My personal focus on church media has highly expanded within the past couple years as I’ve visited places like Falls Creek and LifeChurch.tv’s worship experiences and witnessed their absolutely incredible emphasis on graphics, video, and audio. Along with that I’ve been able to contribute to some very tiny media projects at my own church.

Here’s a question that must be asked: “Why aren’t more churches diving deeper into media creativity?” I for one would be ecstatic if my church focused more on it. In fact I can’t think of any form of ministry I am more excited about. It is honestly the most effective medium of communication for the current culture. Are some churches simply ignorant by not taking advantage of the benefit designing our own media brings? Definitely yes.

So what can those of us who are still suffocating in use of PowerPoint worship slides do? (shriek)

SO MUCH.

Basically this is a checklist of things I want to accomplish so media usage grows at my church. Maybe you can use it as a guideline for your own pursuit as well.

Do research; find out what other churches do

No, this doesn’t involve spying on the church next door’s tech crew in Sunday morning operation. As alluring as that seems, there’s more we can do. What I’ve come to know in my search is that Adobe products are absolutely king in media creation, not only in the church but especially in mainstream production as well. Some Adobe products we need to check out are Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects. They are, bottom line, the best available.

Analyze your realistic resources

How much time can we pour in, and how much money is our church willing to invest in newness? This could be a barrier from change, but it’s definitely never a permanent barrier. Eventually any church of moderate size should be able to invest in a more modern approach to media in the church. We need to commit to moving towards this form of ministry. Thankfully, since churches are nonprofit organizations, we get some sweet benefits when it comes to getting software. Try searching “nonprofit adobe” at AcademicSuperstore.com.

Have conversations with church staff

It’s tough to get any idea off the ground without getting support from people, especially the church staff. Ask for their personal view on the current rig at your church. Give them reasons to get interested in upgrading. Show them examples of what can and has been done with media in other churches. Some great super-examples are the things LifeChurch.tv is doing on every single one of their videos online. Another great resource I’ve found is Church Media Design TV, a video blog designed to teach and reach out to the church media designer.

With these checklists and ideas in mind, we can’t forget why we’re pursuing creativity in church media. It must be done with the lead purpose of glorifying God in this growing form of ministry! And us technology nerds will definitely have fun in the process.

[photo courtesy of Mart1n]