I think it's time to play another round of Yea or Nay?. We've already covered preaching notes, politics, and pulpits. Let's go ahead and continue the ridiculous tongue twister I have going and tackle PowerPoint.
It was right around the middle of high school that my teachers began using PowerPoint—say, around '94 or '95. Keep in mind I grew up in Lincoln, Illinois. This probably means PowerPoint had actually been in use for something like 20 years. Nevertheless, it was '94 or '95 that I began to experience it as a student. In fact, I even remember that it was my biology teacher who was first smitten by the new technology. By the time I went to college, every teacher was head over heels. For the most part, they exercised great restraint—simple outlines, nothing more. Some, however, went waaaaaaay too far. Outlines weren't enough. They needed flash animation and sound effects. One particular professor of mine designed each slide to load letter by letter, to the sound of machine gun fire. No kidding.
The love affair with PowerPoint continued in such a manner that it spilt over from the academic and business worlds into the world of preaching. It wasn't long before preachers were just as love struck as my professors. And I wondered: Is this a good thing?
I've wrestled with this issue a lot as a preacher, and I'm sure you have, too. I could tell you where I personally land on the issue, but let's hold off. I want to hear from you.
PowerPoint: Yea or Nay—and Why?
If yea—according to recent statistics, that's going to be a lot of you—why? And how far is too far? (Note: Let's just assume that loading the screen letter by letter to the sound of machine gun fire is too far.) If nay, why?
Posted by Brian Lowery at 2:50 PM on October 27, 2008
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The issue with PowerPoint is not whether or not to use it. Communicating with multiple senses is the most powerful way to drive your point. Add smell, sight and touch to sound and you retention rates go way up. The problem is that too many preachers do not use it properly. They are using too many words and make it look too much like a business presentation instead of using it sparingly and appropriately. And what we put on the wall should be artistically excellent. My D. Min. dissertation at Gordon Conwell was on this topic and I learned that bad visuals do more to harm than help in communicating.
Posted by: Kevin Purcell on October 20, 2008
Kevin, given your dissertation work, I would be interested to hear anything else you'd like to add to the conversation. Keep it coming. I suspect some might actually push back a bit on your very first line: "The issue of PowerPoint is not whether or not to use it." For many, using it or not using it IS an issue to wrestle with for preaching. If it wasn't, I probably wouldn't have done this post! For literally hundreds - even thousands - of years, preaching got along just fine without it. The line of thinking, then, might include such questions as: Why use it now? Simply because it's available and being used elsewhere? Why use it without careful critique as to what is gained and what is lost? And does it perhaps play into the hands of bottom-line thinking in the Western church? I tend to think some pretty deep issues are at play in this seemingly simple matter, which means for some, it really is a question of whether to use it or not. Thoughts, anyone?
Posted by: Brian Lowery on October 21, 2008
I think I would have to offer a qualified "yea." Skillfully used, PowerPoint can enhance a sermon with visual re-inforcement. I used to put my main points and scripture references on the screen, but I rarely do that any more, for two reasons: First, I let the scripture text drive my sermon organization, and I've found that a narrative structure doesn't lend itself well to bullet-points on the screen. Second, I found that people became too dependent on what they saw on the screen. It was like when we were in school and we wrote down everything the teacher put on the board because we figured it would be on the test. We believed we could ignore the rest of what was said. I don't think people listen as carefully when they have the main points projected from them. There is also more to carry away from a sermon than just the main points.
The other caution about PowerPoint is that it must not become the show. If we get too showy with it, it will distract from rather than enhance our sermon.
Posted by: Steve Campbell on October 21, 2008
Nay...I use images occasionally but in a world of CGI we can't compete...standing up with nothing sets us apart from people's weekly encounters with PP in board rooms and it is refreshing to them when a human just looks them in the eye and with mere words evokes their imaginations.
Posted by: jazztheologian on October 22, 2008
Steve - Good thoughts. One point you make is one of the driving reasons why I actually don't use PowerPoint in my own preaching: people tend to just wait around for the bottom line. They want only to fill in the blank, get three things to do, etc. They don't appreciate the journey, they lose the way we got to the bottom line, they miss the why and jot down only the how.
Jazz - Now there's a wonderful twist that I'm glad someone brought up: could it be that NOT having PowerPoint sets us apart in an appropriately jarring way? I know that as a college student, it felt weird that the sermon on Sunday looked like the classroom from Monday-Friday. I suspect those in the business world felt it, too. You also bring up the "can't compete" argument. Interesting.
Posted by: Brian Lowery on October 22, 2008
Nay, at least most of the time, sometimes I use PP to show a chart or image that helps drive a point home, but less and less. Part of the reason is that I don't want to be using it just for the sake of using it, so I try to only use it when I find something that really works well with that message.
But I think the answer really lies in preaching style. I think I'm a good story teller and it's better to paint a picture with my words.
Posted by: Mike Fletcher on October 27, 2008
Why YES, power point. Why not!!! Visual plus audible is a great way to learn, and creativity can be part of the communication style. As one somewhat new to this type of communication skill, using power point and keeping it running quickly with pics and graphics that help to reinforce the message accomplish a lot more than I could have ever imagined. I can use a graphic in power point that is better than me using an illustration that is funny; I can use a different graphic to reinforce a point that says what I can't say in just a few words. And, most of all, I can control what is on the screen...and I know whether it fits and communicates what I want to say.
Posted by: Robert Szoke on October 27, 2008
Nay, because 105 times out of a 100 something doesn't work. It drives me nuts!
Posted by: Steve Karum on November 28, 2008