Preaching from an easel or a whiteboard.

Want to know a secret trick I do in meetings? (No, it's not where I try to see how many glasses of water I can drink. I quit doing that years ago, but I promise I would still whup you in that game. Don't make me come out of retirement.)

When I'm writing on a whiteboard, if I find myself stuck in the middle of a word I can't spell, I just abbreviate the word wherever I am.

So for instance, let's say I boldly start to scribble the word "maintenance" in dry erase marker but realize in the middle that I have never spelled that word correctly. As soon as I realize I'm stuck, I'll just write "maint." Or the name Isaiah, a name I've spelled correctly twice in my life, I'd just write "Isa."

If anyone questions me about what those invented abbreviations mean, I kind of just look at them like, "Really? I'm too busy to be writing out whole words. I'll write it out if that's what you're asking me to do. It will cripple our productivity in this meeting, but I'll do it."

You probably don't need to do that ever. You probably never put an "e" in the word "judgment" or get terrified when you stumble your way into trying to spell "conscientious" or "accommodate," but I do. Which is one of the reasons I'm glad I'm not a pastor right now.

One of the things that's gaining momentum is preaching from an easel or a whiteboard.

Inspired perhaps by comedian Dimitri Martin or that UPS guy with the really nice hair, pastors all over the country are drawing notes in the middle of sermons.

If you haven't experienced this yet, here are a few things you'll notice when you do:

1. The disclaimer.

The very first thing that pastors say when they draw on an easel or a whiteboard is, "I'm horrible at drawing. This is going to be my very poor attempt at drawing what the world looks like." As soon as they say this, you will think to yourself, "If you're horrible at it, why are you doing it? If you were horrible at juggling swords, you wouldn't do that on stage." You probably won't think that second sentence unless you have the extensive sword background I have, but you will definitely think that first one. It's a very confusing way to start a sermon.

2. The marker will either be the size of your leg or microscopic.

I'm not sure where churches are buying these markers they're using, but they only come in two sizes: Tree Trunk and Invisible. Your pastor will either be drawing up there with a marker so big it looks like it was a support column for the building prior to serving as a marker, or one that is so small you can't see it and the notes appear to be flowing from his fingers as if by magic.

3. The easel will constantly look like it is on the verge of collapsing.

Is there anything flimsier than a three-legged easel? (Brian Regan does a brilliant bit on the ridiculous design of an ironing board, so yes, yes there is.) But I still contend that the easel always looks like it's on the edge of collapse. Don't get distracted by this. Don't watch for structural issues with the easel. You'll miss the sermon.

4. Someone near you will worry that the pastor will actually draw something inappropriate.

Not you. You'd never worry about that. You left that sort of behavior behind you in junior high. When a weather man does this and draws something he didn't anatomically mean to draw, you never laugh inside. But other people, sinners, they'll be worried that the pastor will make just such a slip up and go viral for all the wrong reasons.

Those predictions are rock solid. They will happen if your pastor uses an easel or a whiteboard during a sermon. Unless they're pre-drawn. Some pastors have their notes pre-written and pre-drawn by someone with ridiculously beautiful penmanship. And I'm OK with that. I think that still counts. What I'm not OK with is that no church is using those markers from the show "Picture Pages" with Bill Cosby. Remember those? They made music when you'd draw with them? I love those.

Question:

Have you ever seen a pastor speak from a whiteboard or an easel?