Lie to Me

Recently we started watching "Lie to Me" because a friend recommended it to us. We never watched it in the beginning because it came out at the same time as a reality show where someone would be hooked up to a polygraph and asked questions in front of their family and friends and we thought it was the same show. No wonder assumptions have such a bad reputation.

If you haven't seen it, "Lie to Me" is about a scientist who has studied human expression and can tell with great accuracy both when someone is lying and what they're feeling. We can't control our faces as well as we think we can. Micro-expressions register in about 1/5th of a second on our faces and show the truth of what we're saying even when our words don't.

Learning about this can make you a better preacher and a better minister. First, don't lie to your church. You may think that you have a good poker face and you can smile through it to convince them, but you can't hide your micro-expressions. I've seen preachers speak in support of a building program that I knew they didn't support, because of their face and their tone.

Also, look at the faces of your church. If you understand what facial expressions mean, you can understand how your words are affecting your church. Are they surprised, happy, bored, angry, disgusted, interested, or engaged? Their faces can tell you, if you know what to look for. Click around here and see what you can discover.

How do you read your congregation? How do you think they read you?