Post with 1 note
Several years ago my wife and I were watching American Idol. It was about half way through the season, I think there may have been 10 contestants left. We were watching as a young lady got up there and began to sing. As she sang you felt yourself being carried away by the song. After she finished the judges had very good things to say about her but she was not considered a favorite to win the competition and none of the judges spoke of her in that manner. However it was at this point that I turned to my wife and said I think she is going to win the whole thing to which my wife replied, “you really think so, I don’t think people will vote for her because she is so young.” Well that young lady was Jordin Sparks and shall we say the rest is history. Sparks went on to improve week after week and gain more followers each and every time. I think many people didn’t give her much of a chance because of her age but also because she was a little heavy, but one thing she had that the others didn’t was the ability to connect with people. When she sang you never got the feeling that she was performing but that she was singing the song from the depths of her soul and that you were the only one in the audience. That folks is the sercret to connection. To make people feel that they are special and that they are the only ones in the room when you are interacting with them. They want to know that you are sincere and compassionate and that you care for them.

I think one of the reasons so many evangelistic programs and Christians in general are ineffective at accomplishing their purpose is because they fail to connect with people. So many Christians try to “win people to the Lord”, the problem with this approach is that it views people as objects to be conquered and not as people to be loved. We have become Christian sales men and women trying to sell Christianity as if it were some product to be bought and sold.
If we truly want to impact people’s lives we must learn how to connect with them, and you can only do this by sincerely caring about them as individuals and taking the time to build a relationship with them. You must care for them enough to spend a lifetime of loving them regardless of whether they become Christians. The person who truly loves people and takes time to connect with them will discover the key to unlocking a persons heart.