Table Of Content

TELEVISION AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION AND THE EFFECT IT HAS ON PREACHING “EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT PREACHING I LEARNED FROM WATCHING TV” A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY J. PHILLIP HAMM NOVEMBER 2006 CONTENTS DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iii CHAPTER 1. THE PROBLEM TELEVISION AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION CREATES FOR THE PREACHER . . . . . . . . 1 2. THEOLOGICAL MANDATE FOR COMMUNICATING GOD’S WORD IN A FORMAT THAT CONFORMS TO THE LISTENER’S MINDSET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3. PRECEDENT RESEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 4. TEACHING OUTLINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 5. REFLECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 WORKS CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 VITA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my precious wife Christy and our children Abby, Jonathan, and Ethan. Thank you for sitting on the couch by my side as I “researched” countless hours of television programming. ii ABSTRACT Preachers find it increasingly difficult to maintain the attention of their audiences. Each sermon must compete with hours of high quality, professionally written, fast paced television that is regularly watched by church attendees. Try as they must, preachers struggle against such stiff competition. The only way to contend in the world of communication is to learn the concepts that make the television so powerful. A preacher has no choice but to learn the communication techniques that television and commercial producers use to get and keep the attention of the viewer and communicate the unchanging Word of God effectively. This thesis-project is an attempt to give preachers an overview of the communication techniques used by television and commercial producers. To achieve this goal, the first chapter describes the problem. The second chapter is a Biblical and Theological defense for using modern communication techniques to deliver the ancient stories of scripture. The third chapter reveals some of the common techniques professionals use when making television shows and commercials, and the relevancy of using such information in sermons. The fourth chapter contains a lesson plan and handouts used to teach preachers the information contained in chapter three. The thesis ends with the presentation of conclusions drawn while teaching the lesson, as well as remarks of the students to whom it was taught. iii CHAPTER ONE THE PROBLEM TELEVISION AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION CREATES FOR THE PREACHER People have short attention spans. Albert Book says, in research concerning advertising, that “it is much tougher to gain and hold the audiences attention” (Book, Cary, and Tannenbaum 13). This insight is not only true for commercials and television but also for sermons. During sermons people only listen for a few moments before turning their attention to something else. George Temple, in a recent article for REV magazine, states that “my mother knew I could watch TV for hours, but I only lasted a few minutes in church before the squirming, fidgeting and pestering my little sister would begin” (Temple 70). He continued by describing what an incredible experience it was when the pastor showed a Billy Graham film. For the first time in his life, he was receiving information in church in the same way he received information elsewhere. People will stop paying attention to sermons when the preacher fails to communicate in a mode in which the listener is accustomed to receiving information. This problem is due in part to the television viewing habits of our culture. These habits cannot be changed nor can the way television programs and commercials are made. Therefore, preachers would be wise to learn from the media how to communicate in a way that listeners are accustomed to receiving information. 1 Justification of the Problem Television and video images are replacing the positions that humans once filled. No longer are people able to march into their local warehouse stores to purchase their family's annual allotment of toilet paper and find several women happily handing out hotdog samples. Now as people enter a store they find a series of television sets advertising an array of products. Each television set has a built-in VCR or DVD player playing a video. At the point when the video or DVD is finished, it is set to loop the program back to the beginning. This tactic is used so that the television set can convey as much information to viewers as possible before something else catches their attention. Do advertising agencies and television producers know communication techniques that pastors should learn? Is there a reason commercials are made to tell a story in thirty seconds or less? Why do people pay better attention to some television shows than others? What makes people change the channel on some commercials but are entertained by others? People in our churches are not different from other Americans. They likely have the televisions in their homes on for the national average of seven hours and forty minutes a day as reported by Neilson Media Research. The same research shows the average American watches over four hours of television a day (“Facts”). By the age of sixty-five, the average American will have viewed over two million television commercials (Clark 195). Research shows that 50% of U.S. homes have three or more television sets (Rideout, Vandewater, and Wartella). Forty percent of 2 Americans say they "always or often watch television while eating dinner" (Gentile and Walsh 8). The people in churches are exposed to the same advertising techniques as everyone else. They watch the same thirty-minute situational comedies. They are being conditioned, without their knowledge, to receive information in a format dictated by the television producers and advertising executives that create the hours of television they watch. How can preachers compete with these professionally produced videos and commercials? How can preachers expect people to come and listen attentively to a thirty-minute sermon? How can preachers communicate to people the most important information they will ever need to hear if they fail to hold their attention by not adopting the communication techniques with which our culture has grown accustomed? Pastors must learn to address the unchanging, eternal truth of God's Word in ways that keep the attention of modern television viewers. This project will consist of three main parts. The first part will show the theological mandate for communicating God's Word in a format that conforms to the listener’s mindset. The second part of this project will systematically analyze the theories behind modern media communication. What are the theories and philosophies that drive advertising executives and television producers to create commercials and programs? The third part will take the information contained in this thesis to help pastors learn communication techniques that will enable them to gain and hold the attention of listeners during a sermon. Pastors must comprehend why listeners’ attention spans are drastically shrinking. However, it is not enough merely to understand the problem; pastors must use their knowledge of modern communication techniques to change their presentation style. The information will be 3 collected, analyzed, and organized into a lesson plan that will be used to teach one session in a Doctor of Ministry course at United Theological Seminary. Such information will be helpful in teaching students to know their audience and to shape their communication style to meet and keep that audience’s attention. 4 CHAPTER TWO THEOLOGICAL MANDATE FOR COMMUNICATING GOD’S WORD IN A FORMAT THAT CONFORMS TO THE LISTENER’S MINDSET Just as we need an interpreter to communicate to people in a different culture, preachers are the interpreters of God's message in their own culture. There are many barriers they face as they stand before the congregation on Sunday mornings that could hinder the communication of the message. The people who fill the pews each week are struggling with disappointing marriages, problem children, financial difficulties, and struggles at work. The greatest barrier preachers face in communicating however, is keeping the listeners’ attention. Holding the listeners’ attention requires among other things that preachers learn modern communication techniques. It is apparent from scripture that God has always chosen to speak to His people in a format with which they are familiar. Jesus employed several methods to communicate clearly and keep the audience’s attention. He used ideas and images familiar to those listening. Matthew chapter eight tells of an incident when Jesus and His disciples were getting into a boat to cross over the Sea of Galilee to "the country of the Gergesenes" (28). A multitude now surrounded Him, and thus He gave the command to depart to the other side of the lake. Not long after entering the boat, a large storm arose and began to batter the fishing boat in which Jesus and his disciples were riding. They feared that they all may lose their lives. Jesus then "rebuked" (Matt. 8.26) the wind and waves. The 5 word "rebuke" is used in this miracle to demonstrate His power over demonic forces. The term is used by Jesus only when casting out demons. The use of this word "may presuppose evil spirits as expressing themselves in the storm" (Hagner 33). This incident shows that Jesus had authority over nature and demons. The only one who has authority over such things is God; however, the disciples did not yet grasp this truth. They had been taught a complicated lesson in a powerful and relevant way. These were fishermen who understood the ways of the sea. God had their undivided attention when the storm began and they found their lives in peril. They were clearly focused on the event that was before them. Although they did not grasp the gravity of the lesson at that moment, some time later they would recall the events of that day and completely understand the message: Jesus is God. This lesson would be memorable for the disciples because Jesus communicated in a manner with which they were familiar. Matthew 13 is another example of God communicating in a relevant form. This chapter is a discourse comprised mostly of parables. Jesus would use these short examples to communicate to the disciples the eternal truths He was teaching. These parables each compare the Kingdom of God to something relevant to the disciples’ lives. Jesus used common experiences such as farming, fishing, and cooking in these short stories. Each disciple would be able to relate to one or more of the examples given by Jesus. When Jesus explained the parable of the sower (V1-9,18-23), the parable of the wheat and tares (V24-30), and the parable of the mustard seed (V31- 32), He gave the disciples a clear picture of the Kingdom of God. Because they were never far from the realities of farming, the ideas of seed being sown on hard ground 6