Pastor Becomes Seekerlicious

Dateline September 19, 2008
From Lark News


GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. — Pastor John Taylor, 43, once a winsome and compelling preacher, has lately embraced film clips as a way to illustrate his sermon points. Last week his sermon was finally overwhelmed by them.

"He used fourteen clips, totaling 33 minutes of a 35-minute sermon," says one observer. "I forgot he was even on the platform."

Taylor’s speaking portions consisted mostly of short introductions of scenes.

"It was all, ‘Have a look at this clip. Now have a look at this one,’" says one man. "I felt like I should have brought popcorn."

The selections included such disparate fare as The Simpsons Movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Atonement, Juno and Live Free or Die Hard. Many found the point inscrutable.

"I think the common thread was loyalty or friendship or something," says one woman. "I believe there was a message in there somewhere but I’m still trying to figure out what it was."

Taylor insists that film clips offer "unparalleled emotional impact and common language." He used to write sermons with emotional variation — humor, poignancy, personal examples and exhortation. Now film clips perform those functions for him. He likes to start with a humorous scene, segue into a more serious one, then build his argument using clips from a variety of movies. He usually ends with an emotionally impacting scene, such as one from Titanic, intended to leave the congregation deeply moved. When the lights go up he simply says, "Let’s pray."

Taylor, who enjoys reading Variety to see what movies he might use as spiritual illustrations, has already planned his preaching schedule through 2012 based on future DVD releases.

"Spiderman 4 comes out in 2010," he says. "That should make for a great Sunday."

Of all the people in the church, the youth are the most supportive of the new direction.

"It’s Sermon Mash-up every Sunday," says one young man. "It’s awesome." •