Are you for or against screens in preaching.

pastorryanhayden

pastorryanhayden

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We kind of got into this in the Jack Treiber thread and I thought it deserved it's own thread.  I'm sure it's been covered before.

Are you for or against screens in preaching and why?
 
For.

People are given one more sense by which to understand and follow the message.
 
[quote author=pastorryanhayden]Are you for or against screens in preaching and why?[/quote]

I don't care and because it doesn't matter. ;)

(Excellent article on anti-intellectualism, btw.)
 
I use a screen when I preach most of the time, but I am against it the way it is used 90% of the time.

I have a graphic design background.  I've read at least a half a dozen books on using screens and given workshops to teachers on how to use screens correctly.  Most of the time people use screens, it seems they are using screens to use the screen.  They have no idea what they are doing.

We don't put song words on our screen.  I very rarely put "the outline" on the screen.  There isn't anything moving around on there.  What I do put on the screen are maps, timelines, photos, and charts.  Most of the time, there is just a graphic about the sermon series on there or the church logo.

We do use the screen for announcements and upcoming events and of course missionaries. 

By the way, our church building is small enough that we use a 55" television for the screen.  It's mounted in such a way that I can just fold it back against the wall and people wouldn't even notice it there.  At least once a week, we don't use the screen.  It's not a priority. 

 
By the way.  This is how to use visuals when you teach.

To illustrate what - use a photo or drawing.
To illustrate when - use a timeline.
To illustrate how - use a flowchart.
To illustrate how much - use a pie or bar chart.
To illustrate where - use a map.
To illustrate why - don't use a visual, you'll just confuse people. 

You can read a great book about this (written for businessmen) called The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam.
 
"Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent."
 
Either way is okay with me.  But might I add that I have seen them completely overdone. People are so attracted by all the stuff going on the screen, and at times the sensationalism used to illustrate a point, that they have missed the point.  Or another way to put it, the point of the message is lost in the overdone method of transmitting the message.
 
I don't want any of them new-fangled techno-gizmos in my business building.  The good ol' King James Bible is all we need and ever-body in my building gots one.  Now get offa my lawn, you young whippersnappers or I'll shew ye what fer. 

 
I guess no big deal either way. IMO the "pro" screeners make just as much a big deal if not more so about it than the "anti" ones. :) But with that said I do have some observations that I've noticed thru these last yrs at churches and other places. First, I've noticed  thru visiting my home church especially, which use screens, that a lot of folks don't bring their bibles anymore. That's how people learned {especially those saved who were a little older who spent little time going to SS} to find the books of the bible by turning to them. We're gaining a generation who have to go to the index to find the locations if they do happen to bring it. And believe it or not one can pick on that at the workplace. IMO that's not good. But that's just me. Even with music a lot of folks learned to read music by using hymn books. That's becoming a lost art. If I were looking for a new church, that wouldn't be a real big deal.








 
Bob H said:
I guess no big deal either way. IMO the "pro" screeners make just as much a big deal if not more so about it than the "anti" ones. :) But with that said I do have some observations that I've noticed thru these last yrs at churches and other places. First, I've noticed  thru visiting my home church especially, which use screens, that a lot of folks don't bring their bibles anymore. That's how people learned {especially those saved who were a little older who spent little time going to SS} to find the books of the bible by turning to them. We're gaining a generation who have to go to the index to find the locations if they happen to do bring it. And believe it or not one can pick on that at the workplace. IMO that's not good. But that's just me. Even with music a lot of folks learned to read music by using hymn books. That's becoming a lost art. If I were looking for a new church, that wouldn't be a real big deal.
Click to expand...

Bob,
I agree about the Bible. I make it a practice not to put verses on the screen for that very reason, and we don't sing off of it.  That's two cases of it being misused in my opinion. 
 
They make me dizzy!  There's so many of them and trying to watch the pastor and the screen make me dizzy!  NO COMMENT!
 
As Bryan Denlinger would say, "You won't find any screens in the King James Bible". 
 
No screens, save money, put a white sheet up on the wall.
 
Our church has two screens. During the singing time they put on the words of the songs since there are no books. During the preaching it is the pastor only. Church is fairly large and it is much easier to see him on the screen than in front of the church.

Give the ifb pastors about twenty years and all of them will have them because by then they will be "old-fashioned".
 
I prefer the screens, HOWEVER, here are some pitfalls:

  • Incorrect words and misplaced slides during songs.
  • Fonts that are supposed to be used for titles are used as body text. There is nothing more disturbing than an amateur using Papyrus.
  • 99% of the time I see transitions to a slide that has the exact same words with no noticeable difference. If you are creating a slide that is identical to the one previous, PLEASE move the text up a bit to show the transition.

Here are some positives:
  • Corporate reading of Scripture from a common text.
  • Using different versions to show various meanings.
  • More focus on what is being sung than waiting for everyone to finally find the same page in the hymnal.
  • About the criticism of people not able to thumb through a hardcover Bible to find Haggai, I reject that. That is just a modern convention. There was a time that one had to unroll a scroll. The fact that we click on buttons to go to a certain book, chapter and verse means that it makes it a whole lot faster. Besides, there is no spiritual gift of winning a Bible drill or even knowing that Job comes right before Proverbs.
 
[quote author=FSSL]
  • About the criticism of people not able to thumb through a hardcover Bible to find Haggai, I reject that. That is just a modern convention. There was a time that one had to unroll a scroll. The fact that we click on buttons to go to a certain book, chapter and verse means that it makes it a whole lot faster. Besides, there is no spiritual gift of winning a Bible drill or even knowing that Job comes right before Proverbs.
[/quote]

Reminds me of the guy I knew who was spending a lot of effort memorizing Galatians. He had about half the first chapter memorized and I asked him what the letter to the Galatians taught. He had no idea....
 
If you have to debate over whether it's right to use screens, then your church has bigger and more fundamental problems than just screens.
 
Ransom said:
If you have to debate over whether it's right to use screens, then your church has bigger and more fundamental problems than just screens.
Click to expand...

It's hard to argue with that.  And I don't have the energy to try.
 
What is the purpose of the screens? If the purpose is to help in disseminating information then they can be used in all aspects of the church service.
 
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