Beyond Bullet Points: Preaching with Screens

This webinar has been postponed.

This workshop is a two-part live webinar, meeting on Wednesdays (Feb 3 and Feb 10) from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm. A Zoom link will be included in an email sent to you after registration. This course will be taught on the 2019 version of PowerPoint. Those using older versions may not have all of the features taught. PRC can help you get the 2019 version of Microsoft Office (including PowerPoint) for $39 for nonprofits. 

Basic computer skills are a prerequisite. If you need help with basic skills, first attend Intro to PowerPoint. Call PRC if you need help selecting the right course for you. 

Screens are ubiquitous in our lives, including in our sanctuaries. Screens open up many opportunities, but using them effectively is difficult. Good use can engage and expand your message, but a clunky, outdated, or overly-busy screen will distract the audience. If you’re not sure how — or when — to use a screen during the service, you need this interactive series of workshops. We will look at the benefits and pitfalls of using a screen during prelude, worship, and preaching.

“Preaching with Screens helped me understand the varied ways a PowerPoint presentation can be assembled and effectively used to help visually communicate the message.  I’m finding preaching with screens to be an additional and effective way to reach and engage with my congregation.”
-Peter Cook, Lead Pastor, Alive Church Ephrata

Session 1: Designing the Screen

In this session, we’ll look at the “HOWs” of using PowerPoint easily as a design tool. We’ll look at best practices for backgrounds, fonts, and images. We’ll cover where to find images, copyright issues, how to use film clips, where to buy templates, and how to make it work in your schedule.

• PowerPoint as a Design Tool
• Backgrounds, Fonts, and Images
• Where to find images, where to purchase themes
• How to find, save, insert and use film clips

Session 2: The Art of Preaching with a Screen

This session focuses on you, as a presenter with a screen. How do you currently use a screen? Where are you stuck? How do you plan the visuals alongside the text? We’ll take a look at various ways to use a screen during your sermon and the worship service, and also talk about pitfalls to avoid.

• Different Ways to Use a Screen During a Sermon
• Integrating Screens with the Spoken Word in Sermon Construction
• Possibilities of using a Screen — Using screens for information, relationship, and interaction in all parts of the worship service
• Pitfalls of Using a Screen – Mistakes to Avoid
• Advanced Visual do’s and don’ts

“Rev. Dr. Cox-Holmes leads novices or those with a passing familiarity with PowerPoint into a deeper exploration of practices and strategies for communicating visually in congregational life and worship. Sprinkled with anecdotes and
examples of learning by doing, this workshop diminished my fear of working with PowerPoint images and text to augment sermons, worship, announcements, and educational events.  Her experiences and wisdom also helped to guide my own thinking about the best ways to introduce these practices to a congregation steeped in traditional worship and architecture.”
– Rev. Dr. Stephen Verkouw, Pastor, Grace Lutheran Church

Led by Rev. Dr. Erin S. Cox-Holmes, Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of Donegal

The Rev. Dr. Erin S. Cox-Holmes was raised in Redlands, California. The focus of her Doctor of Ministry degree (from Dubuque Theological Seminary) is on revitalizing the church and worship in the digital age. Erin is known as a computer geek and has been puzzling over the same ee cummings poem for 30 years. She received her Master of Divinity from Earlham School of Religion and was ordained in the Presbytery of Detroit. She has served as an associate pastor, an interim pastor, and an Associate Executive Presbyter.  She began as the Executive Presbyter in Donegal Presbytery on January 1, 2010.

CEUs are available for pastors from the following denominational bodies:

• Donegal Presbytery
• Eastern PA Conference of the United Methodist Church
• Penn Central Conference of the United Church of Christ
• Southern PA District of the Church of the Brethren