We have a new series that has launched called Minecraft Theology which is a new way of blogging that we are trying out, but for more reasons than we initially thought. As I shared in the first video, we are exploring how to do blogging, YouTube, and gaming all in one big series that takes Minecraft as a vlog tool, but turns it into a place where we can get personal about content.
But the part which has hit me in the recent episode I recorded is not the type of medium we use by doing recording in Minecraft, but how personal it has become, and I wonder if that can have success online? I also wonder if it actually adds value to your life as a reader?
The obvious answers are yes, but as abundantly as other articles? Let’s drill down for a second.
Value
Most of our articles here on ChurchMag have a specific point. We have a wide selection of categories we can choose to put the article in and typically the article adds some value to the viewer’s life. You walk away from Phil’s Doctor Who and Jesus articles inspired and possibly even something to add to your sermon. Chris’ app selection give you great ways to increase productivity at work and keep more organized as you do your craft. Even my infographics have a specific point for education on social media and all things digital.
But does vlogging on Minecraft have a purpose beyond entertaining? Is me talking about how gaming impacted my life worth it?
The conclusion I have come to is in the ability to have community. Eric does an amazing job both on the public area as well as behind the scenes of getting personal with the contributors. But it has a strong air of professionalism in what we do whereas when we are on Minecraft, it is just a bunch of friends, with the side benefit of an article. And when we vlog, we are explicitly inviting you into our community with the inside jokes and fun we have. We even want you to consider joining the server with us!
I wonder:
Could churches do this digitally as well?
Not for the purpose of getting more people in the pews, though that is always nice, but to build even more community?
Effective
Coming back to the question of blog articles having a point, vlogs may or may not be effective. Ultimately, I can only hypothesize at this part of the article and you the readers will have to let us know. We do know that articles like autocorrect fails and church memes can go viral, but many times that’s a one hit wonder and we never see engagement or further traffic from it.
At the same time, it takes a lot of energy to do what we do on Minecraft. Our videos currently range from 7 minutes to 22 minutes long, but none of them have required less than triple that amount of time, not including the fact that I did not do all the stuff on the server. But if we can achieve community in a way that only is rivaled by Google+ Hangouts, tweet chats, and maybe podcasts, I’d say it’s absolutely effective.
Conclusion
It’s a little meta to have a section titled conclusion when we talk about a type of blog article that truly would not be able to have a conclusion section in it without forcing it. But I’d love to find out if churches are utilizing something about what I said in this article?
- Are you finding community online for your church?
- Could Minecraft actually be a solution for you if you thought outside the box?
- And does it matter if it doesn’t grow the size of your church?
[Image via Chris Wilson]
Eric Dye says
Great “drill-down” Jeremy!
Jeremy Smith says
🙂