If your ministry is not creation original videos, then you are missing out on a unique and powerful way to tell your story or the story of those that will enable others to hear the Gospel. It is an engaging medium that allows for people to hear tone, see your body’s non-verbals, and a reach a captive audience. While the high-end equipment is nice and sweet video editing skills will add flash to your video, it is not essential. As Chip Dizard points out, you only need an iPhone and basic editing software because great videos are all about the content..We provide you with three ways to use video in your ministry.
What I Shoot With
Here is a short list of what I use to make videos for this blog.
- EOS Canon T3i
I am always shooting video for my own personal blog and my go to video camera is this trusty photographers’ standard device. It is currently holding the stock 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Type II Lens. - RODE VideoMic Directional On-camera Microphone
Ambient noise has been an issue when I have been filming for my ministry and blog so this was a must get for me. - Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III Lens
While I have not used this lens enough, it is a great option for long-range, tripod set photos and filming. - Smith-Victor Corp P920 Tripod A super cheap and very effective tripod assuming little to no panning is required for filming.
3 Video Ideas To Incorporate Into your Ministry
We have three ideas that you can incorporate right away into your ministry that will bring a whole new level to your sermons and events as you engage with a whole new medium.
- Use Video Announcements
Not only do you have the capacity to tell announcements with complete accuracy with video announcements as opposed to stumbling over them live, but you can make it short and concise with video edits that can trim down the time it takes to deliver them. This is important when you only have an hour of presentation time during your service. Along with that, you can get volunteers, elders, and the rest of the congregation involved that may not normally feel comfortable standing up in front of a huge audience, but can give the announcements via a camera. At the same time, you now have the perfect media to use for your social media accounts that let people who have not attended your church recently know what is happening next and may draw a few people in. - Have a Pastor Video Blog
We love the idea of talking a sermon and instead of resorting to only what you present to your church in a one-hour time frame, go the extra mile and extend the conversation with a video blog. This could entail a Q&A time after your service where people as you questions that they had during your sermon or a “vlog of the 90%” where you share EVERYTHING you learned about when you create put together your sermon, but only highlight the best of the best. This gives more life to what you are preaching on, offers a venue for a dialogue via comments and Google+ Hangouts that might not be appropriate from the pulpit, and an eye into your church from the outside if visitors want a taste of what you are preaching on or the theological bents you have to offer. - Incorporate a 7-Day A Week Faith
If we are honest about our faith, we make church to be something extra special and yet when we leave the walls of a church, head home after a powerful sermon, and jump back into the mundane of life, we forget to incorporate the message into the day-to-day. A “preparation” video gets people thinking about the topic of your sermon days before the church meets and a recap video will allow you to engage with your audience. The idea is that people can look at their lives in the lens of this topic, come with stories, and have the whole church be thinking about what it means to be a Christian in the everyday of life.
We’d love to hear what you do with videos for your church. Please share some of your own ideas as well as any YouTube channels that you might have in the comments below.
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