Mars Hill - Climbing a Staircase

1. Think of the topic as an analogy for society. Do not simply discuss a theme that the topic discusses; identify similarities and differences between the topic and society. 

Think of it like this: if your topic is a song in which the songwriter says he feels dissatisfied with his fame, instead of merely talking about the broad theme of satisfaction simply because the topic happens to mention that theme, try to build a logical staircase of similarities and differences between the singer and society. Show two ways we, as people, are similar to the singer and then one way in which we are critically different.

It might sounds something like this (you just finished summarizing the topic): "There are a few ways we, as people, are actually a lot like this singer. The first similarity is that we all desire satisfaction." At this point you would naturally give about a minute of analysis on why humans have a void of satisfaction within their hearts. Maybe include an analogy and a quote to give some variety. After explaining this first similarity, move to the second step on the staircase: "But not only do humans desire satisfaction, there is also a second way in which we are similar to this singer—we tend to look for satisfaction in the wrong places and this leaves us forever searching but never finding." Spend about 2 minutes explaining the consequences of this and then move to the third and final step in the staircase (the part where you highlight the critical difference between the Christian life and the singer's life): "This singer never found satisfaction but thankfully, we can be different. Unlike this singer, I have experienced the blessing of personal satisfaction first hand. How? Because I have been given something this singer never knew existed. I would like to share with you the greatest gift of my lifetime, the gift of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and friend." 

This approach accomplishes a few key objectives for you. First, this approach makes the speech feel highly logical. It allows you to build a logical staircase from the topic to the Gospel with each step in between feeling fully addressed. It shows that the Gospel truly is the only logical place a discussion of the topic could lead instead of the speech feeling like a forced Gospel presentation. Second, this approach makes it easy for you to bring up the topic multiple times throughout the speech. This shows the judge that you are keeping the prompt central and that you are not doing what most competitors do which is use the topic simply as a diving board to a theme. Third, this approach allows you to truly speak to an unbeliever. It allows you to start with basic yet deep questions like, "Why do humans desire satisfaction?" and "Why do humans have a hard time finding it?" Answering these types of questions before jumping to the Gospel is the essence of Mars Hill.

This staircase approach is far superior to having 6 minutes of a meandering discussion about a theme with an obligatory Gospel presentation tossed in at the end. This structure is what Mars Hill was supposed to be and judges love it. Try this approach in your next Mars Hill speech, stand at the top of your staircase, and enjoy the view.

2. Emphasize Reasoning Over Emotion. Most competitors think that talking to an unbeliever means they are off the hook for giving strong, detailed theology. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unbelievers are just as smart as believers; they just operate under different logic than believers do. So how does a Christian persuade an unbeliever to adopt different logic? Not by being emotional... by being logical. 

What does "being logical" look like? It looks like making arguments in your Mars Hill speeches instead of making assertions. For instance, do not merely assert that humans are unable to save themselves, explain why humans are unable to save themselves. What might this sound like? Something like: "Humans are unable to do enough good to save themselves. But why are humans unable to save themselves? Well because if humans need saving then, logically, that means they are imperfect to begin with and it is logically impossible for imperfect humans to come up with a perfect solution to their imperfection." When your Mars Hill speeches become filled with logic like that, judges go, "Wow. This competitor has thought deeply about this topic and takes this event more seriously than anybody else in this room does." Do you want your judges to have that kind of reaction to your speech? If so, emphasize reasoning first and emotion second.

3. Do not present personal sob stories. Judges have become desensitized to personal sob stories because these stories have become generic and overused. I recognize that many competitors do genuinely have traumatic pasts and I am not saying this to downplay the importance or significance of anything anybody has experienced; I say this simply as a perspective on why I believe it would be a misguided strategic choice to share personal sob stories within the Mars Hill speech event. I believe this is the case for several reasons. First, competitors have lied about personal stories in the past. Many judges I have spoken to can tell you stories of times they have found out that competitors have lied to them. This means that even if your story is genuine, some of your judges are likely to be highly skeptical of it's truth. Having judges be skeptical about what you say is not a route to winning tournaments. Second, judges know that even if a competitor's story is genuine that the reason the competitor is sharing it is because the competitor thinks that doing so will lead to an automatic high placement. Even if this is not your aim in sharing your personal stories, experienced judges will perceive this as your aim. Judges do not like feeling like a teenager is trying to emotionally manipulate them so it is best to avoid any semblance of such a tactic. Third, personal sob stories are generic. Almost everybody uses them. Whatever emotional reaction you think you will get by delivering a personal sob story is greatly diminished by the fact that judges have grown desensitized to these type of stories due to their drastic overuse. But maybe you think, "I have placed high and I share lots of personal sob stories" or "I have seen lots of finals rounds where the finalists shared personal sob stories." These statements may be true but the only reason top speakers do well with personal sob stories is because almost everybody uses them. I would argue that the top speakers do not win because of their sob stories; they win in spite of their sob stories simply due to the fact that top speakers, by definition, are going slightly more better at delivering sob stories than the average competitor is. Imagine how well the top speakers could do if they refrained from sharing personal sob stories. I intentionally excluded personal sob stories from my Mars Hill speeches and won 50% of the tournaments I attended in both my Junior and Senior years. Judges admire competitors who can give truly great speeches without resorting to undue Pathos. Be one of those competitors. 

"But Ben," you might think, "stories make your speech memorable! Won't I lose some memorability if I eliminate all stories from my speeches? " Yes, you would lose memorability if you were to eliminate all stories from your speeches. But I never said you should eliminate all stories; I said you should eliminate personal stories that qualify as sob stories. Personal anecdotes are great as long as they are not for the purpose of making the judge cry. If you want a story to make the judge cry, I am actually not against that either; I am only against those stories being personal stories. Try replacing your personal story with a story of someone unconnected to you. This will give you all the same memorability and Pathos while cutting out the risk of the judge feeling like you are trying to make them feel sorry for you. For instance, instead of telling a story of how you trusted God during a personal hardship, tell the story of Nick Vujicic, a man who was born with no arms and no legs who trusted in the Lord despite the emotional turmoil he experienced growing up. Same impact. Same lesson. Same emotional connection. Less risk of bad perception.

I hope these 3 major tips for Mars Hill are helpful to you. If you have any questions or comments on this post, please reach out. If you would like to dive deeper into Mars Hill with me, I would love for you to book a session!

One last thing comment before you leave: I did claim earlier that modern Mars Hill students were a meme. Allow me to substantiate that assertion with... a meme.

Remember this meme whenever you find yourself tempted to do the ordinary. Do not be the ordinary; be the excellent. Happy prepping!

-Coach Benjamin