Make a visual impression…

One of the things that I’m thinking about is how I can use PowerPoint more effectively. I read a couple of things that got me thinking.

The first was that we often have a tendency to take a new medium and then use it in the old way…so, for example, we treat a PPT presentation like an OHP slide…bullet points and, if we’re lucky, illustrations. PPT is capable of being used so much more creatively (assuming that your churches projection and sound equipment is up to it).

The second was that we try to put too much on one slide…a well placed illustration or  a single word shown at a key moment in our vocal presentation can have so much impact.

I was looking around online for some help and came across this humorous PPT talk, and thought it was worth sharing.

Enjoy…

 

Mmmm…this could be challenging…

My friend Charles does not do preaching as part of his day job (he’s a GP), but he can be very good at it. One of the messages that he preached recently really challenged me.

I have to admit that it wasn’t the contents of the message itself…a message about the two ways of understanding Mary (Jesus’ mother) ‘waiting’ on God…that brought about the desire in me for radical change.

It was the fact that he managed to do everything…introduction, exposition and application…so comprehensively and yet in such a short time (about 15 minutes).

My average sermon is probably about 30 minutes, by which time I’m getting just about warmed up. I blame a number of things: the tradition I come from always seemed to feel it was short changed if a sermon was not at least 45 minutes long, and preferably longer, my love for study, which inevitably leads to a mass of material, my aim to communicate clearly, which adds stories, illustrations and explanations and my goal of sending people away with a desire to be transformed as a result of being exposed to God’s word. I take the responsibility seriously before God and want to get it right.

Charles’ sermon however, working I suspect in combination with the Holy Spirit, made me feel that I have grown lazy, got in a (very long) rut and that I no longer take my discipline seriously. In short, I had fallen back on my preacher’s ‘bag of tricks’ in the preparation and delivery of my sermons…not good.

In the old days I not only prepared sermons, I taught others how to do it. I met with my peers to give and get mutual support, encouragement and criticism. And, of course, I read lots of books about preaching. Until the other day, I hadn’t read a book on the subject for years.

So I am now doing a lot of reading and thinking before I begin my next stint of preaching in the new year. I feel uncomfortable and uneasy. I suspect that trying to preach shorter messages will be hard work, and take more time than preaching long ones. I suspect that as I think seriously about how our culture of communication has changed it will force me to experiment and try doing things differently. This may mean a lot more interaction with my ‘audience’, with opportunities for them to be more involved in the sermon. Congregations can also become lazy. They think they like to be spoon fed, and resent any attempts by the preacher to get their participation.

Maybe I won’t be preaching for much longer!

On the other hand, there may well be people among my ‘participating hearers’ for whom this is a breath of fresh air. I do hope so.

Thanks a lot Charles!

Media Musing…

I’ve recently been asked to write an occasional column for the local newspaper (don’t get too excited…my “Thought for the Week” will probably only grace the pages of the Berwickshire News once or twice a year ). It will be in the edition out this Thursday (hint) and then again later next year.

It’s a while since I’ve done any media work…Videos for CARE, TV and Radio interviews for Parentline (actually Stepfamily, before they merged) and writing Christian news for a Kentish local are a fading memory.

So…I looked at what others are writing for the column, and at a regular column my friend Jackie Kaines writes for the Berwick Advertiser before trying to decide how to pitch it.

I hope I’ve gone for something a bit different…topical but not clichéd, thought-provoking but not confrontational, human interest but not too sentimental…if you get a chance to read it, feedback, however harsh would be appreciated (I’m told it’s how we grow and improve!).

After a lot of thought I actually went with something I’d already written a while ago on this blog, slightly revamped for a changed context. Hope it works.

Whilst browsing face book today a post led me to the “newsbiscuit.com” satirical news site, and I noticed an article  “Christian festival to be moved to avoid clash with Christmas”. I think I might learn a thing or two from hanging around on this site…don’t know why it’s taken me so long to discover it.