Giving talks and personal testimonies is a big part of our retreat ministry. They may sound the same, but there are a few key differences. Here’s what we mean by “giving a talk” and by “giving a testimony” and how you can do an awesome job with both:

Talks

• Talks are primarily meant to convey information. When you’re giving a personal testimony, we’re largely looking for you to tell us a story/your story. When you’re giving a talk, there are important facts, points, or practical tips we’d like for you to give your audience.
• Every talk will include an element of personal testimony – so don’t leave your story out as you give the info.
• You can say a LOT in five minutes when you’re well-prepared.
• Topics can include (but are not limited to) things like growing in prayer, reading Scripture, Mass/Eucharist, chastity, forgiveness, community/youth group, service, etc.

Testimonies

• A personal testimony is primarily meant for you to tell your story. When considering the assigned topic, try to think of a time in your life when that topic was important or meaningful and where God was in the midst of it.
• Your story is important because it makes our faith more tangible. The truths we know about God become real through our lived experiences.
• Your story cannot be argued. People might take issue with your logic or theology, but they can’t deny your story. Your experiences happened and are valid proofs for how God is real and moving in the world.
• Our audiences relate to our stories. They know when we’re being real and when we’re being fake. Make sure to check yourself and remove any masks you might be wearing before sharing your story with others.
• Personal testimonies present the Gospel in a non-confrontational way. Testimonies don’t say, “You need to do this or that,” but rather, “I experienced this and learned that.”
• Our stories create common ground with our audiences. They will connect over shared experiences and vulnerability.
• Testimonies are interesting! People love to gossip – that’s just science; when we share our stories with people, they tune in.

How to Give Awesome Talks & Testimonies

Pray

• Everything we do in retreat ministry should be covered in prayer, including in our personal prayer time, in our team prayer time, and with prayer support from our prayer warriors. This absolutely must include our talks/testimonies.
• Pray before you begin working on a talk, pray each time you practice it, and pray before and after you give it. God is at work in every stage of giving talks – and He has an easier time working when we invite Him in.

Prepare

• When you receive your topic and begin to write your talk/testimony, lean on resources that can help you. Use Scripture, homilies you’ve heard, podcasts, books, prayer group/youth group members, family members, close friends, what God is revealing to you in prayer, etc.
• Think carefully about your intended audience and your own experiences, write everything down, and edit, edit, edit!
• Feel free to send notes to people wiser than you, ahead of time, asking for feedback!

Practice

• Say your talk, out loud, more than once. Not only will this help you make sure your timing is right (and you don’t go two minutes or ten when you’re supposed to go five), but the more familiar you are with the words, the more clearly you will deliver the talk when it’s time.
• Practice in front of the mirror, out loud in your car, with other friends in ministry, en route to a retreat, with your family, annoy your friends!
• USE NOTES. Whether you write out the whole talk word for word or put bullet points on index cards or have an outline in your journal, please do not ever come to the microphone without notes in your hand. If you’ve prepared and practiced, you won’t need to read from them directly (that’s the goal) but we want you to have them with you just in case you lose your place or need a reminder of where you were going. There is no shame in bringing notes, ever. Professional speakers use them. You are a more polished speaker with them, not less. If we could force you to have them in your hand, we would…

The Format

Excellent talks and testimonies have three parts: BC, Conversion, and How Life is Better Now. This formula works for many topics.

BC

• This is the part of the story ‘before Christ’ – before we knew God, or when we were struggling with whatever virtue we’re focused on. It’s where we share what kept us from Christ, what decisions or specific attitudes distanced us from God.
• Make sure to talk about what caused your distance from the Lord and how you felt, being far from God.
• This should always be the SHORTEST part of the testimony. Don’t dwell on sin; spend most of your time on God’s goodness.
• Don’t get too detailed here: no one needs the details of our sin, only the details of our regret. Avoid glorifying sin or the evil one. Only share necessary details. Always keep it age-appropriate for your target audience.
• Be careful with names here: use fake names if needed to protect the identity of anyone else involved in your story, or just be vague (i.e. an old friend of mine, my sibling, etc.). We don’t want to draw undue attention to the person the Lord used; the glory goes to God.

Conversion

• This is the part of the story where you and God got close – either for the first time ever or after a reconciliation.
• How did you realize you needed Him?
• Give concrete, real examples of how God changed you – through a retreat, a friend, a prayer, a parent. If it was a specific instance, tell that story. If it happened over time, describe the scene – continually going to Mass or youth group with an open heart, making regular Confessions, committing to reading Scripture, etc. Again, be vague with names – we don’t want to glorify a person God used to help us more than we glorify God.
• How did God get your attention, specifically? Even if God was incognito at the moment, we can often recognize His presence in hindsight.

How Life is Better Now

• This is the part of the story where you talk about how your life is better now being close to God.
• This should always be the LONGEST part of your testimony. Spend the most time glorifying God.
• Share about the benefits of a life with Christ. What’s better now? Are you more peaceful, happier – how so? Are your relationships better?
• Show transformation, but be sure to make it clear that your life is far from perfect. We’re all always works in progress.

Tips for Polished Talks and Testimonies

DO:

• Pray, Prepare, Practice every time. Workshop your talks with others whenever possible.
• Give God the credit, always, especially when He works through other people or situations. Don’t keep Him anonymous.
• Use visual aids or analogies whenever possible or appropriate, especially for younger crowds, though keep in mind that most of us are visual learners.
• Avoid Christianese (Christian jargon) or Catholicese (phrases that only uber-Catholics or youth group kids or theologians might know)  like: “I’ve been redeemed, I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I’ve been washed in the Blood of the Lamb, I went to Steubenville, was on a Luke 18, was in Adoration, Jesus was in the monstrance.” Those who do not understand these phrases might be turned off – or even feel like an outsider – when we use phrases they don’t understand. If you absolutely need to use them as part of your story, be sure to explain them well. Though we think that generally they should be avoided.
• Use specific stories or instances from your own life.
• Seek feedback from others. Continue to rework and revise your talks regularly; stay open to how the Spirit might want them to evolve, even for a specific group.
• Consider preparing multiple talks on the same topic, as you’re able (i.e. for forgiveness, have a story about a time when you needed to forgive a family member, a story with a friend, a story about God, and a story about yourself. This will help us avoid redundancy as a team when multiple people share on one topic at the same retreat.
• Keep your target audience in mind! Some stories that are perfect for 2nd graders won’t work for high school students, and the way we talk about chastity with 7th graders is different than with sophomores. And many times, the adults at our events need to be evangelized more than the students they accompany…
• Make sure to universalize: your story is yours, so tell it properly, but include some sort of wider application to reach as much of the audience as possible (i.e. “Maybe, unlike me, you have a great relationship with your own dad, but perhaps there’s someone else in your life you’ve really struggled to forgive…”).
• Be concise – if you run over on time, you’re taking time away from another teammate or retreat activity.
• Be sincere. People will sense if you aren’t passionate or authentic in what you’re sharing.
• Always, always, always use the microphone unless your retreat leader specifically says we don’t need to for a particular event. Microphones are essential if there are any older people in the crowd who might have difficulty hearing, and/or if there is ambient noise from a heating/cooling system or some other source. 
• If a microphone is unavailable – perhaps due to technical issues – be sure to speak loudly so that even folks in the back of the room can hear you well.
• Finish strong, with a challenge, quote, or prayer: “In conclusion, I’d like to challenge you to look at your life, and consider how you need God’s help,” or “I’d like to close by saying a short prayer with you, asking God to keep you open to His love.”

DON’T:

• Ignore time! Use what’s given to its maximum potential.
• Focus on God/religion as the only reasons for living virtuously – not everyone in our audience will connect with that. Some of our audiences may be far from God and our hope is to build a bridge for them, not yell at them to come on over to our side.
• Use general, vague statements without specific supporting comments or stories.
• Sound preachy! Avoid saying, “You need to do x-y-z,” and instead say, “In my own life, I have found…” instead.
• Think your talk has to cover it all, especially when you’re one in a series of testimonies on the same topic. We’re a team for a reason.

Discipline During Talks and Testimonies

On occasion, there are students in the crowd who enjoy talking while someone else is talking – distracting themselves, their neighbors, and the speaker from what’s happening up front. Here’s how we navigate that:

• Keep in mind that students aren’t (usually) trying to be disruptive. Often they’re just sitting next to their best friends and can’t help themselves. Do you have a good friend like that?
• Fellow team members should always be scattered throughout the crowd (like sprinkles on a donut) in part to be on the lookout for disruptions.
• Correction should always come from the team within the crowd. Let’s protect our teammate who is sharing by doing the least disruptive thing. Here is what you can do, in order: First, make eye contact, and give the disrupters “the look.” Second, employ gentle physical touch and a shush. Third, switch chairs with them to separate them from their distractions. Finally, ask them to step outside with a couple of adult leaders who might isolate them from everyone or choose to call their parents.
• The speaker might make eye contact with other team members to help draw their attention to a disruption. Help out if needed. Also, be on the lookout for other distractions, i.e. noisy doors, lunch or snacks being set up, teachers talking in the back of the room, anyone being on their phones during serious content, etc., and try to eliminate these as quickly as possible.
• The speaker can talk toward those who seem least interested or walk nearer to a disruptive pocket.
• The speaker can stop, look at the disruption, and wait for them to catch on before continuing.
• The speaker can correct the disrupters. This is usually best done humbly, expressing feelings of hurt or frustration.

Final Thoughts on Talks and Testimonies

• After a while, testimonies get easier to develop. Like most things, writing and speaking is an art form – be patient with yourself and open to growing in this skill over time.
• Stay flexible, and be willing to tell different parts of your story. The Lord may have different parts of your story in mind for different audiences – or even for similar audiences on different days.
• On sacramental retreats, make sure to connect everything back to the Sacrament – even if it’s just to say, “When I was going through the Confirmation process, I really struggled with _____.”
• For most retreats, you will be sent background material on the group about a week before the date – use it when preparing your testimonies. Not that EVERY testimony needs to be aimed directly at a particular issue (we don’t want an event to be remembered as ‘the eating disorder retreat’ because we got background info that two students out of a class of 150 are struggling with that, and everyone on the team mentioned it in their testimonies…), but prayerfully consider if a part of your story you don’t usually share might be relevant on a particular day.
• This is not a performance; share from your heart. If you try too hard, you’ll lose your authenticity and your audience will tune you out. Be yourself!
• Please keep in mind that each team member reaches a different portion of each audience – this variety in ministry is an awesome gift, and our retreatants miss out if we try to be someone we aren’t. Comparison is the thief of joy.
• Trust that God will use you based upon what you’ve experienced, not what you haven’t. There is someone in the audience who is meant to hear your specific story because of how it connects with them. Some testimonies are dramatic, some aren’t – all testimonies are important and valuable.
• The more we are open to ongoing constructive criticism, the better we will be. And the people of God deserve our very best.
• Be passionate! You’re serving with this ministry because of your passion for Jesus and His Church and because you trust in His love and goodness. Passion in your voice, while you are speaking, can drive the message home.
• Use all of your resources as you prepare.
• Breathe in the Holy Spirit, breathe out nervousness. Remember that the Lord is always with us!