When the iPad came out earlier this year, honestly, I thought the whole thing was kind of silly. I was already halfway geeked-out with a MacBook and iPod and had my eyes set on the future release of the iPhone 4. I really didn't see the need for another Mac device, especially one that, at first glance, appeared to be nothing more than an oversized iPhone.
The only reason I thought I'd ever actually get Steve Jobs' latest gadget was to preach from it. If I could read off it and scroll with the tip of my finger, well, that actually might be worth something. But that was just a crazy thought. It wasn't like it was going to dramatically change my preaching. No real need for it.
So it really should come as no surprise that I now own an iPad and am preaching with it.
And yes, I'll confess straight-up - ultimately this is about having a gadget to play with. I will admit to my tech-geekdom. Although it does save paper - I typically read off 7-9 pages a Sunday, and that adds up to a few trees every year, right? It's the pastor going green! And playing with another gadget.
I've been at it three weeks now and it's going well. I'm viewing the sermon as a pdf file in iBooks. Positioning the iPad upright, I simply "flick" through the "pages" with a sideways swipe. I have to save the document at a rather large 20 pt., but this does the trick . Of all the ways I've tried to view my sermon this is more like using actual paper, without the paper.
Is there a little anxiety about relying on a battery-powered instrument? Sure. The first two weeks I printed out a hard copy (albeit single-space and smaller font), just in case. I'm glad to say I didn't have to use them, and I imagine I'll forego this security blanket soon. The iPad actually holds its charge remarkably well. And I'm not too concerned about finger-swiping too far - it's not any different than accidentally turning two pages instead of one. Preaching is far from a perfect enterprise, and honestly, that's part of what makes it special; knowing Someone other than yourself is at work in the process.
Response from the congregation, in case you're wondering, has been fine. No one's walked out in protest. If anything, those who've noticed have asked questions and seemed genuinely intrigued. Although one family was caught off-guard - apparently they paid attention to how many pages I turned and could tell when the sermon was wrapping up. Now the finger swipes, more plentiful, were throwing them off. I like keeping folks on their toes. ;-)
My plans are to make it more than just something I preach off of, turning it into a portable sermon study resource. I've loaded it with lots of tools - the entire NRSV and Message translations, in which you can do some amazing searches and comparisons. I've installed apps for Hebrew and Greek and the Confessions, as well as weblinks to a number of sermon resources I use. In iBooks and the Amazon Kindle app I've downloaded some commentaries (although it's currently slim pickings in the ebook world) and a few great reads by the likes of Brian McLaren, Marcus Borg, Frederick Buechner, and Anne Lamott. And perhaps just as notable is what I don't have on it - no Facebook or Twitter on the iPad. Seriously. I'm keeping it pure!
Like I said, this isn't going to transform my behind-the-pulpit experience. I don't know that preaching with an iPad will necessarily make my sermons any better. But if today's technology can be put to use in the church, why not?
Plus, it gave me a reason to create a Facebook page on the topic, which you should join right now.
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