Friday, March 26, 2010

taking a leap...



So, I'm about to try something new.

For those of you who preach this'll be interesting.  For those of you who don't this'll seem pretty geeky.

Okay...

So, the laptop is running my Bible program.  I use it to study, dig, confirm, check. Basically it helps me make sure I don't have to fire myself for being a heretic.  I'd like a better one but we need to save up the $'s to get it.

To the right is my Bible and first notes (the black binder).

Beneath the laptop, dead center, is a new sketch book.  I'm going to try and mix things up a bit. See, I've always written my entire sermon out in great detail.  The reasoning behind this (when I started) was I wanted to be able to write them out in book form some day, so figured I'd need exhaustive notes to do so properly.

Duhh...transcription service, or voice recognition software?

To be fair, when I started out, VRS didn't exist.

Anyway, I've realized I don't need to write exhaustive notes anymore.  But, when you've been doing a 'thing' as long as I have when it comes to preaching (17 years at this point) you get pretty set in your ways.

So, this week (I've been feeling a little restless) I decided to try something new.

Yesterday when I spoke at the Bible College I did so from only POINT FORM notes, trusting my background, my preparation, and the GHOST to effectively fill in the gaps.

I think it went alright.

Alright enough that I'm going to try it at THE WELL this Sunday.

So instead of my typical 14-18 pages of 'transcript' I've ended up with TWO pages of point form notes in a sketch book, which is like four pages in a notebook.  Notice that--because it's a sketch book--I'll be able to see the entire thing all at once.  Gonna' need a bigger pulpit though. For now I'll use two music stands side by side.

I feel a little nervous, but because I like new experiences, the nervousness isn't enough to get me to chicken out and go back to what I 'know'.

I'll let you know sometime next week how it went...


T

1 comment:

Kevin Makins said...

Same here. I started with point form, and moved last summer to fitting it all on one or two pages max. Now it is just from left to right, columns and headers, which means I have no real "notes" to fall back on if I screw it up, but it should be in me enough to just go.

I'm all for mixing it up as radically as possible... if its a craft then we have to re-examine our tools, right?

Anyways, glad to see you working through new methods. We'll have to sit and "talk sermonizing" soon.