Last year, I had the unique opportunity to attend a nonprofit version of Story Brand by Donald Miller.  About once a year or so, he invites churches and nonprofits to take his business course on the power of STORY in our marketing, branding, and message.

Although all of the content is really amazing, one sidebar he made during our 2nd session has stuck with me and been a part of MANY conversations lately.  It had to do with BOWLING BALLS. Here’s the context of the story.

Bowling Balls

Our brains are actively fighting us to rest. Our brains are working harder than almost any other part of our body, so when it comes to concentration and active listening - picture someone running in place. The brain is constantly looking for ways to filter, systematize, and automate what we’re listening to so that it doesn’t have to work as hard. This explains why people can zone out in the middle of an important conversation, message, or even lecture when the brain decides that it already knows what’s being talked about and takes a nap. So when Donald talks about branding, messaging, and marketing, he specifically says that EVERY SINGLE IDEA, THOUGHT, OR BOTTOM LINE is a bowling ball.  How many bowling balls can you hold? If your website has 5 main topics and decisions on the front page, each one of them is a bowling ball.  If your weekly email tries to cover 4 topics of concern, you’ve now handed someone 4 bowling balls. If your message has 10 proof text scriptures for your 3 point message that includes 2 bonus points, you’ve handed someone TOO MANY BOWLING BALLS. 

[Tweet " If your sermon has 10 proof texts with 5 points, you’ve handed someone too many bowling balls."]

For speakers, this is one of the reasons the large majority of your audience simply CAN’T remember on Monday morning what you spoke about Sunday morning.  Not only did you hand them 3-6 bowling balls, each one of them had an application which is equivalent to asking their brains to not only HOLD the bowling balls but JUGGLE THEM. 

Keep It Simple

So here’s the main point. No matter what message we are trying to communicate via sermon, email, marketing piece, or announcement - keep it SIMPLE.  Donald’s suggestion is 2 at best, no more than 3.  After you’ve handed someone 3 bowling balls, their brains are already looking for ways to dump one (if not all) of them. If you ONLY GIVE THEM 1 or 2 main ideas - chances are much higher that they will sit with that message longer and might actually take action on it. Again, this has been a part of several strategic conversations I’ve had recently with staff members, other communications, and church planters.  As pastors, leaders, and speakers - we sometimes fall for the trap that in any one moment, we need to unload a large amount of information/teaching that we can give. To use a hunting analogy, we really need to STOP THE MACHINE GUN approach to preaching and go back the art and craft of having only 1 or 2 spears in our hands to get the job done! [Tweet "Preachers - Stop the Machine Gun approach and find the art & craft of 1 or 2 Spears to get the job done."]

I personally feel that if we could picture bowling balls falling from the ceiling into people's laps on a Sunday morning, we would not only do better at clarifying the ONE MAIN IDEA of a message, but we would strategically keep the BONUS POINTS, or SIDEBAR SERMONS to a minimum and allow our people the opportunity to sit with our message longer and maybe even put it into practice. So, on average, how many “bowling balls” do you give someone to hold/juggle when you speak? In your marketing?  On your Facebook page? In your emails?