The Geek Lexicon

I knew what I didn’t want in the multimedia presentations in our worship service. I didn’t want our video system to be a glorified overhead projector, where the congregation fills in the blanks on their sermon handouts. I wanted multimedia to enhance our worship experience, so that it compelled hearts to surrender to Christ.

But where is the Spirit in a “slideshow”? And how do I “bitmap” the movements of worship?

I wanted to make my sermons visually engaging. I wanted every worshiper to leave with a picture in mind of a Scripture, a quote, or a story that spoke to them. But I didn’t know GIF from peanut butter. I needed to be rescued by a geek.

High touch, then high tech

Quality multimedia was important in our new church, I was convinced. But who could do it? Multimedia requires thinking outside the box, and, in my experience, finding the right people to launch the ministry required thinking outside the church at first.

We wanted someone with Christ-like character, a heart to serve, and the right skills (or a willingness to learn the skills). That said, we’ve found this is one ministry where spiritual seekers can get involved and kick the tires of Christianity while they serve. Not all ministries are suited for this, but this one is, so long as a more mature Christ-follower is willing to walk with them in the endeavor.

My first recruit didn’t attend our church. He was a friend who lived in another town, but he was proficient in using PowerPoint in the corporate world. So we set up a plan for me to send him my sermon one week in advance, and he would e-mail me a presentation by that Friday. The plan worked well. It got us started.

Soon I was able to recruit a young woman who had begun attending our church with her husband. They both had very little church background. Both were spiritually seeking. The first time they visited our service was the worst day ever! We were meeting in a school, and the janitor would come and unlock the doors for us. On this day in June, in Texas, the janitor never showed up. We had church outside in the heat. Somehow that started a friendship with this couple.

Both of them worked in computer programming. I shared my vision for a full-fledged multimedia ministry and invited them to be a part of it. The woman said she would “help out,” and she did. Four months after we started, she decided to invite Christ into her life.

Today, she is our primary presentation designer. She and her husband are core members of our young church and have an unwavering commitment to Christ. I had no idea that the multimedia ministry would have this kind of personal impact!

If you want to build a multimedia team, you must “touch a heart before you ask for a hand.” This is a great principle that I learned from John Maxwell. Relationships are key when recruiting for any ministry.

Multimedia teams are no different. We have found that those we have built relationships with last longer in their ministry posts. Passion and commitment are fueled by relationships.

We start by building the relationship. We take them out to dinner or for coffee and cast the vision for the church. We talk about how the multimedia ministry can utilize their skills, experiences, and passions and help the church accomplish that vision. Relationship is the context where significant life change occurs.

As a pastor, you don’t have to be a multimedia guru to have success with multimedia in your services. The odds are good you have someone in your congregation that is willing to help you get started. Begin by asking among the 20 to 30 year olds.

Care and feeding

Two skills are needed: computer savvy and artistic design. Often it’s difficult to find both skill sets in one person, so plan to build a team with several people who have different specialties. You want a team that is committed to coming up with the best idea, rather than “my idea.”

This team has to work with other teams as well. The worship team, the sound crew, the drama team, and the speaker all have some input in the multimedia presentation, since many elements of our worship services overlap.

Once the team is in place, it’s important to encourage in them the passion that first attracted them. As we work together on the presentations, through frequent phone calls and e-mails, I repeat the vision of touching the heart and mind of each worship attender with God’s Word.

We also provide training opportunities for their ministry skills to blossom and their confidence to soar. We connect them with multimedia teams from other churches and direct them to relevant articles and resources on the Web.

It’s also important to recognize the individual and team efforts before the congregation. Sometimes I’ll point to a slide or image and recognize the efforts of the person who designed the presentation.

Start simple, stay simple

The key to creating meaningful worship experiences is knowing the difference between what you want to do with media and what you are capable of. Simple is always best. Trying to do too much actually detracts from the worship experience.

For most busy pastors, multimedia can become a black hole of time. If you know how to make your own presentations, you can cheerfully lose days in front of your computer. If you don’t know how, you can lose months trying to learn. There is too much information out there today for a lot of self-teaching.

What matters is what you need to know—and what you’re willing to leave to others.

Here is a short list of things you can do to get started:

1. Learn the basics of PowerPoint. There are several good presentation programs designed especially for church use, but PowerPoint is a safe starting place. Many churches do all their projection of lyrics and sermon notes using PowerPoint. Later, your team can decide what’s best for your setting. But for starters, get acquainted with basic presentation software. Open your PowerPoint application and click on Help. Carve out two hours to read and practice making slides.

2. Keep the visuals simple. br /eak your sermon into three to five sections and create a slide for each section. Use one word and a picture that best illustrates that section of your message. Don’t overdo it. Too many slides and pop-in words are distracting. Choose a plain font (one) that’s easy to read and keep the flying words and pictures to a minimum. Leave that to the creative people (and encourage them to keep the dazzle tasteful).

3. Learn geek-speak. You need to know what it means, even if you don’t know how to do it. A “tif” is not a fight, and a “j-peg” has nothing to do with pirates. Mastering a few terms will make your communication with the team much smoother.

4. br /ing in the creative team. Recruit one or two people, then put them to work. I give the team my sermon topics and outlines and invite them to br /ainstorm. By the time I’m ready to put the message together, the team has packed for me my own in-house ministry toolbox of ideas: special music, movie illustrations, PowerPoint images, stories, and illustrations. (You can see why this ministry team is my personal favorite!)

5. Talk, talk, talk. (Or should I say, IM, IM, IM.) Keep in touch with your multimedia designer(s). Frequent communication shows you value their input. And they will help you see worship from a new perspective. The multimedia team can play a vital role in creating dynamic worship experiences that penetrate both hearts and minds.

And you don’t have to be a computer geek to make it happen.

Shannon Namken is pastor of New Community Church, Pflugerville, Texas.

Baby Geek

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