I look after the multimedia ministry at our little church plant. By no stretch of the imagination am I even close to being talented talented in what I do as I am completely lay in the area.
How on earth I learnt to do the things I do even blows me away as I have a business degree and work full time in the corporate world.
And it’s from this perspective that I browse the web and get blown away by the things people can do with motion graphics.
I was especially stoked tonight as I came across a group on video sharing site Vimeo called Church Media Hub. Think of Vimeo as a premium video sharing site – nothing like YouTube. And to find a group with a tonne of video’s which can be used by the church was a great blessing.
At the time of this post, the group has 585 video’s ranging in quality and content. The good, the bad and the ugly – but, being on Vimeo, “ugly” is still quite good!
At Church Media Hub, you will find big guns like Lifechurch.tv’s Senior Graphic Designer Brian Clark and his video’s and a host of others. For your viewing pleasure, check Brian’s latest work for Lifechurch.tv and their upcoming “At the movies” series opener. “At The Movies” is a smashing annual event at Lifechurch.tv where they screen mainstream movies and glean great from out of it. A huge crowd magnet for their churches.
The following clip is a very nicely done video on Phil Wickam’s song, “True Love”. Phil Wickam is an artist I’m enjoying lately and this clip was a great visual delight on the nature of what Jesus has done for us.
But the major kick I got out of watching these video’s was discovering an awesome talent called “Mothlight Creative.” Their take on their video’s is, “..powerful, articulate visual communication. We don’t just make things pretty, we communicate.” They achieve this stunningly in the video’s they produce. Keep in mind that these video’s are not the result of large Hollywood studios, but rather freelance artists who choose to use their talent to glorify our King. Hope you enjoy the following video’s and be sure to check out hundreds more at Church Media Hub.
If you don”t visit churchrelevance.com, you should. Kent Shaffer runs a great blog on “training people to reach other more effectively.” I link my posts to his site more than any other blog and today he has provided another great post.
Many medium to large churches can afford or have the talent pool to create custom made graphics and video resources. For the rest of us, we need to rely on the God given talent of others and the generosity placed in their hearts to share what they have.
Church Relevance has a great post here, outlining free Christian and non-christian sites as well as linking to some Christian sites where you need to pay for resources.
Here’s my rant though, why would these large churches charge for their content when they are raking in the money? Call me cynical but when I see much smaller churches and ministries given stuff out for free, it makes these large & charging churches look like parasites. Anyway, I have told myself not to be so critical so I’ll go and scream in a room with egg carton insulation.
My favorites listed at churchrelevance.com include:
creativemyk.com is a new and growing site offering a image related resources. Be sure to check it out and visit often as new stuff is being added all the time.
LifeChurch.tv This is a Church I really like in regards to it’s philosophy of sharing materials. They have a tonne of material ready to go for you to use in your church or small group setting.
But my new discovery via churchrelevance.com is a ministry called Muddy River Media. This website rocks and, after registering, provides a bunch of material available for free download. They host their previews on YouTube and here is a taste of what’s available:
Medical Science: I couldn’t resist this one as I make a living flogging products for bleeding disorders:
Vine & Branches: One of my favourite topics in the Bible.
Worship Background: Those of us in the media ministry know how hard it is to spice things up. Well have a look at what this site does to spice up things for free!
I really enjoy the growing move within Christianity to share resources. After all, we are one body. When’s the last time your heart said to your leg, “Hi dude. I’m gonna charge you $2.00/liter of blood I supply to you!”
C’mon Christians! Spread the love and talent around!
If you hurry, LifeChurch.tv still has 40 copies to give out of Pastor Craig Groeschel’s latest book, “Going All The Way.”
All he asks is that you read it and post about what you think on your blog. I’ve got my copy and they sent it all the way to Australia! Click here for more info!
Being a married guy sort of makes me “post” much of this book. However Craig says he is receiving a bunch of good reports even from married people. If you don’t grab yourself a free copy, you could always get a copy from amazon.com.
In due course, I will honour Craig, read the book, post about it and then pass it on to the engaged couple I think would benefit from it the most. Check out his little video promo below:
This is just another example of the generosity of Craig and his church LifeChurch.tv. I encourage you to check out the website and be blessed by the vast amount of resources they have made freely available.
Solid teaching, creativity and a generous spirit are only three reasons why I believe LifeChurch.tv is the number one church in the US. Check them out and let me know what you think!
A bunch of things have captured my attention in the last week.
As everyone knows, the US suffered another heart wrenching reality when the bridge of the Interstate 35W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed. The suddenness of this collapse can be viewed here. I don’t want to downplay this event in any way, but what tugs on my heart is that when something happens in the US, the whole world knows about it. It’s like the worlds media is so US centric.
I remember watching a video clip of a girl in Iraq being stoned to death on rumors she was seeing a boy – which turned out to be false. But this video showed her in a panic on the floor as a crazy mob surrounded here throwing boulders onto her head. After one of the boulders hit it’s target, she stopped moving. It was reported that it was her uncle who threw this boulder. After another boulder crashed into her skull, the blood poured out. And the boulders just kept on coming. I watched this months ago and I am shaking now as I recall what I saw. But the world’s media didn’t report this.
Like I said, I don’t want to down play what happened in Minneapolis. A tragedy is a tragedy – no matter where it occurs. Dr. John Piper is a Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church and their offices are less than a mile from where this occurred. Their website has an excellent video filmed by their crews of the aftermath. Super imposed onto this is a sermon of Piper’s regarding suffering. Great viewing if you crave learning. To tug at your heart, Piper also wrote a poem here.
In a completely different world, the guys at LifeChurch.tv are an innovative bunch indeed. Bobby Gruenewald, (Innovation Leader) is already notorious for opening up a Campus on virtual reality world Second Life. Don’t know what it’s all about? Check out the Wikipadia entry here and follow through his reasoning here and here. His next venture is on flavor of the month social networking mega tool, Facebook.
Facebook has about 30 million users – half of which have subscribed over the last 6 months! When you think “viral” Facebook makes the flu look like a snail! You want to be culturally “with it” in terms of connecting with people and knowing what’s hot online right now, you just got to do Faebook. Fortunately, Gruenewald has done an excellent 4 part series on Facebook to turn you from ignorance to geek in no time. Check out the links here. <Part 1> <Part 2> <Part 3> <Part 4>
Talking about being culturally relevant, missional guru Tim Keller has just released a four part series called “Ministry in the New Global Culture of Major City-Centers”. What a timely series of articles given the fact that many regional towns are becoming anorexic in their populations as droves move to the city. The Apostle Paul understood this and planted Churches in the busiest and strategically important cities in Asia minor – thus allowing the gospel to spread.
Mark Driscoll talks a lot about how cities are culture definers and suburbs being culture followers. You wanna make change in an area? Hit the city! And Keller has an excellent 4 part series here: <part 1> <part 2> <part 3> <part 4>
MommyZabs is a mommy blogger who I have got to know over time. She has been following what’s going on in China for awhile now in terms of human rights and abuse. Lately she has focused a fair bit of attention on the toy industry and talked about lead levels in toys way before it hit the media. If you’re a parent, head over to MommyZabs and get the low down from a Mommy with purpose!
Finally, tomorrow, my church starts on expository preaching. My Pastor has decided to launch into Ephesians for a number of reasons. But one that sticks out is the issue of unity in the church. I can’t wait to see what he has come up with. He asked me to do a little media presentation for the series opener. And so here is what I came up with. Keep in mind, I am just a lay guy – and that includes media!
I look after the multimedia ministry at our little church plant. By no stretch of the imagination am I even close to being talented talented in what I do as I am completely lay in the area.
