Building an Audience to Hear the Word

February 2, 2023|Dave Malnes

It takes time to build an audience.

In this noisy world, people will go to great lengths to gain attention. Think of TikTok and reality TV shows. Headlines use hyperbole and tiresome click-bait infuses our Google feeds.

When the message of what Christ has done for the world is being met with increasing indifference, it can be frustrating and defeating.

Pastors regularly create content for sermons, Bible studies, devotions, and newsletters. And that can be draining over time.

The experts in the world of creative content are suggesting having a healthy relationship with your creativity. That relationship comes from a love and respect for your “craft”.

An unhealthy relationship can develop when we think of growth and impact before the craft begins. We think of the audience we are trying to please rather than the audience we are trying to reach. And when the nods of approval, likes, or positive comments determine its effectiveness, it can ruin the craft.

“The thing about relentless growth is that it puts the tactics before the craft. The strategies before the art. And if this is the lens you view your creativity through, it’s only a matter of time where the colorful playground of ideas becomes reduced to a dull spreadsheet of numbers.”
David Sherry

A healthy relationship with creativity, or exercising your craft, is sparked by love for God and for people, and buoyed by a love for the craft. You seek and embrace opportunities to refine, mature, and improve.

What is so interesting is that as you focus on the craft rather than gain an audience, it will find its way to people. Audience-building often takes time, but when it does arrive, it will seem like a downstream effect. These “viral” moments in gospel ministry are not judged by its size but its impact.

Like the angels in heaven, we rejoice over that one sinner who receives and repents rather than the nine-nine righteous who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:7)

Love your craft. It takes time to build an audience – even if it’s one. But thanks be to God who has given us Easter victory and the assurance that as content creators our work will not be in vain.