I get a lot of questions on how to start sketching during sermon notes. A lot of people feel intimidated to draw during church having people look over their shoulders. They ask me what to do if they don’t know how to draw something or what to do if they make a mistake.
First and foremost let’s address the WHY. Why would we want to to sketchnote during sermons in the first place? Maybe there are other answers, but for me it it unequivocal – It’s to draw nearer to the Lord; to strengthen our relationship with Him. He longs to for to seek Him out, seek out His will for our lives through prayer and He is so genuinely concerned about every little aspect of our lives (Ps. 138:8 – The Lord will accomplish what concerns us, His love is ever lasting). To develop a deeper relationship with the Lord requires us to take time to be in His Word and seek Him out in prayer.
I love being in the Word and learning about the meaning of passages, but I was loathe to do it. I realized that it was the expectation of keeping a journal that was holding me back. I am not a writer, I am a doodler. I tried for years to keep a written journal. I got expensive journals thinking that maybe that would motivate me to stay with it, and I tried a lot of other gimmicks but nothing worked. Then one day I started doodling during my quite time. It radically changed my time. It slowed me down and I went deeper in those verses that I had in a long time.
I did a lot of study and research on visual learning and found that the act of drawing actually helps us comprehend what we’re hearing and that when we draw and listen we’re writing the information on our brains twice. This helps us remember longer and recall the information faster. If you’d like to more research on this topic, here are just a few other resources I recommend:
The Genius behind Sketchnoting – Mike Rohde. I love Mike and his family. He’s so great and so willing to share his knowledge of sketchnoting. If you can possibly attend one of his workshops, its worth the time. You can get his book, The Sketchnote Note Handbook here.
Also Sunni Brown, author of the Doodle Revolution helps us understand why doodling is a good thing. You can get her book here.
My purpose in focusing on Sermon Sketchnoting is to help everyone stretch their visual creative muscle in an effort to draw nearer to the Lord. This blog series is based on my book Sermon Sketchnotes which focuses specifically on techniques and tools you might need during the Sermon. Stay tuned for next week look at the anatomy of a Sermon Sketchnote.
Here’s the link to Part 2 – The Anatomy of a Sketchnote
Let me know if you have any questions,
Blessings,
Marsha
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