What can pastors possibly learn from Larry King (apart from what to avoid)? John Baldoni argues here that King had a unique gift for getting people to talk about themselves by putting people at ease and asking the right questions.
Baldoni supports his argument with two illustrations from King’s relationship with Frank Sinatra. When King was a nobody he somehow managed to end up with Frank Sinatra on his show. But instead of following the usual interviewer’s strategy of trying to convince his audience that he and Sinatra were best buddies, his first question was, “Why are you here?” Baldoni writes:What King had done with Sinatra, as he has done with thousands of guests from the high and mighty to the people next door, is to shift focus from himself to the guest. This creates a sense of rapport that stimulates further conversation.
Many years later, when Larry King had become Larry King Live on CNN, Sinatra remarked to King during another interview, “You make the camera disappear.” “Bingo!” comments Baldoni, “A television conversation becomes just two people talking.”
I want to develop a similar ability as a pastor of souls. I want to make people feel so at ease that the “pastoral office” disappears and the conversation becomes just two sinners talking about Christ and the way of salvation. Perhaps the biggest compliment that could be paid after such a dialogue is, “I forgot you were a minister/pastor!”