Speaking Effectively: Visuals

I don't know exactly where I'm going to go with this, but I have in mind to make a few posts around the idea of teaching and preaching effectively. Because preaching is where I'm most oriented, this will undoubtedly take a homiletical slant, but I want to share some ideas about what has worked well for me, and I hope hoping to get some input from you about what has worked for you.

I titled my blog "Perpetual Timothy", because I'm thoroughly convinced of my own need to continue to grow and mature. I didn't decide to become a minister because I had achieved perfection. It was a step of faith that God could use someone as flawed as I am, and it's been a true blessing and a privilege. I can't imagine myself doing anything else. But I want to give God my best, and perhaps as I reflect on some of these things, you can help me make my best a little better.

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A challenge about anyone who is a communicator is that even though we might learn and think a certain way, we have to teach people who learn and think in a variety of ways. I think the addition of Powerpoint in many churches (if it's used well) has been a great step in evolving preaching to a format that has more appeal to visual and even hands-on learners.

The last time I preached, I had a nice case of serendipity. I was trying to make a point about the people in the Bible; that they are real people with real struggles, real flaws, and real solutions. Their flaws should be a source of encouragement for us, because God's ability to use us depends more on our willingness than on our merited righteousness. Often, though, we treat them as if they are mere cartoon characters. In fact, don't we often refer to people in the Bible as "characters"?

I decided to make this point by showing a series of familiar cartoon characters on the screen (Disney, comic characters, Hanna-Barbara, etc.), then by showing some cartoon renditions of biblical characters, and having the people "name the character" in their head. (Though you really have no idea what Moses looked like, how do you know that cartoon is him?) I was thankful that most people seemed to get my point, but what shocked me was how well the children responded to this. They were positively on the edge of their seats, and I could hear their little voices telling all the character names to their parents as I would flip through them. It was energizing. I can't use the same approach all the time, but it's got me thinking about how I can appeal to more people through my visuals.

My friend Dale Jenkins has made some good points to me about how important it is to use Powerpoint as a visual form of communication more than a textual form. I know he isn't the first to make this observation, but it's a good one. I've sat through sermons before where the preacher could have just as easily stopped talking, because the entire sermon was written out in the slides.

Though if I'm making a major point, I prefer to spell it out, and I generally will put scriptures on the screen, I've tried to adapt the approach that when I'm using illustrations--especially stories--I have as few words on the screen as possible. I choose pictures that I display sequentially as I tell the story. So far, it has seemed to work much better than if I list out segments of the story in text form. I'm not sure how far I can go with experimentation in this sort of thing, but I've continued to think about how to use more pictures and less words in my slides.

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If you make presentations, especially ones intended to be persuasive, what advice can you offer about using visuals? What is your approach for incorporating images?

If you are regularly in the pew or the audience, what visuals have stuck in your mind? If you could tell your preacher (especially if it's me) some things to do to improve his sermons from a visual standpoint, what would you suggest?

About my blog

It's been interesting for me to see the directions my blog has gone. I got started in October of 2005 with a post that I think was fairly astute about some measures of what a wise person is like.

I have since blogged on a variety of topics, usually based on my present experiences in life. I have some friends who have tried to use their blogs as key parts of their ministry. I have written quite a few posts on religious topics, though I view my blog more for the purpose of a diary (especially in posts such as this one) and like a messy file box where I throw everything I don't want to forget (like Youtube videos and technology stuff that I like). As of right now, I have 487 posts. (Less than 487 are visible to you, O Reader, because some of them I simply wrote to save as drafts for me to remember, not for anyone else to see. These are usually rants about either religion or politics that I decided wouldn't be productive to post publicly.)

I've noticed in the last few months that I have made many fewer posts about spiritual observations. I think this is largely because since I've been at Old Hickory, I offer the invitation devotional every Wednesday night. I've thought that I might start typing them out and placing them on here, because I generally discard them after I've delivered them. If I feel like they are of sufficient quality, I may post some of them.

Then again, I think since I have so many friends who do large amounts of blogging about spiritual matters, I don't want to do it just for the sake of doing it. It's also been hard on me since I have to make so many posts online each week for the two online classes I'm in right now.

As a way of giving me an increased sense of routine, I started my "Nacho Cat" posts, which I try to put up every Wednesday, and most Fridays I try to put a "Use Your Allusion" post up. Whether I do either of these often depends on how well caught up I am at work. I really enjoy blogging, but priorities have to be priorities.

My blog certainly doesn't have as much traffic as many who view blogging as a ministry, or as people who are in more of the public spotlight. That having said, my blog is currently averaging a little over 50 hits per day, and I've now had over 16,000 hits total. I find that really mind boggling.

To whoever has continued to read my blog: First of all, I am flattered that anyone cares what I have to say about anything. Thanks for reading this stuff. I primarily blog for myself, but I'm sure that if no one ever stopped by, I would have already given up on it by now. Secondly, is there anything you would like to see more of on here? I've had a couple of buddies joke with me that I take entirely too many pictures of my cat. This is probably true, but again, this blog is primarily a place for me to remember what I want to remember. Beyond that, though, I'm happy to oblige people if I'm able. Anything you want more of?

For as long as I feel this is a helpful thing for me--I do find it very therapeutic--I will continue to post. I'm sure that within 10 years, some new thing may have replaced blogs, but I have this nice happy place in my head where I picture some of my descendants reading over some of this stuff long after I'm dead. I really wish my great-great-great-parents could have blogged during the 1800's. It would have been interesting to read now. Perhaps arrogantly, though hopefully not, I like to think that this might be interesting to someone who wonders what it was like to be me, living in this time.