Use Multimedia, but do not let it use you.  Multimedia should be used tastefully and should follow the flow of what you are doing.  Whereas I firmly believe in the use of multimedia, I do not affirm those who just throw it in for the sake of using it even if it does not fit the ethos of the worship.  this page will help you with many of the specifics of multimedia.  for many of the extra needed details, go to www.Ginghamsburg.org  and sign up for their media forum that is free.

Here is a sensible post from someone on our list serve whom I have know for a long time and think has a good feel for things.

“I have been on a research project lately, trying to understand teams and how they work in various “postmodern” churches, so I have gotten out and about to some pretty interesting places in various parts of the country.

One church I visited in California has an awesome praise and worship service in which they do nothing but sing.  They reach 20 somethings.  There were at least a thousand 20 somethings in the room during worship –SRO —  very powerful experience for me.  They have very little preaching, just a few well placed teaching moments in the midst of their praise.  They only project lyrics on the screen.  and when I spoke with the lead pastor before the service, he basically sort of “poo pooed” the extreme use of visuals and PowerPoint and other things in worship that can sometimes make a service feel slick.  They did show a cool video of a mission trip from which they had just returned.  the multi – media had MEANING.

This is NOT the only time I heard that either.  Other young lead pastors said similar things, though they use multi – media in varying degrees.  I visited McClean Bible church on the east coast, a place which was the topic of some lengthy conversation on this listserv a while back.  They had some interesting use of multi-media — a cool announcement video, and a couple other well-placed moments in the worship.  But by and large, again, it was just words on the screen.  Not a lot of images or distractions from the actual participation of the congregation.

In my own experience, I think that churches can miss-use multi – media, and over-use it, or use it for the wrong reasons — like because they think it will draw people and so they overdo.  Another word that comes to mind is ” good taste.”  Like over eating or something.  An important factor in postmodern worship is authenticity.  Well used multi-media that really speaks an important message is helpful; over-use or sloppy use can be a distraction.”