THIRD HEAVEN OR SHEOL?

THE INCORPORATION OF
MULTIMEDIA IN HOMILETICS TEACHING AND
CHAPEL PREACHING AT THE NEW ORLEANS
BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Jerry N. Barlow, Th.D
Associate Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Work
Director, Communications Center
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

The use of multimedia in homiletics teaching and chapel preaching at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary has expanded recently from sound amplification, slides projection, and overhead cells projection. Multimedia consoles have been designed and installed in the Preaching Chapel (where graduate homiletics courses are taught) and in the Leavell Chapel (where mid- morning worship services are held weekly, Tuesday through Thursday). This paper discusses the multimedia capabilities, pedagogical uses, advantages, and lessons learned in the incorporation of these consoles in homiletics teaching and chapel preaching.

Introduction

Homiletics teaching and chapel preaching at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary changed in the 2000-2001 academic year. During the summer of 2000, a multimedia console was designed and installed in the newly renovated Bunyan Building, the main graduate instructional building. A similar installation was completed in the Leavell Chapel during the fall 2000 semester. A third console was placed in the graduate Preaching Chapel for the spring 2001 semester. The multimedia capabilities of the consoles offered interesting possibilities in the teaching and doing of preaching. Yet, did those consoles mean “third heaven” or “Sheol” for homiletics faculty, chapel preachers, and seminary students?

The answer to the previous question is the focus of this paper. However, due to the limited period in which the multimedia consoles have been used in homiletics teaching and chapel preaching, the answer is qualitative and limited experientially. The consoles have provided enhanced multimedia capabilities and advantages for pedagogical uses in homiletics teaching and for chapel preaching. But, not all has been “paradise,” and lessons have been learned in the incorporation of the consoles in classroom teaching and chapel preaching.

Console Multimedia Capabilities

Multimedia consoles are available commercially today, such as the Nomad AV Mobile Presentation Station (see Nomad Technologies, Inc., 7874 Twelfth Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55475 or www.nomadonline.com) However, reasons of durability, security, ease of operation, and tech support led N.O.B.T.S. administrators to a custom console and multimedia installation proposed by Mr. Steve Lemoine of Lion Multimedia Services (see Appendix 1).

Mr. Lemoine’s proposal included a moveable console of proven durability and ease of operation. The console he suggested was the Media Master Lectern by Sound Craft of New Orleans (see Appendix 2). This console is custom-made and has integrated multimedia capabilities for doing computer-aided presentations, playing videotapes or CD-ROM disks, showing documents or overhead cells, and surfing the Internet (see Appendix 3). The console has a large surface area for books, lecture notes, and other materials. It also offers a connection for a second computer, such as a laptop computer.

A computer/video switcher routes multimedia output to a ceiling-mounted projector. The projector’s display is bright enough to allow classroom lights to remain on usually. An onboard sound system provides an adequate level of sound, even in large classrooms. A remotely- operated computer mouse allows mobility for instructors when they are doing computer-aided presentations. The console itself has limited mobility and location in the classroom.

Uses and Advantages in Homiletics Teaching and Chapel Preaching

Quentin J. Schultze wrote that “at one time or another, people of faith have used every means of communication to build communities of shalom” (Schultze 2000, 41). Roy DeBrand noted that “several popular preachers today use overhead projectors while preaching. . . . Other preachers use slides, projected as they speak. . . . Why not try using contemporary technology to advance the age-old gospel message? Such visual assistance could be very effective when well done” (DeBrand 1992, 405).

Churches and preachers are certainly using various means of communication and contemporary technology in worship services and in preaching. Seminary students need to be exposed to the variety of communication means available today and learn how to use such means effectively. Using multimedia in homiletics teaching and chapel preaching can facilitate student awareness of modern communication means and stimulate helpful insights in the effective use of contemporary communication technology in preaching. However, while multimedia-enhanced homiletics teaching and preaching may have a “modeling effect” (for better or worse) upon seminary students, the motive of the teacher and of the preacher in using multimedia must not be to impress but to impact. Al Fasol’s guidelines for producing Christian television programs should guide teachers and preachers in using multimedia: “Magnify the message rather than the messenger” (Fasol 1996, 119). The same could be said with regard to the means of communicating the message, whether in the seminary classroom or in the chapel. Preachers and teachers of preachers “have to believe that the power of God’s Word will be more effective than any. . .communication gimmick” (MacArthur 1992, 345).

Use of the multimedia consoles in homiletics teaching and chapel preaching has exposed students at N.O.B.T.S. to the type of multimedia technology being used today in business, university, military, and church settings. Such use has not only had a “modeling effect” on students, but it has added to the effectiveness of teaching and doing preaching. For example, in a graduate Preaching Practicum class, by only pushing a few buttons the instructor can project a sample student sermon brief which contains exegetical main points, switch to a previous lecture presentation comparing exegetical main points with expositional main points, and play a video of a noted preacher using expositional main points effectively. By using the multiple media capabilities of the console, the instructor can stimulate the interest of a variety of learner types, while yet maintaining a more unified student focus on the learning content of the moment. The console also offers the instructor the advantage of having all of the media equipment in one central unit which does not have to be blocking student sight-lines and which can be quickly prepared ahead of class for use via the means of a computer floppy disk (or zip disk) or by referencing a presentation via the Internet (and presentations may remain stored in the console computer’s memory).
Another use and advantage of the multimedia console includes student training in media- enhanced preaching. Students in Preaching Practicum, for example, can utilize overhead cells, videotapes, and computer-aided sermon outline presentations, individually or collectively, in their classroom preaching and study the effectiveness of those media resources for enhancing their preaching. Hopefully, they will learn also how to make the means of communicating subordinate to the message communicated.

One important benefit of the multimedia console in homiletics teaching and chapel preaching has been the stimulation of instructors and preachers in the area of creativity. Some instructors have begun to utilize a variety of pedagogical methods in a creative mix of cognitive content and experiential learning activities. Some chapel preachers have used media-enhanced sermon introductions and conclusions effectively. Instructors have helped student learning retention and understanding by briefly reviewing previous computer-aided presentations with the class, while chapel preachers have projected their sermon outlines during preaching for purposes of giving clarity, emphasis, and impact.

In light of its uses and advantages, the multimedia console has become popular with some preaching professors, chapel preachers, and students. Yet, not everyone has been caught up into the third heaven, nor has Sheol been avoided in all instances of console use.

Lessons Learned

A number of lessons have been learned in using the multimedia consoles in teaching and doing preaching. Some of those lessons include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Instructors who know how to use the individual media components of the console may not know how to access or integrate the use of those components through the console switcher. Lesson learned: every instructor needs some console orientation or training.

2. Because the consoles contain multiple media components, instructors may attempt to utilize all of the components in each teaching period and may become more focused on the process of their teaching than on the pedagogical purpose of that teaching. Lesson learned: instructors need a reminder of effective media-utilization methodology in teaching.

3. Since some instructors do not use the consoles “regularly” in their teaching, they may forget how to access a needed media component at a crucial time in their class period. Lesson learned: have media support personnel available, especially at the beginning of class periods.

4. The multimedia consoles have operated well but not without some problems inherent with electronic equipment (and with the law governing the operation of such equipment: i.e., “if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, and usually at the worst time”). Lesson learned: have media support personnel and backup equipment available–and remind instructors to have an alternative teaching plan ready.

5. Having the media equipment and technicians in place for each chapel service tends to make using them necessary, even if projecting the chapel preacher during delivery can be distracting to in-house viewers. Lesson learned: project the preacher’s sermon outline and utilize other multimedia components only to enhance the preaching and not simply to utilize the equipment.

Other lessons learned have included the need for media support personnel to check the multimedia consoles periodically during each day’s use. Some professors have a tendency to fail to turn off the remote computer mouse or to leave the video projector on. Other instructors leave tapes or disks in the console equipment. Professors who “team-teach” need to coordinate not only their teaching content, but also their use of the multimedia console (note: and sometimes one professor in a team-teaching course may be “intimidated” by the other professor’s skillful use of the console). Finally, instructors who are new in using the consoles have discovered the need to “practice” their media presentations before class in order to gain familiarity with the console switcher and with presentation problems which could arise.

Conclusion

In his chapter on effective presentation, Wayne McDill wrote that “even if you have ‘good stuff,’ . . .the way you present your sermon may well determine whether it is heard” (McDill 1999, 131). The same may be said about classroom teaching. The use of multimedia in one’s preaching or teaching presentation can enhance communication effectiveness and content receptivity in this media-oriented age. But, such use must be done well.
The multimedia consoles in the Preaching Chapel and the Leavell Chapel have made media- enhanced homiletics teaching and chapel preaching easier. However, some professors and preachers are still reluctant to utilize the technology in their teaching and preaching. To them, the consoles belong to Sheol. Others are excited about the media capabilities of the consoles. A growing number of professors at N.O.B.T.S. clamor for the classrooms with the consoles and disdain the use of individual media equipment, once they have used a multimedia console.

N.O.B.T.S. plans to continue offering media presentation and console training to faculty members and to expand the installation of additional consoles for instructional use. Two newly designed consoles will be installed for use in the fall 2001 semester. These consoles will contain the same multimedia equipment and capabilities as the current consoles, but their console size will be reduced for installation in small classrooms like the Pastoral Ministry Chapel.

As technology advances, so will multimedia capabilities for homiletics teaching and preaching. The current consoles will need to be updated eventually, and pedagogical methodology will need to be revised. However, those who teach, study, and do preaching–and employ multimedia to do so–should never forget: “The power of the sermon, its anima or life, is a direct result of God’s participation in the preaching event” (Miller 1995, 141).

Reference List

DeBrand, Roy. “The Visual in Preaching.” In Handbook of Contemporary Preaching, ed. Michael Duduit, 398-407. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992.

Fasol, Al. A Complete Guide to Sermon Delivery. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996.

MacArthur, John, Jr. Rediscovering Expository Preaching. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1992.

McDill, Wayne V. The Moment of Truth: A Guide to Effective Sermon Delivery. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999.

Miller, Calvin. Marketplace Preaching: How to Return the Sermon to Where It Belongs. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995.

Schultze, Quentin J. Communicating for Life: Christian Stewardship in Community and Media. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2000.

APPENDIX 1: SAMPLE CONSOLE BID

Technology Bid from: Lion Multimedia Services
February 9, 2001
Quote for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Attn: Dr. Barlow - Bunyan Building–Preaching Chapel (B202)