There was a time in the Church when pretty much anything projected during a service was considered progressive and useful. But that simply isn’t the case anymore. It’s 2013 and media is everywhere. When guests walk into your church, it’s no longer impressive that you have a screen on the wall. Down the street, McDonalds has six of them trying to convince you that McCafe is just as tasty as Starbucks.

The Church has the greatest message on Earth and it deserves to be presented in a way that outshines all the other clutter fighting for our attention.

You might not have the equipment, software, or staff that you’d need to turn your creative vision into reality. However, there is one area that you can pour into that will make a huge difference no matter what budget you’re working with—content. I’ve visited numerous churches who didn’t have a tremendous budget for their video equipment, but was pleasantly surprised by their excellent use of content. So whether it’s countdowns, backgrounds, sermon slideshows, or mini-movies—it’s important to make sure they make a good impression and communicate the message well.

Here are five simple ways to improve your on-screen content that won’t break the bank:

1. Create A Consistent Theme

One of the most noticeable elements of a church’s Sunday morning projection is cohesion between multiple pieces of media. By selecting content that matches, you show the congregation that there was thought put into what’s on the screen. Choosing complementing colors, shapes, and animations in your motion backgrounds has a way of unifying the worship set and taking the crowd on a cohesive journey. It can take an already powerful experience to the next level. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using service packs or bundles from content producers that are designed to cover every aspect of a service.

2. Use Trending Styles

I’m always on the hunt for the latest trends in the design world. Start paying attention to the styles and imagery used on TV shows, movies, and magazines. Take regular visits to sites like Behance and Design Shack. Even take note of the small things like popular pins on Pinterest and the motion graphics on digital signage in stores. All of these things will point you to the visual language that people are speaking in our culture. Choose content that matches these trends, yet communicates your message well. And don’t be afraid to pull the plug on content that has gone out of style.

3. Know What Works With Your Setup

Not long ago, I downloaded a new collection of motions that I was really excited to use in our Sunday morning services. However, when I plugged them in for a test run, the colors that looked great on my iMac’s screen didn’t look so hot when shown on our projector. I had gotten so caught up in their cool design that I had forgotten the limitations of our video setup. This could have easily been avoided if I would have gone into my selection process with our equipment in mind. There’s a lot of value in knowing which colors work best on your screens. Limitations in your setup might also include screen size/visibility, lyrics fitting on certain backgrounds, or your computer not being able to handle playback of large media files.

4. Only Use Mini-movies That Echo Your Pastor’s Message

You won’t find a bigger advocate for mini-movies than me. I’m a big believer in their ability to captivate an audience more in 3 minutes than pastors typically do in 45 minutes. That being said, I’m not a fan of using them just for the sake of using them. I’ve sat through services and seen totally random video clips used simply to be “relevant”. But a mini-movie is best used to communicate a part of a pastor’s message that is otherwise hard to express in mere words. I recommend starting with a biblical message first, then searching for a video. (Rather than seeing a video and building a message around it.)

5. Buy From Reputable Sources

If you’ve visited my blog or checked out my tweets even once, you’ve probably noticed that I’m a bit of a freebie connoisseur. I love finding free resources around the web and sharing them with as many people as possible. But take it from the freebie dude—great content is going to cost money. There are occasional deals and freebie blessings, but not nearly enough to keep your media ministry on its feet. The best thing you can do is find a reliable content producer that is both trendy and fits the style of your church. Then, bite the bullet and purchase a subscription with them. This will give you the resources you need to be successful and save a ton of money—versus buying individual pieces of content.

There’s my top five. Do you have any other recommendations on how to improve on-screen content?

Kendall Conner is the founder of TheCreativePastor.com—a blog centered around making church media simple. He is a graphic designer, video editor, and all-around media geek.

What would your (honest) church postcards say?

Check out this page from the official 1967 Star Trek Writers’ Guide.

 [Source]

It’s pretty fascinating to see the formula they used for compelling storytelling. They knew what they wanted to achieve with each episode, and this writers’ guide helped them stay true to their vision.

While you could easily accuse the original Star Trek story of being overly formulaic, you can’t deny they capture the imaginations of a whole generation (even a Next Generation). And I do believe there’s huge value in telling a very intentional story.

So what story do you tell during your services? Is it intentional? Do you have acts? Do you know what you’re trying to accomplish in each? How do you pace your story? And how do you keep your audience tuned into your channel?

Facebook allows you to post links, photo albums, lengthy videos, and even longer diatribes about social and political issues. We can post everything on Facebook.

But Vine and Instagram limit us. Extremely. One six-second video. One square photo. It’s one of the things that’s so frustrating about the mediums. But it’s also what makes us love them.

It’s hard to sell me something on Vine and Instagram. But it’s very easy to tell me a story. It’s very easy to let me in on an experience. And that’s what Vine and Instagram force you to do. They force you to share a story with your followers. (Even if it’s only a story about the coffee you drank.)

How do you communicate at your church? Do you communicate like Vine and Instagram? Do you tell short, compelling stories? Or do you go the Facebook route?

What about the programs you have? Do you give people a thousand options? Or do you give them a few, select, great options to choose from?

There are places for the Facebook approach. There are places for the Vine and Instagram approach. But I’ll tell you this…one is far more compelling.

Food for thought.

First up, a new movie about the life of Rich Mullins. I’ll be watching!

A man decides to greet grumpy faces with a “Good Morning”…and it revolutionizes his life.

Want to turn your room into an immersive game playing environment? Microsoft wants to help.

And finally, a super creepy cinemagraph.

Happy Friday!

It’s fun getting to work with and see churches from all different backgrounds and denominations. One thing I’ve noticed is that whatever the denomination celebrates, the pastors in that denomination make it their goal to make sure they achieve what’s being celebrated. Even in non-denominational circles, whatever impresses their friends is what they look to achieve. I don’t have one Baptist client that couldn’t tell me how many people got saved and baptized in their church in the last month. It’s also what the SBC really celebrates. Other circles of influence celebrate missions, and it gives leaders pride in saying how much they gave to missions. Or it’s all about the lost, and it’s a competition for who can do the most outlandish thing in a church. Someone might even curse on stage. OMG!

I take no issue with any of the above. In fact, I celebrate my friends who are killing it in a lot of those areas. But I am left with questioning: How exactly do we measure the success of a church? Is it measured by what is celebrated? Have we simply stacked up the verses we want to live by? And as long as we can check off our list of those particular verses, we can feel a sense of accomplishing our mission? I have no idea. But I do know a lot of leaders and pastors who are secretly depressed that their department or church as a whole isn’t doing better and they don’t know why. I know a lot of people will pay big money to fly across the country to hear someone else share their secrets of success in order to grow their church. And they should.

But what would a guy like me, who has simply observed a lot of church, and not pastored anywhere… say to a pastor or leader that really wants to see their church grow…

“Be excellent in what you can control.”

Here’s the deal: You may be awesome enough to get some people to fill the seats in your auditorium, and then again, you may suck. You may be somewhere in between. Some of that requires a really great collective effort of a really talented, spiritual, and amazing staff that you may not have. You can rarely control the influx of lost or found people that come into your church, but you absolutely can control the amount of lost people you go to. Pull out a map and draw a 5 mile radius around your church. Make it a goal to go be around 100 lost people this month. Make up the number. That may mean you going to the gym or to the mall. That may mean that the church buys four football game tickets and you give them to two leaders to invite two of their lost friends to the game. And now, you’ve become a church on the move.

So on top of trying to get people in the doors, maybe put a plan together to get your current people out of the doors.

Ryan Leak is a church consultant and owner of Park Bench Pro – a motion graphics and animation studio.

(Click on the pics to make them full-sized.)

Whenever you talk to successful creative leaders, you’ll hear two things they do constantly. They actively seek out what other creative leaders are doing, and they actively ignore what other creative leaders are doing.

There are so many problems you’ll face this week and this year that have already been solved by other creative leaders. When a creative leader buries their head in the sand, they shut themselves off from those creative solutions. They end up reinventing the wheel and wasting a lot of time and effort.

But at the same time, if a creative leader gets too consumed with what others are doing, he risks one of two things: feelings of inferiority via comparison, or chasing every fad and new idea. That’s why successful creative leaders also actively ignore what other creative leaders are doing. It keeps them from getting swept up into chasing others’ ideas and keeps them pursuing their own – with their own unique passion and vision.

So the question for you is this: What can you learn from other churches and creative leaders without falling prey to chasing after fads and others’ ideas?

I suggest you subscribe to a few sites to help you keep up on what other churches are doing. Check them out. Explore what they’re doing. But don’t copy. Never copy.

1. Church Stage Design Ideas – See what other churches are doing on their stage.
2. Series Ideas – Check out what other churches are doing graphically for sermon series’.
3. Worship Set Ideas – Watch videos of churches’ worship sets and services.

What resources do you use to keep up with what other creative leaders are doing?

Last week, the first fully functional gun was distributing completely digitally. Someone downloaded the plans and printed the gun at home. And it fired successfully. Shortly thereafter the US government banned distribution of these plans over the Internet. If you’re confused, let me fill you in on some stuff you may have missed.

3D Printing: There’s a somewhat new technology called 3D printing. The concept is this: You can download a 3D model online, then use a 3D printer to create the shape from raw materials at home. It’s like buying an HP Printer, but instead of a document, you can print your favorite GI Joe action figure out of plastic. Some companies are making these printers for around $1000.

3D Gun: Someone designed plans for a 3D printed gun that could be made from plastic. It worked. Here’s what it looks like deconstructed:

(Image from Dezeen)

This is not a post about gun control. This is not a post about government intervention. This is a post about the spread of technology and how impossible it is to stop.

How long do you think it will take for these gun plans to make their rounds and be readily available everywhere? No time at all. Our culture is changing. No longer is information available whenever we want, now anything is at our fingertips.

This is the changing culture we’re trying to reach. Fascinating. And what does it say about how our methods might need to change? Perhaps only time will tell.

What are your thoughts? And no, this is not a forum to display your favorite gun control memes or rhetoric. (Those will be politely deleted.)

(Featured Image Source)

First, a quick story of a man who photographs strangers in New York.

How do you stay happy even when you’re living in the rat race?

See how Massimo Vignelli lays out books.

Did you like #FirstWorldProblems? You’ll love these Middle Class Problems.

And finally, your cinemagraph of the week.