The God Conversation, Summary

This book has ignited a passion in me to communicate well. As I have been teaching youth group over the past weeks, I have been in a bit of a rut. This book has pushed me to impart in my students a sense of confidence, to tell stories to illustrate the points, and to rethink how I approach conversations about faith with non-believers.

Students tend to "feel" what I am saying more than they hear what I am saying. I realized, in reading this book, that we can have great confidence in expressing our faith. The locus of our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the God who is confident. I can explain, defend and illustrate our faith with confidence because God has made himself evident to us.

I also desire to use more stories and illustrations. Because students "feel" what I am saying, they will resonate more with concrete stories more than abstract concepts. This will take significantly more work on my part, but the effects will be further reaching in the lives of students. This books has give me quite a bit of cannon fodder as I make this shift toward telling better stories.

I have also begun to rethink how I talk with non-believers. I am teaching Intro to Philosophy this semester (as well as next semester), this book has given me some key ways of approaching these concepts in a way that will cause my students to think through the logical conclusions of their philosophies. When sharing my faith, I have always feared coming across as a know-it-all or too intellectual. Telling stories can help me to be more accessible and not come across that way.

I am thankful for this book. It is a great example of excellent communication that is accessible to all.