A minister who iccumulates visual-aid materials for our main prophetic subjects will eventually find himself con fronted with the problem of transporting bulky charts and equipment whenever he moves. In order to use a large enough chart for a goodsized audience and still avoid the storage and transportation problem, I have in recent efforts been using the idea of a large disposable chart.
For this purpose I secure a sheet of celotex wallboard, which ordinarily costs between two and three dollars. Most lumber companies will accept the order for this small item on the telephone, and are glad to deliver it at the place where the evangelistic meetings are being held. The price is insignificant enough that it can be charged as a miscellaneous expense on the effort budget and that the material, after being used for a number of subjects, can be disposed of when the meetings are concluded. It can be readily adapted for bulletin boards or some other practical use in the local church or school.
The largest piece of celotex wallboard is 4 by 8 feet. This is a good size of chart for the average evangelistic effort. It is light in weight and easily handled. Although firm and solid enough to be used again and again, it is prob ably too soft and porous a material to be retained for permanent use over a period of years if moving is involved. It comes with one side smooth, already sized so that it can be painted. One or two coats of white enamel on the smooth surface of this wallboard will give a hard, glazed surface on which to work.
For the lines on the chart I secure colorful rolls of decorators' tape. This can be found in a variety of attractive colors, ranging in width from one-half inch to three inches. These rolls of tape are sold in almost all hardware and paint stores, and also in many drugstores, where it can be secured even on Sunday. The trade name for the most common brand is Mystik tape. This tape can be applied to a firm enameled surface and removed again like Scotch tape or masking tape. It costs only twenty-five to fifty cents a roll. Scotch tape is also now avail able in colors.
For a sermon on the millennium I prepare a wide strip to stretch along the length of the chart to represent the span of one thousand years. A smaller size tape, one inch in width, is used for the upright lines. Light pencil lines on the painted surface of the wallboard make it easy for me to place these pieces of tape at the right place during the sermon.
Before the evening sermon, strips of tape the right length are cut. These are sticky on the back, and so we place them against the inside of the pulpit where they are handy for the speaker to reach them. When the sermon on the millennium begins, the wallboard, a blank white, is placed on an easel before the audience. A thin wallboard would bend too much to be practical, but celotex is stiff enough to retain its shape even though it extends some distance beyond the easel in both directions.
As each succeeding part of the millennium is discussed, I take a piece of tape and place it right where I want it on the wallboard. It sticks to the board immediately, and if it needs to be removed, it will come right off again. It does not sag or need to be pulled taut, like a cloth ribbon. For the long horizontal line with the wide tape, I usually take the roll and unroll it as it is applied to the chart. After the narrow strips are put in their places, small cards with the various titles on them are quickly put in place with a thumbtack, which can very easily be stuck into the celotex. (White-headed thumb tacks would be least noticeable.)
An audience is far more interested in a device that takes form one step at a time as the subject is discussed, than in a full chart hung up in front at the beginning of the sermon. The speaker can end his sermon at any point he wishes, leaving the remainder of the sermon and chart to be completed in the next service. If the wallboard is to be used for later subjects, it is best for the tape to be removed immediately after each meeting, because the longer the tape remains on the chart, the more diffi cult it will be to remove it without damaging the board.
In the use of such a simple device it is ad visable to have a good sign painter paint the cards containing the various titles, since professional lettering will give the chart a finished appearance. The evangelist should keep these cards for permanent use.
More elaborate and expensive—and bulky— devices have been used by our leading evangelists, which are doubtless superior to this plan, but most men with a modest budget for equipment will find this device very nearly as effective as much more expensive ones.
