TRAVELING on the highway one day I saw a sign that read, "Eat at Joe's Place." Every two or three miles for the twenty-five miles to the city I saw the sign. Entering the city, I saw many other signs, but Joe's sign took precedence over them all. The last sign read, "Eat at Joe's Place if It Kills You." It is the work of persuasion to change men's minds and to make them think as we would have them think.
A good salesman has been defined as one who gets you to buy something you don't want and do not need. If we are to hold the interest of audiences, we must get their attention. The Bible says, "Out of it [the heart] are the issues of life." We must take hold of the heart and appeal to the emotions or we will fail. Add to this the part played by the will, and you have an interest.
A farmer was trying for several minutes to get his mule to respond to his appeal. He picked up a 2 by 4 and landed it across his head and the mule moved. An onlooker questioned, "Why did you hit him with that stick?"
The farmer replied, "I had to get his attention."
Before we can get men to respond we must get their attention.
Improved Methods Needed
There is only one way to win souls and that is through the pleadings of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the listeners. How ever, it is possible by improvement of methods to reach more people with this great message and to bring a larger number to Christ and surrender.
"In the cities of today, where there is so much to attract and please, the people can be interested by no ordinary efforts."
If success is to be sure, "ministers of God's appointment will find it necessary to put forth extraordinary efforts in order to arrest the attention of the multitudes. And when they succeed in bringing together a large number of people they must bear mes sages of a character so out of the usual order that the people will be aroused and warned. They must make use of every means that can possibly be devised for causing the truth to stand out clearly and distinctly." --Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 109.
Christ Used Various Methods to Hold the Interest
From Jesus we may learn many valuable lessons. He did not follow merely one method but in various ways He sought to gain the attention of the multitude. His messages of mercy were varied to suit His audience. (1) He knew how to speak a word in season to him that is weary, for grace poured from His lips. His simple sincerity attracted large numbers. (2) He had tact to meet the prejudiced minds, and He surprised them with illustrations that won their attention. (3) Through the imagination He reached the heart. He used the simple things around Him. "Those who will study the manner of Christ's teaching, and educate themselves to follow His way, will attract and hold large numbers now, as Christ held the people in His day." --Evangelism., p. 124.
Here are a few suggestions that should help us to capture the interest and hold it:
Stimulating Interest
The interest must first be stimulated when the visitor enters the door of the building or tent grounds. It is a known fact that most people come to meetings out of curiosity. Their interest possibly has been aroused either by newspaper ads, handbills, radio or TV, personal invitation, et cetera. The interest may or may not develop with their first encounter with the Bible instructor. As you know, the first impression will be a lasting one. The broad smile and the friendly, warm handshake have a tendency to put the individual at ease in his strange community. The Bible instructor at the door or around the tent can create an atmosphere that breathes friendliness and warmth.
Ushers
The neatly dressed and uniformed ushers are very important. Stepping forward with the songbook and with a pleasant look on his face as he escorts the guest to his seat, the usher can make him feel relaxed and welcome among friends. This type of service gets the interest of the visitor and encourages him to return.
Good Music Will Help to Hold the Interest
Music is the right hand of an evangelistic meeting. It has great drawing and convicting power. Even while the people are gathering, soft music can be played. This will discourage loud talking and enhance a spiritual atmosphere. Some evangelists leave the music and the selection of songs to the music committee, which in most cases is a mistake. He should see to it that the music is such as to encourage audience participation. If the singing is dull and lifeless, the interest will soon die.
Start and Stop on Time
No matter how stimulating the song service or how friendly the welcome, if you start late, hold late, have lengthy preliminaries, interest will fade. The service must be timed and interesting if we are to hold the interest for several weeks. In today's busy world the mind is soon attracted to other things, so the evangelist must be alert to the changing tempo and step up his program to capture the voluntary interest of his audience.
The Preacher and His Message
If we follow the SSS method to hold interest by stand up, speak up, shut up we will do well. "Let there be short discourses, short and fervent prayers. Educate, educate in regard to thorough, whole-souled service. Thorough consecration, much prayer, an intense earnestness, will make an impression; for angels of God will be present to move upon the hearts of the people." --Evangelism, p. 150.
A minister was preaching and noticed a man asleep in the audience. He shouted to the little boy next to him, "Wake up your father!" The little boy responded, "You wake him up; you put him to sleep."
The Lord would have His ministers who preach the Word energized with the Holy Spirit, and the people who hear should not sit and stare vacantly, or sit in drowsy in difference, making no response to what is being said.
This places a great responsibility upon the evangelist, and unless he is filled with love for souls and the Spirit of God, his sermons will be cold and uninspiring. To hold the interest the preacher must pray, fast, and study. This, coupled with a few good pictures on the screen, will do much to hold the interest.
"But hold the attention of the people by presenting before them the truth as it is in Jesus. Keep before them the cross of Calvary. What called for the death of Christ? The transgression of the law. Christ died to give men an opportunity to become loyal subjects of His kingdom." --Ibid.
Call attention to prophecies. "The followers of Christ are to combine in a strong effort to call the attention of the world to the fast-fulfilling prophecies of the Word of God."—Ibid., p. 193.
"The prophecies which the great I AM has given in His Word, uniting link after link in the chain of events, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tell us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order." --Ibid., pp. 193, 194.
Preach that the world is coming to an end and soon. Be in earnest. "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (Isa. 58:1).
To get attention is important; to hold the interest is more difficult. There are three good rules to follow, we are told, in holding the interest in a series of evangelistic meetings: (1) Say something at once. Don't kill time with trivialities. Get right down to the subject. (2) Talk from three to five minutes in concrete, nonabstract language. Avoid logic or philosophy. Exclude flights of oratory. (3) Stimulate in your audience curiosity or the spirit of inquiry.
Arouse expectation and desire. Humanity is hungry for something that will satisfy. We are to point the audience to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The presentation of the evangelist lures the hearer on and on. The prospective situation arouses the mind to positive activity, and interest passes beyond the hearer's control. He is in the evangelist's hands. "When the truth in its practical character is urged upon the people because you love them, souls will be convicted, because the Holy Spirit of God will impress their hearts. Arm yourselves with humility; pray that angels of God may come close to your side to impress the mind; for it is not you that work the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit must work you. It is the Holy Spirit that makes the truth impressive."—Ibid., p. 124.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord."
