PowerPoint presentations for classes and other venues

Download free PowerPoint presentations for classes, seminars, worship services, and other venues.
Thought-provoking PowerPoint presentations that explore topics like world evangelism, cultural anthropology, and theology of missions.
Ignire meaningful discussions on topics from understanding the occult to missions communication

PowerPoint slide presentations for viewing or downloading to use

"The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear." — Isaiah 32:4

Downloadable free PowerPoint presentations used in classes, seminars, and other venues

The first link in each entry is to a PDF file which can be viewed immediately. The file with the "download as PowerPoint" label will likely need to be downloaded to a folder on your computer and then opened. It can, of course, then be used as is, or individual slides can be exported from it to be used in presentations you create.

Unfortunately, I haven't yet found time to record the lecture or narration that goes with each of the PowerPoint presentations. Please forgive me. 🙂

If you happen to discover an error in a slide, please let me know so I can correct it.

For worship services and similar venues

My covenant | Download as PointPoint: A covenant for all believers used at an international gathering of members of the Church of the Nazarene in Orlando, FL
What in the world is God doing? | Download as PointPoint: A look at some things about the current state of world evangelism efforts. Created for a seminar by Chuck Gailey and Howard Culbertson at a global quadrennial convention of Nazarene Missions International (NMI)
Forum: The occult and demonic | Download as PowerPoint: Presentation at a church on the occult and demonic in Scripture and the implications for today [ Related articles: Is Satan real? Haitian voodoo possession ]
Giving to world missions | Download as PowerPoint: The variety of opportunities available to give to world evangelism causes through the Church of the Nazarene. Used as a district Nazarene Missions International convention
Missions Communication | Download as PowerPoint: Educating a congregation about world missions and promoting involvement in it Used as a district Nazarene Missions International convention
Missions giving through Faith Promise | Download as PowerPoint: Explanation of how using a Faith Promise promotion/system can actually increase a local church's income. Used at a district Nazarene Missions International convention
Nazarene World Evangelism Fund | Download as PowerPoint: Where does it go?
Jehovah's Witnesses | Download as PowerPoint: A look at the history, development, and beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses, including a suggested approach in trying to dialog with them (note: sometimes the organization will be erroneously listed as the Jehovah's Witnesses.). Prepared for a church presentation. Can be used as an outline for a talk about the Jehovaoh's Witnesses [ My answers to questions posted by a Jehovah's Witness friend]
World evangelism slogans | Download as PowerPoint: Slogans on PowerPoint slides to encourage involvement in world evangelism efforts
Haggai: Thoughts about resources for world evangelism | Download as PowerPoint: How believers today spend financial resources in the light of what God said to Haggai
Coming up with the money for youth ministry | Download as PowerPoint: Some thoughts on raising money to fund local church youth ministry activities. Given at a youth ministers' seminar in Oklahoma
Responsive Bible readings | Download as PowerPoint: 14 responsive Bible readings for use in worship services

All classes

Class attendance is important (cartoon) | Download as PointPoint: A classic "Peanuts" cartoon strip featuring Linus and Snoopy (as "Joe Cool") reminds students that they are more likely to succeed academically if they attend class regularly.
Substantive online response posts | Download as PointPoint: Explanation of what constitutes a "substantive" response post in an online forum

English department class

Dante Alighieri | Download as PowerPoint: Brief story of the life of Italy's most famous poet

Introduction to Biblical Literature / Biblical Perspectives

Seven ways to enrich your Bible understanding | Download as PowerPoint: Factors to remember as we approach the Bible and try to understand it fully. These factors include being aware of historical differences, cultural differences, language differences, slight differences between hand0-copied ancient manuscripts, the gradual unfolding of divine revelation, the variety of literary genres in the books of the Bible, and the fact that there is both a human and a divine aspect to Scripture.
Why I accept the Bible as authoritative | Download as PowerPoint: Eight reasons why the Bible can be called divinely inspired and authoritative
Seven common errors made in interpreting the Bible | Download as PowerPoint: Common mistakes made in understanding or trying to explain Scripture passages: Allegorizing too much, ignoring the context, over-selectivity, false combinations, redefinition, depending on extra-canonical authorities, personalizing everything
Inadequate uses of the Bible | Download as PowerPoint: Uses of the Bible that are not necessarily bad but are inadequate if that's the only way one uses to approach or think about Holy Scripture: Emotional and physical medicine chest, refrigerator for spiritual snacks, crystal ball, promise book, moral code, debate solver and proof of our own integrity ("I swear on a stack of Bibles")
Major themes of the Bible | Download as PowerPoint: Key Biblical themes or topics: Covenant, deliverance/redemption, law/righteousness, and eschatology/hope,
Old Testament books | Download as PowerPoint: Summaries of every Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) book
New Testament books | Download as\ PowerPoint: Summaries of every New Testament book
Twelve eras of the biblical world | Download as PowerPoint: Biblical history divided into twelve eras: 1. Creation/Beginnings, 2. Ancestral, 3. Exodus/Covenant Community, 4. The Promised Land, 5. Judges, 6. Israel becomes a Kingdom, 7. Israel in exile, 8. Returning and rebuilding, 9. Post-exilic / Inter-testamental, 10. Jesus and the Gospels, 11. The church, 12. Global missions era

World religions

Map showing majority religion in various areas of the world | Download as PowerPoint [ Worldreligions crossword puzzle ]: Global map with predominant religions shown for each area
Pie charts showing the statistical breakdown of major worldreligions | Download as PowerPoint: Breakdown by percentages of adherents to the world's living religions

Pre-trip orientation for short-term missions trip participants

Developing cultural awareness in short-term mission trip teams | Download as PowerPoint: Helping short-term mission trip team participants improve their level of cultural intelligence. Insights from cultural anthropology.
edited version of this PDF | edited version of the PowerPoint
Moving beyond stereotypes | Download as PowerPoint: Helpiong short-term mission trip teams develop cultural intelligence
Creating links in a chain of interactions that may lead people to saving faith in Jesus Christ | Download as PowerPoint: Most Christians did not come to faith as the result of a single encounter with the Gospel message. Many conversions result from a chain of experiences that may take place over time. Thus, a conversation about the Gospel with an unbeliever may be the beginning link in a chain or the middle link or even one at the very end when the unbeliever is ready to accept Christ as Savior and Lord.
Using Cultural Anthropology insights on mission trips | Download as PowerPoint: Increasing the effectiveness of the ministry of people participating in short-term mission trips by giving them a basic understanding of cultural anthropology
Fund-raising for mission trips | Download as PowerPoint: Suggestions on recruiting financial supporters for short-term missionary work
Spiritual warfare | Download as PowerPoint: The Bible speaks about the reality of a conflict we face as believers, and we popularly call that conflict "spiritual warfare."
Relational or friendship evangelism | Download as PowerPoinat: Relational evangelism emphasizes building friendship relationships with non-believers as a basis for sharing the gospel with them. On the other hand, initial-contact evangelism is the label for moving immediately to a gospel presentation to strangers right after meeting them.
Brief history of Haiti | Download as PowerPoint: Used for the orientation of short-term mission trip teams going to the Caribbean island nation of Haiti

Cultural anthropology

Intersecting with other cultures: The attitude spectrum | Download as PowerPoint: Attitudes often manifested by people as they interact with other cultures: Ignore, reject, tolerate, understand, or embrace
Cultural adjustment map | Download as PowerPoint: Duane Elmer's diagram of how people navigate successfully or unsuccessfully what is sometimes called "culture shock," a process which he refers to ad cultural adjustment
Using case studies as a learning tool in cultural anthropology studies | Download as PowerPoint: Case studies can be an effective learning tool using steps such as first reading the entire case study, then formulating a clear statement of the problem, identifying the issues at stake, clarifying facts as well as feelings, considering the case study from different angles, and digging around for resources, all before asserting what should be done and by whom
How religious people view the dominant culture (issue of Christ and culture) | Download as PowerPoint: A look in the Cultural Anthropology course at different ways in which religious people (Christians as well as other religious groups) tend to adopt as a group an attitude toward the larger culture in which they live. These attitudes include opposition, rejection, fusion, synthesis, transformation, paradox, and dualism
Cultural evolution models and their tragic flaws | Download as PowerPoint: A look at the cultural evolution perspective of L.H. Morgan and others that has remained as a popular belief though it has been discarded in cultural anthropology circle
Cultural Anthropology's big names | Download as PowerPoint: Photos and brief descriptions of ten key figures in Cultural Anthropology history
Defining cultural anthropology | Download as PowerPoint: An introduction to cultural anthropology as an academic discipline or field of study emphasizing defining the word "culture" as it will be used in the course.
Culture seen as an iceberg | Download as PowerPoint: An analogy that illustrates how much of a culture is out of sight of the casual observer
The world from "my perspective" | Download as PowerPoint
Language learning alphabet | Download as PowerPoint: An ABC look at an overview of strategies for language learning by adults

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement

Christian Community Development | Download as PowerPoint: Fulfilling the biblical mandates regarding social justice and caring for the poor through Christian community development efforts
Pioneers of the World Christian Movement | Download as PowerPoint: A look at some Christian missionary pioneers who, through the ages, have worked for the fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission

Introduction to Christian missions

Key world missions Bible passages:The biblical basis of missions | Download as PowerPoint: Visualizing the call to world evangelism in the Bible using graphics
Epochs of Christian world missions | Download as PowerPoint: Four-hundred-year epochs of the church's global missionary expansion and the major cultural basins affected in each period: Roman empire, Barbarians, Vikings, Muslims, and ends-of-the-earth
Unreached People groups — A sampling | Download as PowerPoint: Brief descriptions of twenty major socio-cultural-linguistic groups of people who have not yet heard the gospel and have little access to it
"Please don't send me to Africa" | Download as PowerPoint: Slides to accompany Scott Wesley Brown's hilarious song about not wanting God to send him to Africa as a missionary. Slides include Brown's lyrics as well as graphics to illustrate them.

Theology of missions

Describing God | Download as PowerPoint: How well do the classic "omni" attributes of God communicate cross-culturally? Alan Tippett's proposal for a cross-cultural description of God.
Christ and Culture -- Theology of Missions | open as PowerPoint: Theological issues involved in shaping how religious people view the larger culture of which they are a part
Seven theological trends in world missions | Download as PowerPoint: Current trends in the theology of missions as seen by missiologist Alan Tippett and enunciated in his book Introduction to Missiology. These include fresh looks at theological views on topics such as God as creator, power encounters, indigeneity, social change, the corporate group vs. the individual, contextualization, and global missionary training.
Exegesis paper feedback for students -- in occasion of the annual Emmy awards ceremony | Download as PowerPoint: Laudable things in biblical exegesis papers written for Theology of Missions

Church health/growth and Christian mission

Defining Church Health/Growth | Download as PowerPoint: A look at the criticisms leveled at the Church health/growth movement, along with a clear definition of what founder Donald McGavran was trying to say with the term "church growth."
Obstacles churches face in accomplishing their mission | Download as PowerPoint: Five things that can weaken local churches and keep them from being truly the Church of Jesus Christ
History of the Church Health/Growth Movement | Download as PowerPoint
Donald McGavran and the Church Growth movement that came out of his ministry as a missionary in India | Download as PowerPoint
Pathological conditions in local churches | Download as PowerPoint: Eight "diseases" that afflict local churches thereby inhibiting their effectiveness, outreach and growth: Ethnic-itis, ghost-town, people-blindness, koinonia-itis, Old First Church syndrome, sociological strangulation, hyper-cooperativism, and pew paralysis.
Gray matrix | Download as PowerPoint: The gray matrix -- A tool for analysis and planning by Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC).

Student presentations on To Spread the Power by George G. Hunter III

Multiplying recruiting units | Download as PowerPoint: Summary of material in chapter six
Indigenizing the church's ministries — Hadaway | Download as PowerPoint
Why Christians seem useless and irrelevant today | Download as PowerPoint
Exegeting the culture | Download as PowerPoint: Understranding the cultural milieu in which a local church exists -- student-prepared presentation for class
Ministering to needs | Download as PowerPoint: Identifying needs in the larger culture and coming up with creative and credible ways that a congregation can help meet those needs

Nazarene missions

"Through you, all nations will be blessed" | Download as PDF: Nazarene missions in context: Ralph Winter's "epochs" of missions history sets the background for a look at Nazarene missions history
World Evangelism Fund -- Where does it go? | Download as PowerPoint: What does World Evangelism Fund money accomplish?

Ministry, Church, and Society

MCS course requirements | Download as PowerPoint: Explanation of course assignments and other requirements for Ministry, Church and Society
Worldview boutique | Download as PowerPoint: A look at several worldviews as explained by James Sire in The Universe Next Door
Christ and Culture issues | open as PowerPoint: Various ways classic books by Niebuhr and Kraft say that the surrounding culture has been viewed by Christians (presentation for General Education course called Ministry, Church, and Society
Your spiritual priorities | Download as PowerPoint: Explanation of a survey which may help you assess the priority you may be giving to aspects of the Christian life
Fulfilling Christ's Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 | Download as PowerPoint: Brief, one-class period overview of world missions prepared for MCS (covers Biblical basis, history and current state of world evangelization)
Epochs of Christian world missions (for Ministry, Church and Society course) | Download as PowerPoint: Four-hundred-year periods in which the Church expanded into major cultural basins: the Roman empire (0-400), the Barbarians (400-800), the Vikings (800-1200), the Muslims (1200-1600) and the ends-of-the-earth(1600 to present)
The USA's "fertile soil" for new religious movements | Download as PowerPoint: Ten reasons for the lengthy list of options on America's religious menu: secularism, anxiety over threats to human survival, complexity of modern existence, betrayals by political and religious leaders, longing for transcendence, breakdown of family and neighborhood groups, feeling of lostness fostered by moral / religious relativism, naive openness to religious imports, affluence and consumerism, and failures in the Church.
Case studies: principles for using a unique teaching tool | Download as PowerPoint: Introduction to case studies and a specific look at "To Drink or Not to Drink" [ see case study
Explaining your Faith Journey (giving your testimony) | Download as PowerPoint
Three men on whose shoulders we stand | Download as PowerPoint: Biographical sketches of Martin Luther, John Wesley and Phineas F. Bresee
Donald McGavran and church health/growth (MCS) | Download as PowerPoint: Donald McGavran biography and his research on church health/growth -- edition for Ministry, Church and Society course
Weekly "lab" reports for MCS nbsp; | Download as PowerPoint: Instructions for "lab" assignment (observations and reflections following attendance at a church service
Volunteer ministry hours project | Download as PowerPoint: How to carry out the "volunteer ministry" hours requirement in MCS

-- Howard Culbertson,

"So if you speak in a way no one can understand, what's the point of opening your mouth?" -- 1 Corinthians 14:9, The Message

Afterword: Creating effective PowerPoint presentations

Effective PowerPoint presentations involve more than just putting together slides with text and images. Here are some pointers to help you create impactful presentations:

Keep it simple: Don't overload your slides with too much information. Stick to one main idea per slide and use bullet points or concise phrases to convey your message.
Use visuals wisely: Incorporate relevant images, charts, graphs, and videos to enhance understanding and engagement. Visuals should support your message rather than distract from it.
Choose readable fonts: Use clear, easy-to-read fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica. Avoid decorative fonts that can be difficult to read, especially from a distance.
Limit text: Avoid long paragraphs or sentences. Use keywords or short phrases to convey your points, and elaborate verbally during the presentation.
Maintain consistency: Use consistent formatting throughout your presentation, including font styles, colors, and layouts. This creates a cohesive look and helps the audience focus on your content.
Practice good design principles: Follow good design principles such as alignment, contrast, repetition, and proximity.
Use slide transitions and animations sparingly: While transitions and animations can add visual interest, overusing them can be distracting. Use them selectively to emphasize key points or transition between ideas.
Know your audience: Tailor your content and delivery to the needs and preferences of your audience. Consider their level of expertise, interests, and any cultural or demographic factors.
Practice, practice, practice: Rehearse your presentation multiple times to familiarize yourself with the content and timing. This will build your confidence and help you deliver a smoother presentation.
Engage with your audience: Encourage interaction by asking questions, soliciting feedback, or incorporating interactive elements like polls or quizzes into your presentation.
Have a clear structure: Organize your presentation into logical sections with clear transitions between them. Use an introduction to set the stage, a body to present your main points, and a conclusion to summarize key takeaways.
Be mindful of time: Respect your audience's time by keeping your presentation within the allotted timeframe. Practice pacing yourself to ensure you cover all important points without rushing or running over.

Follow these pointers. Think of them as a roadmap for creating PowerPoint presentations to engage your audience and communicate your message.