If there were some technology that would help our preaching, surely we should consider it, right?  Sure.  I’d consider anything.  But some shortcuts are not worth the time they save.  I was contacted by a company that sells a technology for public speakers.  The technology is supposed to cut preparation by 90%, both the work and the stress.  I look past the hype and see a technology that I might support for business presenters and sales people, but not for preachers.  Why?

Because preparation is important.  Our process is as important, maybe more important, than our end “product.”  The technology in question allows a pre-recorded message to play into the ear of the speaker who then repeats what is heard.  Supposedly it creates a more natural presentation than a teleprompter.  I’m sure it would.  But more natural than genuinely natural?  I don’t think so.

Genuine Preparation Matters – The time we spend wrestling with the text, exegeting to the best of our ability, prayerfully developing, growing and crafting a sermon is good time.  It’s time with God.  It’s time for Him to work on us and in us so that when we preach it is not information transfer, but genuine preaching.  I’m glad I don’t have to spend hours turning pages in concordances, lexicons and commentaries.  Technology has allowed more time for genuine preparation, prayerful thought and wrestling with the text and sermon.  But I don’t want to cut preparation by 90% because when it comes to preaching God’s Word, genuine preparation matters.

Genuine Delivery Matters – Speaking with your head in your notes is not the most effective way to preach.  It is disconnected and can seem like a canned presentation lacking in the authenticity people crave.  But the solution is not to fake a natural delivery.  Pretending to speak naturally by some trick of memorization, the skill of an actor learning a monologue, painting eyes on your glasses that allow you to “look up” while really looking down at notes, or hidden technology . . . it’s all somehow a pretense.  If integrity matters anywhere, it matters in preaching.  Natural is good, but genuine is critical.  Get as natural as you can, but don’t compromise your integrity.  When it comes to preaching, genuine delivery matters.

So, my apologies to the company involved.  I wish them well in their business.  But for preaching, sometimes I feel the need to reject a shortcut.