Beyond Bullet Points: Creative Uses of Visual Technology for Preaching

1. Beyond Bullet Points:Creative Uses of Visual Technology for Preaching Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Symposium 2008

2. Beyond Bullet Points • Foundational Beliefs • Ideas for Content • Ideas for Display • Ideas for Use • Theologically Speaking

3. Foundational Beliefs • Central Question: Does it serve the gospel?

4. Foundational Beliefs • Central Question: Does it serve the gospel? • Preaching is incarnational.

5. Foundational Beliefs • Central Question: Does it serve the gospel? • Preaching is incarnational. • If you can’t preach a good sermon without visual aids, you won’t preach a good one with them.

6. Foundational Beliefs • Central Question: Does it serve the gospel? • Preaching is incarnational. • If you can’t preach a good sermon without visual aids, you won’t preach a good one with them. • PP was designed for business presentations and teaching. Preaching is neither. Preaching facilitates an encounter with the living God!

7. Foundational Beliefs • Central Question: Does it serve the gospel? • Preaching is incarnational. • If you can’t preach a good sermon without visual aids, you won’t preach a good one with them. • PP was designed for business presentations and teaching. Preaching is neither. Preaching facilitates an encounter with the living God! • Know the limits of the medium.

8. Speaking of Limits… • Generational limits

9. Speaking of Limits… • Generational limits • Learning style limits

10. Speaking of Limits… • Generational limits • Learning style limits • Time/energy limits

11. Speaking of Limits… • Generational limits • Learning style limits • Time/energy limits • Equipment limits

12. Ideas for Content • Make the biblical text primary.

13. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,1 and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Jn 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.2 Jn 1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own,3 and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. Jn 1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son,4 full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.' ") 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,5 who is close to the Father's heart,6 who has made him known.

14. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

15. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

16. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

17. Ideas for Content • Make the biblical text primary. • Post quotes with sources.

18. “Arguably, apart from the gospel the church has little to offer the world.” --Paul Scott Wilson, Church Decline: Has the gospel gone missing?

19. For all the human handiwork that it displays, the Bible remains a peculiarly holy book. I cannot think of any text that has such authority over me, interpreting me faster than I can interpret it. It speaks to me not with the stuffy voice of some mummified sage but with the fresh, lively tones of someone who knows what happened to me an hour ago. Familiar passages accumulate meaning as I return to them again and again. They seem to grow during my absences from them; I am always finding something new in them I never found before, something designed to meet me where I am at this particular moment in time. This is, I believe, why we call the Bible God’s “living” word. (Taylor 1993: 52)

20. Familiar passages accumulate meaning as I return to them again and again. They seem to grow during my absences from them; I am always finding something new in them I never found before, something designed to meet me where I am at this particular moment in time. This is, I believe, why we call the Bible God’s “living” word. Barbara Brown Taylor The Preaching Life 1993: 52

21. Ideas for Content • Make the biblical text primary. • Post quotes with sources. • Think in images, not just words.

22. Make the biblical text primary. • Post quotes with sources. • Think in images, not just words. • Display art for the season or series.

23. Make the biblical text primary. • Post quotes with sources. • Think in images, not just words. • Display art for the season or series. • Book covers, web sites, other resources.

24. Ideas for Display • Clean, not cluttered.

25. Beyond Bullet Points Creative Uses of Visual Technology for Preaching

26. Ideas for Display • Clean, not cluttered. • Minimize distractions. • Match the font, size, style, >format>, screen change, etc. on all of your slides.

27. Ideas for Display • Clean, not cluttered. • Minimize distractions. • Have the presentation match the content. • Backgrounds to match the lighting. (Don’t shock the eyes! Fade in, fade out is a great transition for worship spaces.) • Have the color match the rest of the environment (banners, stoles, etc.). Green slides for Epiphany!

28. Ideas for Display • Clean, not cluttered. • Minimize distractions. • Have the presentation match the content. • Mute the screen when you aren’t using it.

29. Ideas for Display • Clean, not cluttered. • Minimize distractions. • Have the presentation match the content. • Mute the screen when you aren’t using it. • Don’t give it all away!

30. Ideas for Use • You need not refer to the screen.

31. Ideas for Use • You need not refer to the screen. • You need not use PP/visual tech every week. (In fact, you shouldn’t!)

32. Ideas for Use • You need not refer to the screen. • You need not use PP/visual tech every week. (In fact, you shouldn’t!) • Practice, practice, practice.

33. Ideas for Use • You need not refer to the screen. • You need not use PP/visual tech every week. (In fact, you shouldn’t!) • Practice, practice, practice. • Be ready for anything.

34. Theologically Speaking • Does it serve the gospel?

35. Theologically Speaking • Does it serve the gospel? • Help them meet God.

36. Theologically Speaking • Serve the gospel. • Help them meet God. • Send them home with grace!