When I was growing up there were three ways to present lyrics for worship songs: printed in the bulletin, hymnal book and overhead projector. Sometime in the mid 90s, though, PowerPoint and projectors started becoming the norm for worship lyrics. This dramatic shift in worship services produced a new kind of church nerd: the PowerPoint guy.
Every church has one; you might even be him or her. The PowerPoint guy is always huddled behind the computer on Sunday morning, making sure every worship song is in the appropriate order and every announcement has the pertinent information.
He understands that people can’t worship God through song if they don’t know what words to sing.
He understands that people can’t fill out the sermon notes if he doesn’t hit the button on time.
He understands that people won’t know when the potluck is if the font is too small to be legible.
God gifts every believer with spiritual gifts, which are to be used for the edification of his church and the advancement of his kingdom. If Paul were to create his list of spiritual gifts today, we would see “PowerPoint” right up there with teaching and hospitality.
Not everyone is perfect, though, and PowerPoint guy can have some faults.
Sometimes the sermon can get a little boring, especially if PowerPoint guy has to sit through multiple services. It’s easy to lose focus and start playing Angry Birds when the pastor starts into her long, drawn out analogy. There’s nothing worse for PowerPoint guy, though, than when he’s about to get three stars and the pastor interrupts him by asking for the next slide.
As a former PowerPoint guy, I know that there can also be a little pride involved. Sometimes I would create what I thought was the perfect PowerPoint, filled with moving imagery that really advanced the purpose of the sermon. Then, when the pastor didn’t get to that part of the sermon with the moving imagery, I would get a little upset. Not only did my hard work go to waste, but the congregation was denied PowerPoint that revealed a small part of God’s nature.
I don’t really see churches moving away from computers and projectors any time soon, which means that PowerPoint guy is here to stay. Running PowerPoint is often a thankless job and there are a lot of dedicated men and women in churches around the world happily sitting behind a computer, faithfully making their contribution to God’s kingdom. Perhaps this weekend, as you’re walking out of church, stop by the computer and thank your church’s PowerPoint guy or gal for their service.
If you’ve done PowerPoint at your church, what is one of your favorite stories?
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