Tory Farina

Talking Tips...

On Sunday I get the profound privilege of taking words on a page and connect it with people in their everyday life. Helping people see that the Word of God is truly alive and worth our time and attention. I have learned a lot in the last four years of speaking week in week out at High Point. Here are a few of those lessons.

• Change it up... This week I preached narrative. A few weeks ago it was topically. Some weeks it is expository. I will use a great book I read once to preach out of in January and this summer am thinking about preaching through an entire book of the New Testament verse by verse. WHY? People learn in different ways. I get bored with one "style" and have to experiment and test myself. Preaching styles change over the years and If I am locked into 1 "style" then I am in big trouble because then I will not be able to make the cultural shift.
• Find your own Voice... In the beginning I used a lot of other pastors series notes to help me with my talks. I found that I had a hard time breaking out of their ideas, way of talking, grammar and phraseology. I still use peoples material to help me with ideas and content but now it is more of a complement rather than a crutch for my messages. I had to ask the question what makes me unique and note worthy as a communicator. Not in a haughty self serving kind of way, rather in a self discovery kind of way. I am funny it is a trait that I need to get more comfortable and refined in but I have to recognize it as a tool in my tool box in order to truly capitalize on it. I am a good story teller. If I am not telling stories in my talks then I am not going to be communicating at my best. This is huge and took me a long time to get comfortable with my gifts, talents and abilities but has helped me really go to the next level in my speaking.
• Practice makes perfect if you have it in you... Some people just don't have it in them and no matter how much they practice they will never be an amazing public speaker. Others just need time on "stage" to work out the kinks. Help you learn how to handle distractions, low and high crowds, bad material, too much material. The more I have been upfront the more comfortable I have become with myself. All good communication comes from the security of the speaker! When you are secure and confident people relax and trust you.
• Let it all hang out... Almost every week I feel exposed. A little embarrassed. It stems from  me letting it all out and being vulnerable with the people. I shout, cry, laugh, tease, sweat, and share truthfully out of my experience. But it makes it AUTHENTIC and I think that is a powerful element to good communication. I on purpose run along the edge of a cliff and people can feel the tension/ excitement as I do it and when I finish we all (myself included) breath a sigh of relief as we reflect on what just happened. I did this this last Sunday as I created the dramatic tension of a woman sobbing at Jesus feet. I put myself in her shoes and at one point commented about her lost innocence at a young age. Their is no way of knowing if she was actually abused at a young age but I felt the Spirit prompting me to say it in that moment and man it made me feel vulnerable as It splashed into the air and settled into peoples minds. I felt the tension in the air and knew that Because I let it out God was ministering to people.
• Let the Holy Spirit have room... I started scripting my messages so tightly that in the moment if I needed/wanted/ felt lead to add anything on the spot for specific people in the room It would get lost in the mass of material I had brought. Now I have less than 1 page of notes and those are mostly bullet points that lead me in a direction and then I let the Holy Spirit prompt me to say the meat on the bones. It feels a little strange at first to get up their without having it 100% figured out yet but I preach less and feel the quality has gone up significantly. I will often search my heart and mind for a message for that moment in that service. 1st service I felt I needed to emphasis the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to Jesus. 2nd service I didn't feel it the same way but I found out later that someone 1st service needed to hear that.  
• Learn from the best... I learned how to preach from the TV show E.R. My dad and I would watch the show all growing up and he would say, "Son watch what they are doing... notice the tension... they have you laughing in one moment and the next moment someone is dying." I read books, listen to story tellers and preachers and listen to where do they pause, laugh, cry and why do they do it that way. It all helps me when I am preaching to communicate the message of the passage I am teaching to come alive. Jesus told amazing stories and It is my mandate to fallow his lead. 
• Prep... Prep a ton personally... prep a little corporately. I used to spend 40 or more hours a week on my talk. Based on mu gifts and abilities that was overkill!!! Now I am prepping about 8-10 hours a week. I can say more in 25 minutes than a person can do all week so it is not the quantity of prep that matters it is the quality of the message I am communicating. I have found that when I prepped more for a message I substituted my corporate study for my personal enrichment. Then i had all this amazing insight that was to deep or not fully baked for Sunday Consumption. Now I am prepping more for me. Letting the Holy Spirit work a thought or idea or word through me. I am able to let my mind have space to hear from God. I think my speaking has gotten better because of it. I know my depth as a person/pastor has grown.

I take my role as lead communicator very very seriously. I love what I get to do and really enjoy seeing people come alive as I they respond to the living word of God every week.

Message on a napkin...

I am working on a new way to prep for my message. trying to get my prep down to about 5-7 hours, I do a lot more and over bake the message. Here is the mind map my wife and I created. It is our first stab at it and we did it over lunch on a piece of paper the size of a napkin. Lets see how this works. She has way better writing than I do :) Thanks Babe for your drawing. Time to throw it in www.mindmeister.com or app.spinscape.com and Bring the heat this Sunday.

Next Series

I am usually way ahead than I am now... We as a staff are usually months ahead of our series. We are working on a lot of behind the scenes work and I am only two weekends away from our new series. God speaks just as well in two weeks as he does in 12 weeks. The issue is me. Right now I am asking God... "What do you want?" "Who is this for?" "What BIG topics need to be nailed?" "Where are you leading us?"

The funny thing is I know where we are going with our January series and I feel strongly about our Easter service. OK Lord... "Show me what you desire."

Ill keep you posted but I should have it by the end of the day.

The night before a fight...

 I wonder if a boxer feels the way I feel right now. I have had my notes done since Thursday or at least 90% done. It is a topic I feel like needs to be talked about and although my experience level in the area is low my spiritual authority as the leader of the church warrants me to share from Gods word about this area. I am learning a lot personally about how to parent and am in the beginning stages of laying down the rules for little O. She is beginning to understand what NO means and what don't touch means. So we are giving her boundaries so she doesn't grow up to be a spoiled and out of control adult.

Right now I am about to re look at my notes... The ending needs work... the beginning needs refinement... I watched myself this week on video and am frustrated that I do some fo the things I do... Little things. Timing things and rabbit trails that at the time I think are valuable and Worth saying but I realize more is not better or retained. I am working to get to at most a 30 min. message. That means less than 5 pages of notes. I am at about five but need to be at about 4 pages. That is hard to do because there is a lot of good stuff to throw away.

So I am nervous. Praying for my neighbors... Wondering if this message will change someones life... Isnt that the point? I am a little agitated... I hope I sleep tonight... thinking about the visitors that will hear this and praying that they see Gods love in it.

I feel like I am preparing mentally to fight... to bob and weave... thinking about delivery and timing... processing the whole event and trying to run through how it will feel and look and be tomorrow. Saturday's are a big work day for me... most of the work happens inside of me... The lump in my throat proves that.

In a way I am going into battle tomarrow. The enemy doesnt want strong families. Each person who helps HPC with its mission is in a fight. We are going to win tomarrow! Get some rest and be prepared I feel a KO brewing.

RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT

I was challenged this Sunday. I hope you were as well. Nate talked about our role in praying down Gods blessing and Protection in other peoples lives. What a good message for us to hear. SO often we think that we are all alone in this world or we don't realize our role in someone else's life. E and I were talking about it last night and she told me a story of a person that she prayed for everyday for a year. Se said besides me this person received more of her prayer effort than anyone else has had. That person had a total heart transformation and is still over a decade later serving the Lord.

Who are you praying for? I have been taking time each night to pray a little different for Olivia. I have found myself praying prayers of protection and against the attack of the evil one. I am realizing that I need to pray for you with a deeper passion and energy. Elizabeth and I have been commissioned by God to lead this church. We are responsible ultimately for the spiritual health of the body. I have prayed for you in the past and do regularly but I have been moved for you in a deeper way. Praying for freedom from addictions, health in marriages, That you would find the right mate, That God would show up in your life, that you would reach your God given potential... I am expectant for God to do some big things this summer in High Point. Pray with me... Go deeper in God... Seek him and he will not disappoint.

I am not what I would call an intercessor... Elizabeth is and we laugh at how different each one of us approaches prayer. But I am a person of prayer... I feel that I am being challenged to go to a place in my prayer life I have not been to in a long time if ever. I feel a drawing towards fasting and seclusion from things in this world that might distract me from what God wants to do... I am challenged.

My prayer is that God would transform me and that I would grow in knowledge of Him... That I would live out the example of prayer in our home, church and life. I ask the Lord for wisdom in how to lead you and this church. I pray that he would set you free from the snares the enemy has laid out for you. I ask for His favor and pray that he would find favor in my seeking of him.

Maybe you were challenged as well... Think about next steps... Ask God to teach you how to pray as the disciples did. Be a Seeker... And Step out in action... You Can DO IT!

Chris Hodges Notes from last night!

Taking Territory - Facing Kings

April 15th, 2008 by Chris Hodges

The first night of the ARC “All Access” Conference went great! It was so good to see old friends and meet new ones from all across the country. Hats off to my team who (once again) did their job with such excellence.

Last night I shared out of Joshua 1 about the battle of church planting. When you decide to take territory (new cities and new churches), you will have to face and defeat “kings” along the way.  Joshua was only in chapter 12 (verse 9-24) and he had already faced 31 kings! 

Here are some of the “kings” I’ve had to face in the first seven years of planting our church:

• The King of Demonic Attack. My family and I are facing this “king” right now. At every major threshold of this church plant, the enemy has attacked someone in my family.

• The King of Rejection. It’s amazing how the enemy can use one negative email or letter to take away from all of the positive things that happen every week.

• The King of Loneliness. Even with people all around, there are times when you feel all alone. That’s why relationships should be intentional. We all need affirmation and accountability.

• The King of Temptation.  As blessings increase, temptation also increases.  Then comes the shame and the guilt.

• The King of Discouragement.  The first four kings will produce this one.

There are three things you can do to overcome “kings” in your life and ministry.  The first is the power of the Holy Spirit. Our battle isn’t natural - it’s supernatural and you will need the greatest tool Jesus ever gave us to plant churches - the Holy Spirit. You’ll also need to be honest with yourself, God, and others.  If you keep it in, it will destroy you.  And finally, you’ll need to humble yourself.  A man on his face can never fall from that position.