This blog answers the question, “What are the four questions you ask when you interview people?” Randy is a regular practitioner of the OA method.

The 60 second, four-question survey can be found in Jim’s book, but for those who aren’t sure yet if they want to invest the ten bucks in the book, the four questions go something like this:

1. What is the difference between religion and spirituality?

2. What spiritual person do you most admire?

3. If Christians would listen, what would you tell them?

4. Has anyone ever tried to save you?

Very fun and an amazing door opener. I was actually at another restaurant with one of my first mentors in the faith, trying to explain to him (a hard core Navigators/Crusade guy) how this DE thing works when I decided to just demonstrate it.

“Watch this” I said, and then called our waiter over (I had already spoken with him earlier, gotten his name, chit-chatted, etc., so this wasn’t our initial conversation). I said, “Brett, would you mind doing a sixty-second survey with me? Just four questions, sixty seconds, done.”

He pulled up a chair and said, “Sure. Fire away.” I went through the questions rapidly, listening carefully to his responses. It was clear he was not only interested, but was very encouraged by the fact that I was actually interested in his life and opinions.

I was just about to wrap it up when my mentor friend couldn’t stand it any more and jumped in. “What if you’re wrong? I mean, if you were wrong about these things, would you want to know?” I almost kicked him under the table.

Brett was kind and was willing to admit he might be wrong, but clearly the moment was broken. I thanked Brett and apologized for taking up too much of his time on duty. He expressed his gratitude and asked if we could get together again and talk, and I gladly accepted his invitation.

When he got up and left I just looked at my mentor friend and his wife, who were now quite wide-eyed. “Wow…” they both said in unison. “We’ve never seen anything like that.”>

I scolded him a little for almost ruining the moment, and he admitted he reacted too aggresively. I asked him, “Do you think Brett will want to talk with me again next time I’m in?”

“Oh yeah…you bet.”

Have you ever used the OA interview? What was your experience like?