Would you be offended if your Pastor preached from their Ipad?

Hello all...

I would like to know how you all feel about using the Ipad or any other tablet device for that matter to preach/teach the Word.

I am the adult teacher at my church and have been preaching for close to ten years. One thing I regret is that I have not saved more of my sermons and what the Lord has given me to minister.

I usually preach "Finney Style"... i.e. I use a "skeleton" outline as he called it.

I do not own a tablet device but have been using Bible apps on my Android device and Esword on the computer for years. I have a Ipod and have many sermons from this site on it.

I have been researching the potential to use the Ipad as a system of preaching and mainly for storing data/outlines.

I also love the ability to mark up the text w/ highlighting and underlighting (to this day I cannot bring my self to write in any of my paper bibles!)

Do any of the preachers/teachers have any experience w/ using this system? Reactions from others? What would you think if your pastor walked in this weekend carrying a Ipad and preached from it?

Of course we should not base our decisions and what man thinks... I know this could be a great tool to be able to profit others even more than I do now.

Any thoughts dear brothers and sisters?

God bless,

BrotherMatt

Hey Matt,

I have several friends that preach from their Ipad.

I still normally use the "skeleton" form and keep those saved in my computer files. It certainly helps when in the future I may want to draw from an area I have already studied in depth in the past.

That being said- it would seem that anything that enables you to be a better communicator and more effective minister is definitely a go. Really... that is all it boils down to. If it helps you to be a better preacher and have more "meat" within your messages then by all means make use of it.

As for anyone being offended..... well they might as well be offended at the Ipad as the color of the carpet! If one is offended at you using means to be a better minister then one must question their motivations in that. Why not be offended at the "skeleton" outlines...or the use of paper... or even processing the words on a word processor.... or colored ink to highlight passages...or the use of any notes at all...or the Bible version you are using...etc., etc., to infinity, as naseum!

There is an old saying that says, "Those who can and will do a thing do it. Those who can't or won't will criticize those who do". NEVER more true than in most churches! Recall that the Pharisees hated and criticized Jesus because He healed on the Sabbath. They didn't care so much about the Sabbath as in the fact that He could tap into the power of God and heal the sick...and they couldn't. So...what did they do... rather than repent and seek God for power to be a witness they just criticized the one who did have the power of God and was a witness. Sounds just about like today. ;-)

In a nutshell...Go For It! If it helps you ..Go For It!

Just my 2 cents

No offense here. Preach on Brother!

Be well,
Doug

I don't see why that would be offensive at all. I have a good friend who preached with his iPad (it was a great sermon the holiness of God) and I've uploaded my notes to my eReader and used that before, from what I've seen nobody was offended. In fact most people think it's a good idea.

If someone were to be offended by it, it would be a good idea to inquire why, I imagine someone who would be offended by such a thing is only looking for a good excuse to be offended and that was just the one they chose.

I say go ahead, it if helps you communicate the truth of Scripture better, just do it.

Very good points, Krispy.

The first thing that came to my mind was:

Philippians 1:18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

The Second was, is the Word being preached?

I would prefer to see 3 x 5 cards with the outline.

And, to reinforce what Krispy said, I would want to see the Bible in the preachers hands, not just laying on the pulpit.

Preach the Word!

I don't see any problem with using any kind of tools such as an Ipad or cell phone as long as it doesn't ring during service.

I like to make little notes in my bible, to each his own.

I guess it would depend if it will offend the members of the congregation. You should ask your congregation.

Hello all... thanks for the replies!!!! I was expecting some harsh feedback for some reason... maybe later.

To Krispy... I've been reading your posts long enough to know two things: 1. You would give solid advice (already planned to bring the Bible along). and 2... you would have something funny to say along w/ it... I'd be more likely to check status updates on SI than checking out the football scores!

I'm thinking about the WIFI only version...my church doesn't have WIFI so no worries about being rings/tones/chimes going off.

I attend a smaller (100 people max) Pentecostal Church. We have had one Pastor come for meetings and use his Ipad... went over fine. So I don't think OUR congregation would be offended. If I go out to preach? Not so sure. I will make sure to get permission from my Pastor before using it in the church as well...

One of the things I think would be good about it is that it would make me SLOW DOWN and FOCUS more on the message. Really dig into it... PREPARE it. I'm in the habit of just preparing outlines on small pieces of paper like a 3/5 card...kind of rush it sometimes I think. And you know how many of those pieces of paper I have left after 10 years? Not that many.

I would love to hear from any of you who have actually used one?

PS... I see SI has a Ipod App... be kind of cool to quit preaching for a bit and say "Lets go to Ravenhill for his thought on the subject." :)

BrotherMatt
BrotherMatt

Hi,

I would advise you to use one only at the Lord's leading. I have used my phone and tablet simply to read the Word from while sharing at the Lord's leading. I received some funny looks at first because it was contrary to the norm or carrying a large study Bible to share from. Any technology, like a study Bible, can reveal the heart of the person who is using it. Would you be willing to study and share from your marked up photo copied passages void of man made study aids? Any understanding you share of the Word separate from the illumination by the Holy Spirit is superficial at best.

In the end a tablet is just another platform to use extra Biblical tools. I urge you to approach this with the wisdom of Christ who judged with righteous judgement, not according to what He could see with His eyes but according to what the Father told Him.

Quote:
"you could use a device like that AND have a Bible there. Use the Bible for the bulk of your reading at the beginning, whatever text you're preaching on... and then use the device for other text references rather than flipping thru to find it."

Perfect.

Quote:
"Nothing like not being able to find the text you are looking for while trying to convey a thought."

Oh..., LOL... Yes, it is REALLY bad... :O)

Be well Brothers,
Doug

Enjoying your Bible by Alan Redpath

Topic: Bible

http://media.sermonindex.net/21/SID21075.mp3

This is a message the Lord brought me to yesterday that helped reinforce some things a dear brother exhorted me on recently. I believe it bears much weight in this discussion because of the many assumptions that can come to your audience when using a tablet and also the temptations to be involved in activities that are good but fruitless inherit to a general multipurpose device.

Blessings on you Doug

It seems as if a few folks hesitate because the person isn't using "their Bible". However, as we all know "The Bible" is the collected canon of scriptures.

If I have "The Bible" loaded onto my Ipad then I do indeed have "my Bible" with me....in fact a great many translations of it if I wish!

I also think it is great to use a laptop to preach from. By using several tabs I can have my outline, several translations, notes, images for an overhead to illustrate a point, etc. For example if preaching on the Judgement Seat of Christ I might throw a picture of the actual Bema Seat in Corinth on the screen for people to see. They then could get a sense of what Paul had seen with is own eyes when he wrote that.

As far as "well ,in using technology you might be checking ball game scores, reading the news, etc."...Sure , I guess it is possible. A person would have to be a very multi focused individual to pull it off... but I guess it is possible. However, it is just as possible that a person using a printed text Bible with notes on the side may have a pornographic picture in it. Anyone COULD do something like that with anything..... but ultimately it is the heart of the one using whatever means they choose that determines if it is used purely or not.

Anyway..just 2 cents worth. The hang ups many seem to have deals with how they are defining "my Bible". It isn't necessarily print on a page. It may be script on a computer screen that is" my Bible". The words of God are the cannized scriptures... in whatever format we read them... print on paper... or script on a computer screen. However, the use of technology in this venue does open up a great amount of impacting and forceful communication that we will miss out on otherwise.

again..just my 2 cents.

Blessings,

brother matt i don't want to condemn anyone else but i know that it's a big turn off to me personaly when a preacher is in the pulpit without a bible i believe he needs to get in the word and study for his sermon instead of an internet type message and if someone was witnessing to me and they did't have a bible i probably would not listen to them their is something powerful by having your bible in your hand i believe that's why the churches are in the shape their in these days because christians don't depend on the bible their is nothing in my opinion that can replace the bible but as others have stated pray about it and see how the lord would lead you, i respect everyone elses opinion, god bless you brother

Stick with the printed page! It looks like the Bible...pure and simple. It doesn't have an appearance of anything other than the Word of God. FOrget an Ipad...most of the world could not afford one anyway. Some may not realize that you have a gazillion helps downloaded, so what does it prove. But when you stand before your congregation with the Bible itself, there is the authority. Not that I would be offended, but many want to rely on all the new technological gizmos. Yes, I am well under 60, 50,.... Why does the church of today want to be more technologically relevant, while many times missing the power of God? Just wondering. Some of these tools are great, I have them on my computer and ipod, but not in the pulpit. It is there I stand between God and man.

I also think it is interesting when many play with their ipads, ipods, cell phones, etc. in church rather than listening to the Word. This is a distraction Satan is using to cause many not to listen to the voice of God. Texting, playing games, surfing the internet, etc., but if you have the Bible open, you cannot just push a button or touchscreen and surf, etc. Being reverent will help give God time to speak to us.
Technology can be good, but it also can be used wrongly.

No offence, but I find it almost laughable that people reading from a computer or other technological device are using said technological device condemn the use of a technological device in preaching. Wouldn’t that be making one form of communication more sanctified than another? Wouldn’t that be somewhat idolizing such a thing as a format of communication? God wrote in tablets of stone. Wouldn't that represent the more correct image divine authority?

Perhaps it would depend on the group of people hearing the message. If the imagery of a black book is to them the only acceptable symbol of authority, then perhaps they would reject the message based on another imagery placed before them by the person delivering the message.
I’ve read several thrilling accounts about the “proclaimer” used by Faith Comes By Hearing: http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/proclaimer in the which many “heathens” are converted and churches established because of a little electronic device which reads God’s Word to them in the language that they understand. Those people often do not even have a written language, and if their language IS written, they are illiterate and can’t read it, but God is transforming thousands of such lives because of such electronic devices.

Thank God for ministers who don’t idolize a certain form of communication, and use whatever method possible to minister the Gospel! Those who learn other forms of technology understand the value of the tools available to them and are able to increase the talents that God gives them.

The Word is the Word is the Word, it's the living Word, I don't care if the Pastor was Preaching it from water colors on poster board, it's not what it's written in, it's what is written. Just be grateful your Pastor is preaching the Word, some don't.

All the responses are much appreciated friends.

Please know that whatever route I end up going my one focus is to gloriy Christ that all men may know He is sent of the Father. All I want to do is be a better minister... better able to uplift and exhort the people that hear me.

Jeremy...could you please explain the Redpath sermon and some of the points made? I am very thankful for your reply and would like to know more about what you mean about "assumptions" that can come to your audience.

Also "temptations to be involved in activities that are good but fruitless inherit to a general multipurpose device." What do you intend by this statement friend?

It is very clear to me as some have expressed that the Bible is the Bible whether on printed page or electronic format. No difference there. If I use a printed or handwritten note form and use a Strongs to learn about the Greek am I not listenting to the Spirit? Am I leaning on my own understanding if I use commentaries and other resources? What about maps? Is it wrong to use those?

I see no difference b/t using a electronic device to bring forth the Word than using a printed page or handwritten notes...we have used other resources to help in the Sermon REGARDLESS of the final method.

The issue I could see be a problem is will it cause my brother to stumble? A friend of mine, young fella about 22, not very deep in God yet... I asked him about this... he said he would not like it b/c he would be afraid his tithe is going to the preacher to buy a fancy $500 device!

Love you all and appreciate your feedback so much! I have not made a decision on this issue one way or another and want to 100% as some have suggested rely on the Lord's leading.

Would love to hear what Greg thanks about the issue as the leader of SI.

BrotherMatt