wrong in the right setting. If you are going to sit, choose a tall bar stool, not a chair. Also consider that sitting may be more comfortable for the nervous interviewee no matter what the communications ideal may be. (a standing interviewee who ends up on the floor gasping for breath is not exactly the best form of communication)
·        If possible, meet with the interviewee before the service. Walk through the general flow and some of the questions. This can often help them to gather their thoughts and to calm their nerves.
·        Try to avoid giving an exact script of the exact questions in the exact order you’ll be asking. Instead, in order to create a greater sense of spontaneity give a number of questions you may ask so they can prepare.  Then, choose from these possible questions as you go to create a sense of immediacy, personalization to the moment and flow.
·        Remember that your interview is telling a story. For more help on telling a story well, read the prior blog entry here.
·        Prepare and research in advance. Know your interviewee and the subject. This will help you to draw out important parts of the story that they may forget on the platform.
·        Introduce the interviewee from the platform. Tell a little about them but don’t give the story away. You want to entice people to listen.
·        Be you. You’re not Larry King. You’re not Jay Leno. You’re you. Don’t change your personality into some late night infomercial host. Be you.
·        Be energetic.  You may need to be the one who carries the energy in the conversation. 
·        Shut your mouth. Don’t dominate the conversation. You want to pull the best out of the interviewee. That’s done with great leading questions, great listening, great guidance and great ears!
·        Listen closely. You may be surprised by a phrase or new part of the story that you weren’t familiar with or you feel will be important to key off of. In order to do that you need to listen for these key phrases.
·        Remember that you’re in control. The interviewee has great things to say but you need to be aware of the time and the direction of the conversation.
·        Remember to focus in on one theme. The tendency will be to run down rabbit trails. Remember to bring the point home.
·        Respect the interviewee’s personal space. They may not want to disclose everything they told you in private or that you know. There may be family in the audience; they may be having a difficult day or a myriad of other reasons why they only want to go so far into the story.
·        Don’t ask multi-part questions. Ask one question at a time.
·        Look at them. While you are aware of the congregation, you want to create the sense of people listening in to a privileged conversation between two or more people. The general rule of thumb is when you introduce the interviewee you are introducing them to the congregation, when you are ending the conversation you are thanking them in front of the congregation but aside from a few comments to bring home a point it really is the two of you.
·        Thank them as you are wrapping up. This is an important gift and is not only appropriate; it encourages others to consider an interviewed testimony in the future if you want to go that way.
Stay tuned for my next blog entry on presenting a great Testimony from the interviewee perspective.  

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