Creative Redundancy

I have a good friend who is a pastor, and we had one of our several disagreements when he said, “As a pastor, my people should never have to hear me say the same thing twice.” I couldn’t disagree more. His point was that he should have so much to teach that his messages shouldn’t ever repeat. I understand his perspective, but people rarely learn what is taught the first time. Every leader should wrestle with how to communicate the most critical principles as often as possible in as many ways possible. This is called creative redundancy.

Some of the most creative messages I have ever heard use this technique to reinforce key concepts. Amazing teachers like Rick Warren and Andy Stanley are masters of creative redundancy. Years go by, and I still hear the main principles that they repeat, re-repeat, and so on. Things stick easily in your brain and are more quickly put into action when someone finds multiple ways to communicate a concept.

This is relevant to me because I am wrestling with how to continue telling people about my book College Impact: Empowering Collegiate Christians for Campus Influence without boring them or desensitizing them to my message. Marketers and advertisers know how to use creative redundancy and use it in their promotional materials. Consider the insurance company, Geico. They have a gecko, a caveman, and an announcer. The big goal is the same, buy their insurance, but the vehicle is adjusted to ensure that every person hears the message.

So, I am in the process of figuring out how to say, “Buy College Impact” in new ways to ensure that it is an option for college students. The big goal is an awakening on college campuses, and I believe that my book is a part of the way that is going to happen. It’s the same message that I have been saying for a while, but I may need to say it in a new way.