3 Simple Rules for Improving Your Presentation of the Gospel

1. Content Is King: All the beauty and style in the world can't make up for a poorly prepared message. Your sermon or class material must be your primary focus. Invest the majority of your time in studying and understanding your topic. Once your outline is developed, then move your attention to how to best reinforce your main points visually. Not only will this lead to better content, but it will keep you from wasting time designing a slide or flyer that doesn't correspond with the title or theme you decide to emphasize in your teaching.

2. Learn From The Pros: Help your designs both fit in with the professionals and stand out from the crowd by seeing what others have designed to communicate on similar topics. You can do this by looking at the covers of books on amazon.com that deal with your topic or by browsing sample images from websites such as www.powerpointsermons.com, www.outreach.com, or The Center for Church Communications (www.cfcclabs.org/). By spending a little time doing your homework, you can save time in the long run. You will see what approaches work well, and see what layouts and formats are over-used so that you can design a piece that actually gets noticed.

3. Use The Right Tools: Word and PowerPoint are NOT DESIGN SOFTWARE. They are primarily built to help you communicate with text - not images. If you are going to be designing your own material you need a copy of PhotoShop. PhotoShop is the industry standard application for exercising the ultimate control over your images and creating beautiful and meaningful visuals. The latest, greatest version of PhotoShop retails for over $700, but luckily Adobe has released a very powerful consumer-grade version called PhotoShop Elements. The current version is 7, and retails for about $100, but if you are on an even tighter budget you can usually find an older version (I actually use version 2.0 for most of my designs) for around $20 on eBay! With great software so readily available there is no excuse for trying to force Microsoft Office to be something it is not. Pickup a cheap copy of PhotoShop Elements and a "PhotoShop for Dummies" book that matches the version you purchased. These two tools will give you the head start you need to creating great designs.

If you are new to creating high-quality presentations, these rules will keep you focused and on the right path. As this section expands, tutorials and other design tips will follow. To stay up to date subscibe to Mile2Messages for free!