Production
Instructions Not Included
It’s hours before Christmas morning or minutes after a child’s birthday party and daddies everywhere are stepping over millions of parts to look in the box for the infamous instruction manual. Instruction manuals either make us men look really smart or incredibly dumb, especially when we are seeking to put together a Barbie Dream House. We can’t let Ken be more of a man than us! The key to effective assembly is a set of well, organized components or parts, step by step organized instructions and images to compliment the process.
Statistics show that 83% of learning occurs from visual aspects compared to 11% when just hearing.
In fact, when it comes to retaining information, the average person only retains 10% of a message when its only presented orally.
This number jumps to 35% when a visual is used alone (with no spoken message). But check this out — when a message is spoken and complimented with a visual, 65% of the message is retained by the audience!
When one looks at statistics in retaining information and learning, it is easy to see that a simple instruction manual uses the right method in helping someone take a sometimes complex task and make it easier to accomplish goals through its use of words and images. Who would have thought that a simple booklet could have some insight in influencing today’s church to be more effective and relevant?
School educators get this well. Ask any teacher how effective learning would be if they took away his/her Smart Boards, projectors, dry erase boards and handouts! Learning would only take place through listening! I can’t imagine how much test scores would then drop if this was the case.
The progression of social media has been dictated by this principle.
It started with Facebook — actually no, you can look even back to the days of America Online and see that social media experienced a boost in chat rooms. However, by 2004 when Facebook was launched, social media saw the power of communicating with words and images. Twitter realized the average person doesn’t have time to read a 300 word post, so they launched in 2006, limiting the amount of words one could share and offering an option to use images. In recent years, Instagram and Pinterest have proven that people really are more interested in pictures than words. And with the launch of Vine and the progression of Instagram, video has now become the growing trend. No matter what comes next, it’s very clear to see that using words alone has never been an effective tool in communication.
Some may argue that Jesus only used words when he taught and never had projectors, handouts, iPhone apps and motion graphics. Well, although that is true, one passage clearly reveals that Jesus understood the need for a visual. In Matthew 13, Jesus was approached by the disciples with a serious question… “Why do you use parables when you talk to people?” Parables were made up stories by Jesus with the purpose of illustrating a Biblical truth. Jesus in everyday language basically responded back saying the people he was speaking to weren’t in any spiritual state to really grasp what he was trying to teach and that they could stare at him “till doomsday and not see it” and “listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it.” (MSG version)
Jesus understood that his teaching needed to have a large focus on creating a visual for his audience.
By the time Jesus finished sharing a made-up parable with great visual detail, the crowd was captivated and ready for the Biblical truth punchline which carried more weight and power. Jesus was a master at His approach in teaching.
So, how effective are today’s churches in bringing the Gospel visually? Some have effectively learned to compliment the visual with the spoken Word, but many still feel it’s not needed. I really believe if today’s churches would stop and see how a simple instruction manual can help an everyday, exhausted and weary father put together a Barbie Dream House, how much more effective could a pastor present a Biblical truth to a packed house of exhausted and drained church members? Twitter may even offer good training and encourage teachers to limit your words and use pictures at all times. Today’s iPhone generation is begging for more of the Scripture, yes. But, in the words of Isaiah, “blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.”
Sadly, many sermons today are just as effective as a million piece toy set that says “instructions not included.”
CHAD POLK
Creative Director / Owner
DigitizeMyMsg | Jackson, MS
givetheworldoriginal.com
With nearly fifteen years of student pastor experience, Chad felt a strong leading of God to venture into the creative world of graphics, web, print and media with an emphasis on ministry. In talking with pastors around the country, Chad found that so many today are in desperate need of someone to partner with them and help visualize concepts for their teachings. Chad currently owns and leads a creative design team focusing on graphics, web design, print and media/video production. All projects produced through Digitize My Message are fully custom and original. Digitize My Message is based in Mississippi and has partnered with ministries in 48 U.S. states as well as six countries internationally.
