Freezing and forgetting
Most people don’t realize how hard it is to talk to camera in a lively and gripping way that doesn’t come across like really poor acting. When you’re in a studio with half a dozen guys pointing various cameras, lights, and recording equipment in your face, it’s a great recipe for freezing and forgetting your lines.

The camera also has a way of revealing what a boring person you are! Again TV personalities have a lot to answer for. They are so excessively pumped and energized that they make even normally lively people look like the walking dead. To come across as “normal” by TV standards, you’d almost need to have an electric current running through you.

There’s also the challenge of doing something more than just a talking head in a studio without the video images taking over from the teaching content.

Impressive content and production
In spite of all these obstacles, I was hopeful that R.C. Sproul Jr’s new Ligonier teaching series, Economics for Everybody would make the grade. And it does. I was impressed with the production quality, the combination of teaching content and film extracts, RC’s lively presence on camera, and the skill with which he simplifies economics so that everybody can understand and relate to it. I liked his basic analogy, that the way we all handle money in our everyday life is a small picture of the greater economic forces and issues that businesses and government have to face. Economics for Everybody is for everybody.

My teenage boys and I started the curriculum last week and I thought I’d post their initial thoughts after a completing a couple of lessons, with a fuller review from us all when we finish it.

Allan (16)
R.C. Sproul Jr. presents Economics in a very entertaining, gripping way that is bound to immediately grasp the listener’s attention. His study guide is clearly informative and has some personal questions with which the reader can examine his or her response. Using illustrations he promotes the biblical truths of economics including topics such as where has economics come from, where did it begin, and how can we use it to further God’s kingdom.

Angus (15)
I thought that the way this film is presented is a unique idea. Particularly favorable are the frequent switches from the speaker to film examples from times past. The content is a biblically founded guide to using Economics in today’s day and age. Although concepts we rarely talk about, the ideas given should definitely be put into practice more. The liveliness of R.C. Sproul Jr. keeps the viewer’s mind firmly concentrated on what is being taught. I found the layout of the study guide a bit hard to follow, but it provoked lots of genuine questions for discussion.

Economics for Everybody: Applying Biblical Principles to Work, Wealth and the World. Twelve 23-minute messages (over four hours of teaching) plus study guide for $36. Buy from Ligonier.