Recently, David Prince sat down with Dr. Russell Moore, President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to talk preaching. With Pastor Jeremy Haskins moderating the discussion, Drs. Prince and Moore discussed a variety of topics related to preaching.
In the video below, Drs. Prince and Moore discuss the use of technology during preaching and whether pastors should preach from an iPad. They also discuss using Twitter and whether or not people listening to the sermon should use a Bible or an app on their phones/tablets.
Interesting post. Should Pastors also not preach from notes then? Is there really a difference between preaching from notes or from an iPad? Do the same Pastors “disguise” notes in their bibles to make it look like they are preaching from the bible when they are really preaching from printed or handwritten notes? I prefer blatant honesty – just put the notes or iPad on the pulpit beside your bible, if you really feel like you need an open bible for the “authority” factor. Great point that we no longer use scrolls – made me laugh – delivery methods change, but the Word does not.
Great video. My iPad has replaced my old paper notes when I preach. I read and interact with the text from a hard copy of the Bible, while using my iPad for my notes. I do, however, keep my iPad in a nice leather case so it sort of blends in with my leather Bible and traditional pulpit.
I think like with anything else we can find extremes that are for and against this argument. The way I see using a tablet to preach is no different than any other area in your life; and that question becomes, is God the center of your life or just a part of it? We get so caught up in multitasking our lives so that we end up including God, we include scripture, we include church in our lives but it’s just a part of it instead of being the center of it. It’s more of a heart issue and what you are trying to say about your heart and love for God’s word.
I preach from my iPad every week on Sunday mornings. Here are my thoughts on the topic: who cares? One of these guys shared something about the physical book giving you authority. I couldn’t disagree more. The words were written down thousands of years ago and those autographs are gone. Everything else that we have is a copy of those words. I can imagine someone complaining when the printing press was invented that the words don’t have authority because they weren’t copied by hand. The print Bibles that we have are a huge technological advance over anything that the early church had. The notes on my iPad that include the Biblical text are no different than paper notes and a leather Bible. It’s not the medium that gives authority – it’s the actual words of God.
So my thought is this – if you’d rather preach with paper notes and a Bible – go for it. If you’d rather preach with an iPad – go for it. If you’d rather preach without notes – go for it. If you’d rather preach with a kindle – go for it. As long as the sermon is Christ centered and the gospel is proclaimed – I couldn’t care less what the preacher is holding.