I’ve noticed that people get really excited about words and rightly so because words can be packed with power. Radio/TV Shock-jock Don Imus used one very inappropriate word and it cost him his job. A collection of words spoken by a duly authorized person mark the dividing point between two people being single and becoming man and wife. When I was young and my father spoke my name with a certain tone, I was put on notice that my sins had found me out! Words matter…a lot!

The other day I saw a video of a guy preaching on the street. He was doing a great job of communicating the essence of the gospel using biblical language. His theology was right on. His words were clearly enunciated. He even had a friend translating what he was saying into Spanish. He was saying all the right stuff in English and I’m assuming that his friend was saying all the right stuff in Spanish. What was interesting to me was the reaction of his audience. Most looked bored. Some appeared to be watching him with the same type of curiosity that motivates people to watch shows like “Greatest Disasters Caught on Tape.” Lots of people walked by and just kept walking as if the preacher was invisible. No one appeared to be really listening to him. My first reaction was…”these people have hard hearts…they don’t have ears to hear.” But then I started to wonder if a part of their apparent indifference was because the preacher was assuming that the words he was speaking meant the same thing to his listeners as the words meant to him.

Which led me to another thought…It’s not the words that have power…it’s what they mean. A simple, perhaps obvious, but definitely profound observation. We should choose words carefully, not for the sake of the right words, but so we convey the right meaning. Spoken words are just sounds. Written words are just marks on a page. What gives them power is what they mean to the one who produces the words and what they mean to the one who receives the words. When the meaning is the same in the mind of the producer and the receiver, then good communication has taken place. When the meaning is different, then misunderstandings are created. And I’m convinced that poor communication is the root cause of most of the problems in the world. Good communicators take the time to understand the language, customs and culture of their audience so that when they begin to share powerful words of Truth, the message does not get garbled.

Here’s the application for starting a new church: don’t skip the essential step of “exegeting” your audience so you can choose the best way to convey the never changing truth of the Gospel. Learn their language (and I’m not just talking about English or Spanish or Russian), catch on to their customs and spend enough time with them so that their culture becomes visible to you. Look for “cultural metaphors” that can become handles for you to convey truth. Do all this before you say or write a word. Bathe this entire process in prayer and ask for the Holy Spirit to anoint your mind to get the words right so the meaning doesn’t get garbled.