Church Video Ideas

This is “tech week” at my church. I’m working 14 hour days and at the church until 11pm each night. We’ve got a rehearsal every night this week, dress rehearsal on Saturday, 2 services on Sunday and 3 on Monday. I don’t know when I’ll be able to blog again. I will sometime though, because I’d like to tell you more about what we’re doing for our Christmas services. God be with us all.

Here are a few Christmas media resources that my friends sent me to check out and are new for this year. I encourage you to check them out as well:

• “Breath of Heaven” by eleven72 - $20
• “The Devil’s Take on Christmas” by eleven72 - $20
• “A Christmas Wish” by Flashlight Films - $12
• “Christmas 101” by Flashlight Films - $12
• “A Christmas Response” by Floodgate Productions - $20
• “Christmas v.2” collection by Igniter Media Group - $35
• “Xtreme Christmas Backgrounds 3” collection by Radiate Films - $25
• “Christmas Pak 3” by SermonVideos.com - $40
• “Complete Christmas” collection by WorshipFilms - $49 (also available in HD - $69)
• “Kid’s Christmas” collection by WorshipFilms - $35

EXTRA:

I made a collection of still backgrounds last year for Christmas/Winter. You can purchase them HERE.

Usually I do a thorough (and very time-consuming) review of all Christmas media resources each year, but this year I am swamped, so I’m going to link you to my review from last year HERE and the best of the new from this year HERE. I’ll be reviewing some select Christmas media products that are new for this year soon.

Also, a few years ago I worked on a template for a traditional “Lessons and Carols” service. I make it available to churches every year for free. If you’d like to use it, base yours off of it and make it your own, however it can serve you - download it HERE.

EXTRA:

A few years ago I arranged “O Holy Night” for worship leaders that lead from acoustic guitar and want something more modern sounding. You can download the chord chart HERE and listen to the arrangement HERE. On the recording, I’m playing guitar and a local worship leader friend (remember my blog on “The Network”) is singing.

PERSONAL:

I’m on vacation today through Wednesday. I hope to do a lot of reading and research for my book, as well as spend some time with my family and not think about church for a few days.

Yesterday I met with a tech director at another church here in Dallas. This is something I’ve done for the last 13 years. I guess you could say I’m a “networker”. It really comes natural to me and is a passion of mine. Everywhere that I’ve lived and each church I’ve served, I’ve always got to know the local churches and staff members. From my days as a college student serving part-time at a small church and meeting with a local mega-church staff member to meeting with churches the same size as mine and on and on.

I like to meet with churches that are smaller than mine to be a resource to them. I LOVE meeting with church leaders that serve at churches around the same size as mine. And I always love the sharing and learning that I do with church leaders that serve at churches larger than mine.

I’m glad to say that I have friends from serving in the Carolinas and friends in Washington DC, where I served before moving to Dallas, and these are guys that I stay in touch with and am glad to call friends. Here in Dallas, I’m a member of a few network groups: One is a group of Dallas area worship leaders, one is a ‘yal come/large group of tech staff from all size churches and the other is a small group of tech directors from churches around the same size as my church. I can’t recommend the food, fun and fellowship highly enough.

A couple of thoughts on networking:

• Church size doesn’t matter… no matter what size your church is, you can benefit from a local network.
• Denomination doesn’t matter… this is something I had to break free from years ago. You have a lot more than you realize in common with those from other denominations.
• Vent - take the opportunity to share struggles and frustrations with your local group. You’ll find that many others have some of the same frustrations. You need to be able to talk about these with someone outside your church.
• Share with each other. My local group shares equipment with each other and tries to help one another out with ideas, resources, contacts, etc. Just yesterday, I called up a local tech director (from the group) to ask where he would go in Dallas to rent wireless mics, as we’re going to have to rent some for Christmas.
• Be proactive. 95% of the time, people that I’ve had breakfast, lunch or coffee with were people that I called up or emailed and took the initiative to introduce myself to them. Again, this comes natural to me and may be out of your comfort zone, but it will be well worth your while.
• Take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies: things like Myspace and Facebook are great ways to meet people. I’ve met several people through one of them and then met them in real life.
• When you can, try to visit other local churches (for one of their services). I see local tech directors (and their teams) at my church from time to time and the past 2 Sundays, I’ve visited two different churches. It’s good to get out and see what others are doing.
• It’s ALL about the Kingdom. You’ve got to get this point. I can’t stand to hear of churches in competition with one another. We’re in this together. The reason I write, blog, speak at conferences and consult is because I want to help other churches grow, dream, do better, lead better and reach more people for Christ. Any spirit of competition is not of God and should be seen as sin. Get rid of it, friends!
• Not everyone will get this. I wish I could say that every person I’ve called or emailed has contacted me back and we met - that’s not the case. Some people have no desire to meet with someone from another church. What a shame and what a way to miss out on a blessing and possible new friend. My two cents: keep moving on and keep searching. Someone in your city will be interested in meeting and may turn out to be a great friend and resource for your ministry.

EXTRA (Free Christmas Countdown):

Get a really cool free, winter countdown from my friends at Igniter Media Group HERE.

The holidays are the biggest season for volunteering. In the spirit of the Christmas season, I wanted to see if you might consider checking out ChristianVolunteering.org.

ChristianVolunteering.org is a FREE directory with over 2,000 volunteer opportunities in ministries serving the “poor.” The site’s partners include the Salvation Army, GospelCom (BibleGateway.com), World Vision, the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions and over 1,000 ministries serving under-resourced communities. In addition to volunteer opportunities for individuals, you can also search the site for opportunities that might be appropriate for church small groups and for short-term missions trips. If you just type your postal code, you can get a listing of the volunteer opportunities in your region.

Today we have another meeting to plan for our Christmas Eve services. We’re doing 2 services on Sunday, the 23rd and 3 services on Monday, the 24th. We’re doing a mixture of special music, a small dramatic presentation and a message. This is a small Christmas for us, as we’re maxed out with the new building coming soon. I’m curious… what are you doing at your church for Christmas?

Also, if you did something special for Thanksgiving, I’d love to hear about it.

EXTRA:

Many of you have emailed me about the audio equipment we’re selling at my church. Tomorrow I should have a complete list of model numbers, prices, etc.

PERSONAL:

It all comes down to the showdown tonight - the Cowboys and the Packers! Wouldn’t you know we have rehearsal during the game? 

Yesterday was a 14 hour day, so I’ll be brief. I’ll be reviewing some new Christmas media resources in the near future. For now, I’d like to mention 2 things: One from SermonVideos.com and one from WorshipHouse Media.

My boy, Craig, and his team at SermonVideos.com have created a new Christmas Pak for ‘07. Their Christmas Paks are a favorite each year. I’d encourage you to check out the first two if you don’t have them and if you do, it’s time to purchase their new Christmas Pak 3. Go HERE and look for the newest resource on the right.

My friends at WorshipHouse Media are giving away a FREE download every weekday until Christmas! That’s right… every weekday. Also you can watch a daily podcast from Dale and Kent. Go HERE and click on the “Daily Freebie” ad to go to each day’s freebie.

EXTRA:

If you’re a fan of Paul Baloche (like I am), you may want to check out his video of the Christmas version of his song, “Offering”. You can watch it HERE.

Last night after our last service I held the first gathering of our just formed “Technical Arts Leadership Team”. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but was busy settling in and focused on the new building. Now as we get closer to the transition into the new worship center, I see that forming this team and multiplying myself is essential.

The majority of staff and ministries at my church won’t be affected much by the move. My world (the Tech Arts Ministry) will be in store for a HUGE change. We have to train a large team of volunteers on all new, professional equipment. There will be learning curves across the board - new sound board, new lighting board, new video switcher, new cameras, new Video Suite/environment, new computers with new presentation software (we’re switching campus-wide to EasyWorship). New, new, new….my head is swimming with the newness of everything and the learning curves that lie ahead as I will attend each training session and need to be able to explain each new piece of equipment to a volunteer that misses the training (you know someone’s going to miss it).

I’ve attempted to share the burden and responsibility with my newly formed Tech Arts Leadership Team. The meeting went great. I gave them an update on what’s been going on lately, when we’re expected to move-in (it looks like Jan. 27 will be our first Sunday in the new worship center) and what the training and commissioning schedule looks like. I’ve asked each team member to step up, take ownership and leadership in their given area and be pro-active in seeing that their teams are trained.

Besides myself, as the leader, the Tech Arts Team is made up of one person overseeing the following:

• Audio
• Lighting
• Video Production
• Live Video
• Graphics/Social Events
• Volunteer Scheduling/Assimilation
• Stage Managers
• Systems/Equipment Maintenance

So, how do you do it at your church? Do you haves some sort of team like this in place in your tech or media ministry? If so, how does it work? How often do you meet? If not, maybe this is something worth considering. I’m excited about it!

EXTRA:

If you haven’t already, you need to check out Collide Magazine. In their second issue, I wrote about my Top Ten church media producers. Check out my list (plus 5 new up-and-comers) and see what you think. You can subscribe HERE.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE:

Lest I forget: Yes, the Cowboys are 10-1. Just thought I’d mention that.

I wish you all a blessed, fun, and joy-filled Thanksgiving.

I’m off work today and hope to catch up on some long overdue reviews. You would not believe the amount of products that I receive from companies/producers. I have a stack of unopened packages sitting on a shelf in my house. I hope to review them today and tell you about them soon. Look for reviews of new media resources from LifeWay, Crossroads Creative and Christmas resources from Angelhouse Media, Flashlight Films, Highway Video and Worship Films.

If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to join my Facebook group for my upcoming book: Church 2.0. You can find the group HERE. I’d love for you to be a part of the group and join the conversation. Please feel free to post new topics and items for discussion.

EXTRA:

Who’s hoping to get a Kindle this Christmas?