Posts from — August 2008
flirtin’ with disaster
Wow… two hurricanes, two tropical depressions… yeah baby we’re flirtin’ with disaster! Sorry Molly Hatchet for rippin off your song, but it works! I’ve been part of a few productions that have been disasters in the recent past, but I haven’t been in a huge natural disaster for a couple of years… and the adrenaline is starting to pump again.
My family and friends think I’ve lost it. (again) I’m sitting here watching The Weather Channel (that’s their first clue) and cheering on the storms — Gustav heading to the Gulf, Hannah (wouldn’t it have been sweet for its name to be Hillary?) headed to the islands and then maybe Florida, and two more potential big storms in the Atlantic.
Before I get flamed, I don’t wish suffering on anyone. I have spent decades in more than 65 nations working with people who have lost everything. I covered Hurricane Katrina, the Mexico City earthquake, volcanos, typhoons, military coups, wars, I’ve worked in the largest refugee camp in the world in Peshawar Pakistan, produced live TV from a community of squatters living on the garbage dump in Manila Philippines. I’ve been shot at for being in the wrong place at the wrong time just to show the world the truth. I’ve paid for the funeral for a family in Zambia who had nothing and whose wife and mother had just died of AIDS. I’ve been at the borrowed hut of a 16 year old former slave and her two children of rape who had escaped from her Arab slavemaster to return to her homeland in South Sudan – who owned literally nothing. Even her one rag of a dress was borrowed. I still see the face of the mother in Ethiopia staring blankly into my camera lens, no tears left to cry, as she covered the lifeless body of her child with a cloth, another death of famine. I’ve been witness to unspeakable loss and suffering, and experienced great pain myself, and I wish it on no one.
But if you’ve covered hard news, been at the scene of history being made, and put true, responsible (and award-winning helps!) reporting on the air, you get itchy when big news happens and you’re not there. So, if Gustav turns nasty… my bags and HD camera are packed!
August 31, 2008 Comments Off on flirtin’ with disaster
The Lost Art of the Great Speech
August 29, 2008 8 Comments
Rules for Vacation
Summer is just about history. Labor Day — the traditional start of Autumn — is less than a week away, and I just got the jet ski registered and ready to put in the water! Good thing I have a wet suit!
We did have a great vacation. Early on we looked at the calendar and found only two weeks in the entire Summer that all four of us could be free to be together. It was tightly sandwiched between Alex’s return from her language study exchange program in Germany and Tori’s month-long externship at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Sanabel Island.
So did a huge road trip from Michigan to Florida, fitting in a beach vacation on the water in New Smyrna Beach (where the girls learned to surf), a college visit at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, then a few days of diving with our friends at Abyss Dive Center on Marathon Key, a few days of zipping around on scooters in Key West, and finally hanging out on the beach at Sanabel Island before we delivered Tori to start work at CROW.
It was a great vacation. Why was it so good? Here are my new rules for vacations: [Read more →]
August 27, 2008 2 Comments
I love speeches. No, actually, I hate most speeches, I love great speeches. That is why I watched much of the Democratic National Convention this week. I was on the lookout for great use of language.
There are so few people who write for the spoken word, and so few speakers who can deliver those well-crafted words so they impact the listener, change lives and live on in history.
Part of what I do professionally is help pastors and other leaders fine-tune their message, crafting the words, adding media to strengthen the impact and add pacing and drama — all parts of effective speaking (and preaching). Not just to have a great discourse, but to effect change; to take people with you on a journey and then watch them at the end of the speech take the action that you passionately proposed.
At the DNC we saw two great speeches delivered by two great speakers: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Skillful phrasing, great word play, and an ability to deliver well crafted words with passion. I am not discussing politics here, and I am not suggesting they told the truth or didn’t made promises they cannot keep. My point is simply to point out the intense power of potent words in the mouth of a great speaker. Barack gave this speech on the anniversary of another great message (I have a dream) delivered by a masterful preacher (Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.). Barack’s message was not as earthshaking as Martin’s, but it was very good.
This week two politicians (Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) gave a master class in oration, and most evangelicals probably can’t get past the political party they represent long enough to learn anything from them.
As Phil Cooke says in Branding Faith (why some churches and non-profits impact the culture and others don’t), “the world tells bad stories really well, while the church tells the greatest story really poorly.” [sorry Phil if I screwed that up a bit – I know I’m close!]
My take-away from all this: be excellent. Tonight Obama put on an excellent show, but it would have been futile if he didn’t deliver on the message — and he really nailed it. Compare the speech tonight with the rest of the convention (with the exception of Bill Clinton’s speech)… I can’t tell you anything about Hillary’s speech or Biden’s speech, and my God, don’t even bring up Al Gore… all well trained, highly paid professionals, who should be inspiring, but they were just so boring. They tried hard (many even worked up a sweat and in some churches that would be a sure sign they were under the anointing!), but they were ineffective. What a waste.
How often does that happen on Sunday morning?
I don’t for one moment believe that the delivery of the message by word is more effective than the preaching of the message by deed, but if you are going to open your mouth in support of our Lord, do it well.
If you need help, let me know.