a couple weeks ago, during Bible Study on Wed, my laptop adapter quit working... and my battery only was about 1/4 charged, so there I was using pPT when my laptop went dead... AND I didnt print any notes out! During Bible Study, I just put the point up on the screen, and then we discuss it.
But there I am without notes and no pPT, only The Bible... guess what? It still was a good bible Study... whether or not we have PPT, I can still teach and preach effectively. It is just extra that may help someone. Everyone at church says they like it. (yes I have spoken to everyone)
So it might not work at your church, but for the church that God has called me to, it works. I had never used it until I came here. The previous pastor had used it, and I heard that some liked it, so I thought, why not.... if I want them to respond to the messages, maybe I should be willing to learn something and change.
I know Baptists hate to change, but it didnt hurt this ol man... not this time....
Oh, and for the distractions, like when something goes wrong with the PC, I have instructed my ppt guy to just shut it down if the pc starts acting up...If it becomes a distraction --- it is out of there.
The only times I use pictures is during the opening illustration, and maybe the closing illustration.
unless I want to use a graph or something to help show my point...
Speaking about distractions.. I was preaching one time and our sound system somehow started picking up a neighbor's telephone conversation... so there I was preaching and this woman's voice was coming across the speakers!!! plus she was using foul language! Now that was distracting!