THE WORLD’S GREATEST COMMUNICATOR:
BEYOND INFORMATION AND EDUCATION TO TRANSFORMATION
By A. LARRY ROSS

As a professional Public Relations practitioner, I have helped individuals and organizations tell their stories in the context of traditional news values of interest to appropriate audiences. Much of my work has involved crossover communications from, or to, the Christian community.

During my career spanning more than 28 years providing strategic consultation and execution of various programs or projects at both corporate and agency levels, I have encountered a number of definitions of public relations. The best is the one developed by the respected trade publication “PR Week:”

Public relations is the process and function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization (or ministry) with the public interest, and executes a program of action and communication to earn public understanding and acceptance.

Viewers of the recent ABC network telecast “Jesus and Paul: The Word and the Witness” may not be aware that the Apostle Paul is considered by many scholars to be one of the most influential communicators in history. From my perspective, he was perhaps the first, certainly the most deliberate – and arguably the most effective – PR man who ever lived.

What if he were alive today – what lessons could he teach us about publicizing an event, promoting a cause, or calling people to action? What transferable principles could he leverage to add “hi-tech” without losing “high-touch” effectiveness?

Below are some principles the Apostle Paul demonstrated throughout his ministry as chronicled in the New Testament book of Acts and his epistles:

• Market virally – even before his conversion, then-Saul’s persecution of the church drove Christians out of Jerusalem , causing them to preach the Gospel everywhere they went.

• Specialized training -- shortly after Paul’s conversion, the disciples took him to Tarsus , where he spent seven years preparing for ministry (Acts 9:30).

• Strengthen the brand – despite a long history of persecuting the church, Saul was able to re-brand his personal reputation from a negative to a positive. He didn’t manufacture another image, but rather projected his new identity through transparency and authenticity. In addition to his personal positioning, on his watch the community of believers was also re-branded when first called Christians at Antioch (Acts 11:26).

• Go beyond activism to advocacy – as a result of Paul’s dramatic conversion, the church’s greatest opponent became its biggest champion. He went from being a one-issue activist (persecute the church) to an advocate for the Christian faith (with a mission to take the Gospel to both Jew and Gentile.)

• Leverage technology (of the day) – Paul’s letters from prison to individuals like Timothy and Philemon were precursors to modern email; his letters to the church were forerunners to web sites of today in that they were posted and circulated among groups of believers. In addition to traveling on foot, he was the first platinum level “frequent sailor,” taking ships to faraway cities – some by choice, others as a prisoner.

• Be strategic – Paul’s mission reflected a step-by-step expansion of the church. His missionary journeys took him to the large metropolitan cities -- population and media centers equivalent to New York or Los Angeles today, where he knew he could not only reach the most people but also have the biggest cultural impact. Along the way, he would travel well-populated trade routes, and upon arrival, would head straight for the synagogues and markets, which were centers for discussion and trade.

• Know your audience – after the Jews rejected him and his message, Paul shifted his focus and emphasis to reaching another audience, the Gentiles. Yet, he never lost his burden for fellow-Jews and would tailor his message to both groups at every opportunity. As a result of his faithfulness to his calling, Paul spread the foundations of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome , and transitioned the church from an exclusively Jewish religion to a hope for all the nations (Acts 28:25-28).

• Contextualize the message – Paul understood the serious societal issues of the day, (as addressed in his scathing critique of culture in Romans 1). However, his goal was always to connect with his audience so that they would understand what God had done in Christ as a solution to those problems. This is best demonstrated in his address at Mars Hill in Acts 17 – in spite of their religiosity, the Athenians were ignorant of the true God. Instead of quoting from the Hebrew Scriptures, which were unfamiliar to his Greek audience, he related to objects of their worship, including an altar to “the unknown God.”

• Emphasize positive empowerment – there is an old PR adage that, “the largest number of people focused on the smallest point of agreement provides the greatest power or impact.” Paul’s message of unity brought together individuals of diverse backgrounds and disparate beliefs – people who often “majored in minors” -- by focusing on the essence of grace, not additional burdens that led to dissention and division (Acts 15:28)

• Practice Reputation Management – Paul understood this growing discipline within modern public relations, that an institution’s reputation is one of its most valuable assets, and needs to be managed and maintained (in his case with the help of the Holy Spirit.)

• Go beyond influencing opinion to affecting behavior – Paul’s message went beyond information and education, to transformation. As a result of his preaching, many confessed their deeds, and fraudulent teachers burned their books (Acts 19:19).
  
• Demonstrate passion in mission, persuasion in message and perseverance in methods – Paul was blinded, beaten, flogged, starved, shipwrecked, stoned, jailed, run out of town, rejected by his former Jewish friends and scorned by his new Christian associates. For a time, he was like the Civil War soldier described by Billy Graham, who wore a Union coat and Confederate pants and got shot at by both sides. Yet despite obstacles and opposition , he continued to tell the same story, knowing the possible outcome.

• Speak from personal experience – when addressing audiences unfamiliar with or hostile to his message, Paul would default to speaking from his own personal experience with the transforming power of the Gospel, which no one could take away from him (Acts 22:6).

• Back up words with action – often Paul used signs and wonders as a demonstration of the power of the Gospel. While the miracles themselves didn’t bring salvation, they often attracted people to the message – much like publicity events today. The miracles of the Bible were “signs” in that each one has an important spiritual significance to convey, as well as serving to confirm the veracity of its meaning (Acts 14:3).

• Correct misrepresented facts, not opinions – to counter irrational opposition, Paul emphasized facts that reinforced his message was non-threatening (Acts 19:36-40 ). He was also quick to address misinformation wherever he encountered false propaganda (Acts 13:9-12).

• Don’t defend against baseless critics -- Paul didn’t let dissenting voices dilute the power of his message, mantle or mandate, but took every opportunity to reframe the picture about new life, joy and liberty available through faith in Christ (Acts 21:21-25).

• Know when to fight and when to flee – many times during the course of Paul’s itinerant ministry, he was accosted by mobs hostile to his message. Sometimes he would stay and engage in debate, other times he would stand down – or be “lowered down” by basket (Acts 9:23).

• When necessary, appeal to the Court of Law as well as Court of Public Opinion – on several occasions in the Book of Acts, Paul used his Roman citizenship – a rare and valuable status – for his protection and as a means of God’s providence. In the end, it enabled him to reach his ultimate destination, Rome, by appealing to the High Court, which fulfilled Christ’s promise in Acts 1:8 of his Gospel witness reaching “...to the end of the earth.”

• Be a mentor – it has been said that public relations is “caught, not taught.” On each of his missionary journeys, Paul always took an associate (Barnabas and Silas) and later took on Timothy as an intern.

• Remember to Follow-up -- another priority during Paul’s travels was “strengthening the disciples” (Acts 18:23).

 Above all, Paul’s boldly stood for a message of truth for all men. Religious communicators need to keep this in mind, to reflect not just a man or a ministry, but the Kingdom of God .

(A. Larry Ross is president of A. Larry Ross Communications, a media/public relations agency in Dallas , TX . For nearly 23 years, Mr. Ross has been director of media/public relations for Rev. Billy Graham. Most recently he consulted with Icon Productions and served as media representative for “The Passion of The Christ.”)