You Can Do Better Than PowerPoint

By Bill Tenny-Brittian|October 13th, 2011|0 Comments

I don’t tend to do blog posts that say, “Yeah, what he said,” but this is a rare exception. Seth Godin writes a business blog that I subscribe to. I started following him when he said some things about PowerPoint presentations that I found to be true in the church… that is, that most of them are less than helpful. The screen technology in most church worship services I attend could have been done for a lot less money and with an equal effect by printing the content on acetate sheets and tossing them onto an overhead projector. Words to hymns and sermon notes do not make effective use of the possibilities afforded by screen technology.

I won’t go into all that can (and should) be done to ratchet up your PowerPoint presentations here (keep your eyes open for an upcoming ChurchTalk.tv episode on it), but take a peek at bad newscasters and underfunded broadcast news to see presentations that at least help you get focused on the story. If they use technology to get our attention for bad news, imagine what we can do for the Good News.

Here’s Seth’s blog about PowerPoint today. I recommend taking his words seriously … http://bit.ly/mVXwWs

Question: How have you seen screen technology used well in churches? How have you seen it used poorly? Share your ideas and thoughts in the Comments section below.

About the Author: Bill Tenny-Brittian

Bill is the Managing Partner at The Effective Church Group. He began ministry as a church planter in the early 1980s and over the past 40 years he's grown churches from one side of the nation to the other. In 2002 he joined Bill Easum's consultation group and began partnering with churches and church leaders to help them reach their fullest potential. He is the author of twelve books and the editor of Net Results magazine. Reach Bill here.