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The Church and Social Networking

August 7, 2008 in Church with 7 Comments

Facebook, myspace, secondlife, Friendster, LinkedIn, Windows Live Spaces, Flickr, Classmates.com, MyChurch, YouTube, GodTube, OurStage, myVideo, Twitter, MSN, AIM, Meebo, WordPress, BlogSpot, etc etc etc

They all have one thing in common; connecting people – whether by broadcasting what you are doing, expressing yourself, blogging, asking questions, maintaining a web-based public profile or just communicating to individuals on the other side of some arbitrary distance over the internet.

And one thing is very evident from this and that is that the world is a whole lot smaller; way way smaller. In fact in one person could in all likelihood know any other person through a very small number of sequential relationships. There is a theory called six degrees of separation that is the idea [that if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is an average of six "steps" away from each person on Earth (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation)]

This is a scary idea, because Jesus said in Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” It was always thought that the world was small because one could, with relative ease, travel to any place in a short space of time. Yet now one does not have to travel to communicate to any person or to any group of people. Even with Videos and now DVDs of sermons so readily available; preaching of the Word of God is not restricted to a physical location and the availability of a preacher.

Ok, this may not hold true for the subsistence farmer in Tibet who does not know what a DVD is or what social networking means. But you may know that farmer thru the theory of ‘six degrees of separation’ and maybe, as a Christian, your interaction with people may indirectly affect that farmer. It’s a long shot, but would it not be cool to find that that was actually the case when you get to Heaven. Awesome.

And now in this modern age of networking, we can interact with people without knowing it. We can write a blog, post a comment, submit a video, tweet, or maybe podcast, and in so doing make an investment into someone’s life that will cause a chain reaction to Salvation. This by no means takes anything away from the Holy Spirit – firstly because whoever created these social networks were gifted by God to create them and secondly it is God’s work in them that ultimately brings them to Salvation, everything else is just a tool or a means to the hopeful end result.

I think that it is really cool to be working in the video side of things as a volunteer for God (essentially) , to be aware of what can be done for the purpose of Salvation in the realm of Social Networking for both video and audio. I see churches making podcasts available of sermons on iTunes, I see cool video being posted in blogs and video sites that just show God off in awesome ways. Some of the most influential of Churches have regular blogs and tweets where you can see pretty much anything discussed from family, creativity and actual video work done for the Church.

However there is quite a weight of responsibility on Christians in such environments of social networking, firstly because such environments are conducive to the pushing of moral boundaries, just visiting YouTube casually can result in an unnecessary temptation, it is unfortunate that this is the case. Secondly there is that pressure that can be placed on you to keep the facade up of the perfect Christian whenever you post something. Hmmm, we were watching On Location by Andy Stanley in our Community Group, and one of the things that came up was this idea that a little bit of righteousness goes a long way – as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah when Abraham ‘argued’ with God to spare the people if only 10 were righteous in a town of about 800 – that almost only 1%. That may well be the case for the online community – that there is only 1% Christians. The fact that you are there may play a role in an unsaved individual, that maybe your just being there may go a long way to saving them, or even better – playing an active role in being righteous in the the environment of social networking will go a whole lot further.

As for the Church playing a role in reaching the lost within the online networks, one thing that is certain is that it takes only one seeker to find a place where God is and be found for it to be really worth while. Ok that sounded strange. What I think is that the Church has an important role to play for God in the online community in the form of a corporate involvement (Church Web Site, Sermon downloads etc) and individual involvement ( personal blogs, videos, tweets, etc). And just being online, even reaching someone without knowing it can actually reach further that the theory of six degrees of separation - that maybe the subsistence farmer in Tibet has an internet connection and he reads your blog.

Church All Top

August 2, 2008 in Church with 1 Comment

A dynamic RSS feed of popular Church Blogs: http://church.alltop.com/

The more popular the closer to the top.

http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/ is there and some, umm, interesting ones.

Church and Video – Part Two

July 31, 2008 in Church with 2 Comments

I ended off Part one with the statement “At the moment there are restrictions and stone walls – like our volunteers and equipment, things that – I am happy to say – are out of my hands and in God’s hands.”

In reality the modern Church’s biggest stumbling block with regards to Technology and especially Video and Sound is financing and volunteers. With so many things running in the Church; the main threat is over expenditure of finances and over working of volunteers. That is why you have to first be putting God first (kind of supposed to be a given). While I think we have been blessed as our Church I still struggle to find people to help. Maybe it is the intimidation factor – who knows. But Video, editing etc is not a one man job or two or three; it is a ministry that requires time, effort, learning, excellence and commitment.

Anyway a good way of evaluating how far to go with this type of technology is to apply the SWOT analysis:

Strong Points, Weak Points, Opportunities, and Threats.

Threats

Over expenditure of finances and over working of volunteers are the obvious threats. Another is the over use of video to the point that it becomes ineffective.

Weak Points

Video is sometimes impersonal and some people; out of preference, would not like to watch too much video or even a complete Video Sermon.

Strong Points

Video certainly does appeal to the younger crowd; the more upbeat and zooty then the more cool it can be.

Also a pre-recorded testimony, promo or informational segment can get the point across very clearly and effectively.

Opportunities

In today’s day and age it is very important to be culturally relevant in order to not only appeal to people who are looking for a modern Church but also to communicate effectively and in the language of the people. I don’t mean watering down the message of God, I mean leveraging the technology of today to do God’s will to reach the lost. Therefore technology and especially Video should be an opportunity to reach more people.

We are to preach the Gospel to all the Earth. Everyday the world is becoming smaller. And with video, one can hand over a DVD, with a sermon on it, to a friend that could end up in the most oddest of places being watched by someone you may have never thought would have ever wanted to listen to the Word of God. Who knows – God can use anything.

God Tube, God TV, etc videos are being broadcasted to all ends of the earth – to places where you would least expect.

What is important to realize is that this is just a means to an end; an end that would ideally result in someone giving their life to Jesus. Ultimately though – that is not a result dependent on the means you use to acquire that end, it is dependent on God. And God has given us guys and girls, that have the ability to understand this technology, custodianship and stewardship of that understanding, those skills, those talents and those abilities in order to Glorify Him and to do His Will.

Church and Video

July 28, 2008 in Church with 6 Comments

Video plays a very important role in many Churches nowadays. Some of the most influential actually get thousands of people to watch a live video or even a previous week’s video of a sermon. Does this water down the message of God? Does it take our dependence on God to reach people out of God’s hands’ and put it into technology? Are we too dependent or perhaps too enamored by video media? Or is it ridiculous to think we can take anything away from God with video because maybe this it a tool that He has given us?

I do a lot of work in video media and my take is that we need to be relevant, interesting and inspiring. Sure one could argue that you should only rely on God and nothing else. Well I believe that we should give God and His message the respect it deserves, and that means creating environments for people to hear God that are relevant, professional and make people want to come back for more. Environments that get people in to listen, respond and accept. Environments that bring people in for the message of God to be sown into their lives because they want to come back and find out more. Therefore is it not obligatory to give your best in every area?

So I am fairly convinced that video plays a very important role in the modern Church. Not for the sake of it. Video, as with any media has to be strategic, it has to serve a purpose – otherwise it just becomes another bit of noise in the background.

I want to give more of my opinion, but first let me explain where I am coming from:

Part One: How We Got Here

Been doing video for the Church going on 4 years now and I can say that it has been an interesting time of challenges, insights and celebration. When I first started I was asked to man the Church’s Sony Hi-8 camera for sending through a video feed to the adjoining room where the kids were being looked after. It was only supposed be during the holiday season when the volunteers of the childrens’ ministry could take a break.

How was I to know that God was going to take this minor hobby and create a passion in me that would see video media play an integral part in our Church service. Well it was not on my agenda to take it anywhere other than where it was. Ha ha ha. I had to start experimenting. I had to start recording our Sunday morning services and Friday KidStuf. I also had to find out how to edit this stuff and with what equipment. My investigations took me to Apple’s PowerMac G5 1.6GHz SP and Final Cut Express. Wow, it was really amazing what could be done. Ok, I did find it very expensive in-spite of the fact that I purchased the bottom of the range G5 available, but I did it without going into debt – and only because of God.

I think that the first major step for the Video Media at out Church was the funky and funny value adds that we put together. Usually on the fly and with the kind of organizing that could only have been God inspired. Then I started putting the recordings of KidStuf and the Sunday Services onto DVD. Initially this was a really cool idea and resulted in some nice products. But I soon realized that the Final Cut Express was a bit limiting in what I was wanting to do, so I purchased Apple’s Production Suite. Needless to say, many hours were spend playing around with that cool collection of tools.

The second major step came about when I just had to obtain a better camera, something that had true manual control and that was widely favored in the independent film arena. Seems like a hectic jump, but looking back on it, buying that Panasonic AG-DVX100BE was a pretty good idea. The improvement over the Hi-8 was enormous, both for the DVDs and for the value adds. Soon we were putting together video testimonies that were so professionally done that it looked like we were hiring specialist to get the job done. Hehehehe.

Ok, at the moment, we don’t do DVDs anymore. There does not seem to be much of a demand, maybe for the KidStuf footage – but the idea is to get kids and their parents to see the live event together, not to keep the kids distracted with the DVD version. Anyway, currently the big effort for video goes to promoting the environments we create for KidStuf, FazeOne, Building Blocks, Transformers, StartingPoint, GroupLink and the Services. This we do by presenting the promotions of each environment, or informational segments of what is needed in the form of a TenBefore (10 minutes before the Service starts). Also Testimonies for Baptisms, but only the bravest of brave get baptized in Winter, brrrrr. To a lessor degree I put together Video Title Enhancements to act as transitions for when the speaker gets up.

The TenBefore stuff we do, is based on the very same structure that North Point Community Church’s TenBefore has. Very cool to be involved in a Church like that, very cool indeed – especially from a video stand point – very cool.

This is not a ministry that is a one man job, definitely not for a volunteer. Those late night renders are not always good for family life. That is why I constantly pray for God to provide people who are keen, passionate and eager to commit. And I have been blessed in that area with the likes of Shadrach, his son Dylan and Pam. All offering what they can to God in this area.

At the moment there are restrictions and stone walls – like our volunteers and equipment, things that – I am happy to say – are out of my hands and in God’s hands. (Well happy is a strong word here cos I am really on the edge of my seat waiting for something to happen that may be the realization of the dream I have for the video team)

Marketing

July 15, 2008 in Church with 2 Comments

A friend of mine forwarded an article to me entitled “Does it Matter who gets the Credit for the Work” by Robert J. Tamasy. In the article it is argued that it really shouldn’t matter who gets the credit when all the credit should be going to God. In fact we would probably get more done if we were not so worried about it. Now what on earth does that have to do with Marketing?

Well, I have always been so preoccupied about marketing myself and my team in a way that would let others know just how great we are. Sounds a bit conceited, doesn’t? My thought was that if people saw how awesome it was then they may want to be involved in helping out financially or by being part of the team. And to be encouraged; who doesn’t work harder when encouraged, hey?

So then, just how does one market yourself or your team. Well, according to the article – you don’t. Ok the article is really about who gets the credit, but the same holds true with, umm, ‘peddling’ you or your team. Because, really, in the end you should just put your head down and Trust God with the rest.

I mean what is marketing other than showing yourself off? ooo look how great I am.

Yet it is a quandary because you may feel that you are not showing off, but rather just advertising opportunity. I don’t go around saying; join me, join me. I always hope that the work I do would get people interesting. But that has been a long road. Yet you see, the point is that I have been trusting my effort all along and not God’s.

So maybe the answer is to not worry about it and to take encouragement and thanks as praise to God. And if this is God’s will then He will provide the people and resources – I am just a willing vessel for God to use, a steward of the skills and talents He has given me and a servant doing a job for God and Glorifying Him in that job that He has lead me to. As it will be with the team that He has put together and the resources He has provided.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7

I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow.

What matters isn’t those who planted or watered, but God who made the plants grow.

How do you build a Video Editing Team?

June 23, 2008 in Church with 1 Comment

During the past four years I have had the pleasure of learning and experiencing videoing and editing; it has been my passion and I have never expected anything in return. In this time I have been blessed with opportunity and equipment. But nothing can compare to partnering along side people with that same passion.

I do have a team in the form of Shadrach and Dylan (yip, this is a shout out to you guys – shot for all the work) as well as Pam who helps with Filming and administration, shot

But the video needs of Stellenberg Community Church (not to mention the needs of my family for me to spend more time with them) are increasing beyond my capabilities as well as the team’s ability to copy. So the question begs, how does one build a better team (not just bigger)?

It is all very well to speak to people and put them on a schedule, but it is another thing to equip them with the means to edit and edit well while expecting them to put aside time for learning and doing the work expected of them. I know from experience that editing is not something you can assign a time slot to; it is not like you can say “I will put aside 4 hours in the week when I am on duty” – it may take 4 hours to edit something but then what about capture, render, colour correct, render again, preview, compress, maybe fix something and re-render and compress, etc. And then even if you get this right, what about the time learning and re-learning; I mean it is great learning from experience but what about learning from others, books, DVDs?

Ok, forget Camera Work when it comes to this problem because that tends to be more realistic when it comes to effort and time. So lets assume that we have 4 people on a team to rotate editing duties. In most cases editing work in a roster will end up overlapping resulting in someone waiting for the edit station before they begine work. Maybe the edit station is at the Church and one can edit there when need be? no no no – in all likihood the editor will have to wait for captures, renders and compressors to finish, maybe even set the alarm for 2am so he/she can quickly check the results and fix anything (if it was that last minute). Besides who wants to have to go to an empty Church in the middle of the night when you can get it done in the study (waiting for the render while you read a book in bed, nice and quite typical).

So maybe you get Laptops and software for all the volunteers, ooo that would be expensive. But then again should we not be making things as easy as possible for the volunteers? Hm Four video editors? Thats about R100000, and it would be preferable to use a Mac Pro which could be R100000 for one at the best specs and Software.

I suppose that we were lucky because I bought a G5 Powermac 1.6SP and Final Cut Studio and my Panasonic DVX100BE way back when things started, and we have been blessed with equipment since then. But now the G5 is nearing the end of it’s life with the 6800Ultra graphics card is dead, man Motion is going to be dog slow now.

So then what? Expect people to supply their own equipment and software, hmmm maybe if they have it already, but not to buy it from scratch, that’s 2-3 months salary for a MacBook pro and Final Cut Studio2.

Actually my biggest worry is not equipment, but attitude. I would rather have one person helping me out who has as much passion as me in this area (if not more) than 20 people who were just interested in appeasing their conscience to give time to the Church. I would love to be able to find people who would go the extra mile to learn something new, find a cool way to move the 3D camera through keyframed text or just spend time correctly colour grading a number of shots. How does one propagate this passion, bring it out, or develop it?

Unfortunately anyway there are no answers . But this is where I am, exciting hey. Things are falling into place, connections are being made, soon I will be writing about the cool new team being put together and how we are making cool videos and motion graphics that will blow your mind away.

Imagine Rocked

June 20, 2008 in Church with 1 Comment

Imagine a place where you could be yourself, a place where no perfect people were allowed, where you felt accepted and willing to have your say.

We had a fantastic event, neighhhh – an awesome event, an awesome night on the 18th June.

There was lights and music.

There was soup, rolls and good company.

But more importantly there was a relevant message; a message about community.

Stephen, from North Point Community Church, spoke about how important it was to get involved in a Community Group and we had time to discuss it amongst ourselves.

For me it was great, well I didn’t need to be convinced – but it was a good reminder and certainly a good recharge of the vision of being in a Community Group.

Also I had an opportunity to work with the guys from NPCC, particularly, Al and Evan. The guys put together a really funny video of Q and A with our Pastor; John, taking one of the sermon videos I had filmed and used segments out of it as really weird answers to strange questions. It was a hit . Evan also put together a very thought provoking video collage and presentation that really hit home.

The whole event was so professionally and neatly run. From a production side it really raised the bar with some elements that would greatly improve the experience on a Sunday morning. Things like the better use of lights and background video elements.

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