Powerpoint, Handouts, or Good Ol' Fashioned Charm

Editors Note: Tippy the Rabbit is currently in rehab

Tell us more about your church. We at Swirlypine have noticed a disturbing trend among evangelical churches of increasing reliance upon Powerpoint to deliver the Sunday morning sermon. Not just any powerpoint, but Powerpoint presentations with cute little moving icons, video clip links, pictures, moving text, and the like. I for one see this trend as a shift from "content based preaching" to "experience based teaching". Or, to put it another way, it doesn't matter so much what I say, as long as it is formatted in a clever Powerpoint format. Back in the day, teachers such as Swindoll or Shank could deliver a poignant sermon without so much as a notepad on the podium. The Holy Spirit was free to work through the delivery of the sermon. Does the Holy Spirit work through software? Does HE guide the selection of the appropriate template, background and header formatting in the powerpoint sermon? In order to spark a debate on this topic, we have asked our two evangelical pundits, Flannelgraph Bob and Powerpoint Pete, to debate the issue in an open forum. We attempted to find Overhead Joe, but his projector bulb was burned out and we could not locate another one in the media center in time for this deadline.



Flanelgraph Bob will argue the old school limited availability of technology perspective. Powerpoint Pete will deliver the opposing viewpoint that Technology was created by God, and therefore, should be used to glorify Him. We would appreciate your feedback on which approach is most relevant. Please click on the Title for a brief overview of Flannelgraph Bob's platform.


(Okay, we know this article has limited appeal, its not "sexy", but we have our hangups, and must air them on line)