Video Preaching

Pastor and author Rob Bell recently voiced his concerns about video preaching, where people only see the preacher on a large screen. He explained:

It's powerful but there's also a dark side. Video is not church. You put images and music on a screen, and people will listen. But it's also dangerous. You're playing with fire. I think video technology deserves to be scrutinized heavily.

... I don't think we know yet what the long-term impact will be on disciple-making. In 10 years we may discover what particular kind of Christ follower is formed by video preaching.

... A massive group setting is also dangerous. You can come, sit, listen, and go home and think, I've been to church, even if you haven't practiced any "one anothers." And with video that only gets more intense. I'm not sure that's the direction we want to be heading.

He offers some good points to think about. It sounds similar to some of the issue raised in Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps, who recently became a teaching pastor at Bell's church. The point is that "the medium is the message." Thus, changing from live preaching to video preaching will impact what people take from the sermon.