I love Powerpoint
I love PowerPoint. Really, I do. I used to just look people in the eye and preach to them from the Bible, but it wasn't working. I could sometimes tell people weren't listening well, and it always made me lift the pace a bit, or bring in an illustration or make things a bit more animated so that people could sense that what I was saying from the Bible was really important. And that was a huge effort for me—it was very difficult—so that's what I mean about it not working, and that's why I'm such a fan of the new, up-to-date ways of getting the message of the Bible out there.
Yep, it's true. I'm really pleased because, erm, because ... oh, look if we can just wait for a moment until this next slide comes up, I'll explain why. Er ... okay ... er ... can we get that up now?
Hang on a moment. Oh look, while we're waiting, sorry about the mix-up with the verse and chorus of that last song. I've got the remote control here but it's not working very well, and the PowerPoint people up the back were a bit caught out. So that's why we had 2 verses where you could only hear the song-leaders; it wasn't because the mikes were turned up too high like last time.
... Oh ... okay, hang on, here we go—no stop there. No, not there, just stop on that picture of the flower that bears no resemblance to anything I was actually saying. I found it on Google Images and the passage from Isaiah mentioned trees clapping their hands, and sorry if it distracted a bit. I noticed people sort of looking away at that point, but that's partly my fault I know. This remote—something's gone funny with it ... er ...
Oh, hang on, here's Fred. Fred knows how this works. Oh. Look, er Fred, how about I just turn this off—is this the button? Look, maybe if you can just run up the back of the church and help Dave fix it up there. Dave's just filling in this week, everybody, and he's doing a great job too. Give him a hand! That's it, thank you, that's it. Thanks Dave, thanks, yep, er ... Dave's great but I think we just didn't quite get our briefing straight before our meeting ... er ...
—Oh, no, that's the next point. Go back again, please! Look, how about I just read it to you out of the passage. I'm going to keep going and I'm sure it will come up in just a moment—thanks for that—I mean they say that the machines sense your frustration don't they, ha ha ha ha ... er ... okay, here we go!
Oh, no, that's something else. Actually, no, that's great—keep it on that web link because it points to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald ... okay, you can find it at
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/03/1175366240499.html
Oh, er, Fred and Dave, I didn't mean for you to actually click on the link to that Herald article. Everybody's reading it now instead of listening to me. What's that, you say? The article talks about how using PowerPoint actually detracts from listening to the sermon, because there's too much going on? Even reading the Bible on screen or from the pew Bibles at the same time as hearing it spoken by the person up front is leading to information overload? This means that, in reality, even less information is absorbed? That we should seriously reconsider the educational value of using PowerPoint at all?
Look to be honest—Fred, Dave, everyone— the thought had crossed my mind. No, really, it has. Maybe instead of relying on extra visual stimuli, images and tricky film clips from Mr Bean movies to grab people's attention, and so on, I should have just put a bit more time and effort into explaining God's word—working on what I was actually supposed to be preaching about.
What's that? Yes, you're right, Mrs Nurks. Yes, yes, I could maybe even have used my extra preparation time that wasn't taken up with pulling together the PowerPoint slides to cut down on material so that what remained was the really important stuff from the word of God.
Yes, yes, I did notice that the Bible in its original form didn't come with pictures, or dot-point summaries, or illustrations and diagrams and charts. And you may be right: maybe it wasn't a mistake. But just speaking for myself personally, I loved it when those Good News Bibles came out—the ones with the line drawings. What's that? No, it didn't actually help me understand the words better, but I liked to colour them in during sermons—or during that day when the Scripture teacher wasted 10 minutes trying to fix the overhead projector. Isn't it great we've moved on from those days? Hahaha ... er ...
Oh, look, here we go! Thanks Fred. Good on you! Thanks Dave. How about another little round of applause? ... Yep ... Anyway, the next slide will explain everything ...