So what about the use of slides during sermons? (I refuse to call it PowerPoint, because that is just the name of one of the worst tools for creating such presentations; the projections themselves are not “a PowerPoint”) Do visuals projected on a screen aid or hinder an audience’s understanding?

I’ve already written some in favor of the use of slides. Yet I know that the misuse of presentations has created as many problems as the use of such has solved.

Yesterday, I pointed some friends to an article from a few years ago that summarizes an important study on the use of text slides. This study found that projecting words on a screen and reading the same words simultaneously actually hurts understanding. In other words, if someone reads a portion of Scripture while that text is on the screen, people get less out of it. (The article was called The Death of PowerPoint (or at least, text slides))

I’d like to hear your thoughts. Do you find the use of a projector to be helpful or unhelpful as you listen to a sermon? Are there any things that particular help or hinder?

[For those who are wondering, I much prefers programs like Keynote or websites like Prezi for creating presentations]

Drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt