Christmas season is good for eating too much chocolate, enjoying family time and watching the odd movie.  We watched an odd movie this year – it was a very low budget film produced by folks with little experience of making movies.  Actually it was impressive for who produced it, but it struck me that there are lessons to be learned from a low budget film.

In the next couple of days I’d like to share some lessons that stood out to me as I was watching the film, obviously recognizing that a film is a different thing to a sermon . . .

1. Actual speech is critical. Special effects, beautiful scenery, stunning vistas, impressive wardrobe and even decent plot do not make a movie work if the speech is lacking in some way.  The same is true of preaching – the best visual presentation, impressive powerpoint slides, stunning wardrobe and even a good sermon won’t really work if the actual speech feels wrong.

2. It’s hard to be natural in an unnatural environment. I know acting is acting and preaching isn’t acting.  However, both are unnatural environments.  The actor is dressed up as someone else, at another time, in a strange place pretending to be another place.  Unnatural.  The preacher is being stared at by a crowd of listeners who usually don’t talk back, with someone controlling the volume of the speakers, a microphone in front, etc.  Unnatural.  Perhaps the biggest challenge in these situations is to come across naturally.  Only when watching a low budget film do you realize how good the normal Hollywood crowd are.  Same with preachers.  Some command attention, others create a cringe.  I think natural presentation is critical, but it takes work, it takes prayer, and in some respects it may take what only God can give.

Tomorrow I’d like to share a couple more preaching lessons from this low budget film.