There are tremendous advantages to helping people see the truth through the use of film clips. The disadvantages lie entirely within the logistics of using the clips. By making good choices in hardware and software, and by adhering to some simple rules, preachers can use this technology seamlessly.

Playback Units

There are two types of playback units for screening film clips in sermons: VHS video and DVD. The benefit of VHS is that if you are using multiple clips from different films, it is easy to cue them all up in advance. If you were using more than one scene from a single film, however, you would need as many copies of the video as you had clips to show — fast forward is too slow. VHS also produces an inferior image compared to DVD, and that is why VHS is on the decline and DVD is on the rise at video rental locations.

Advertisement

DVD produces clear digital images of the film. Skipping from one scene to another is simplified through the use of bookmarks, which allow you to identify places in a film that you can quickly revisit. I am partial to the Power DVD software which allows you to save and import bookmarks that link to titles, so that if you want to use a scene again it will be simple to cue up.

Screen Placement

If you intend to project clips, I will assume you have a screen. Placement of the preacher and the screen is important to maximize the reception of both. Visual support is, by its nature, arresting. Contrary to popular theories about multi-tasking, when dealing with complicated or abstract ideas, people focus only on one thing at a time. When your sermon illustration clip is running, no one is paying attention to you. Spatial separation between the screen and the speaker is helpful.

Check, Check

Just as you would not cue a soloist or start a worship team without a sound check, you need to make certain that your projection equipment and the volume controls have been checked and set — and checked again. Once, at a local church, I was using a clip as an opener, everything was perfect — except I forgot to tell the sound man. He switched everything back for the worship team. The clip was repeated three times before sound was restored. The congregation understood, but the impact of the illustration as an attention-getter was diminished with each failed viewing.

Who has the remote?

When using stand-alone VHS or DVD playback units, you have to rely on a volunteer to start and stop the clip. I was preaching at a conference at Valley Bible Church in San Marcos, and I reached a point where I wanted to illustrate waiting on the Lord. To show what most of us are like, I used a clip from The Rookie. My friend Bill Farrel, the pastor, was my volunteer. He happens to be a sports nut. Bill got so caught up in the drama of the clip that I had to call out to him numerous times to hit the stop button. Finally he snapped out of it, hit the stop button, and everyone laughed. Fortunately it reinforced my point — sometimes you have to wait.