Here’s a quick way to build up your library of sermon illustration videos. Check out the Christmas special from WorshipHouse Media. They are offering twelve free videos, so you’ll have to check their site to find out which days they are available. WorshipHouse Media is one of the more popular online stores for videos, so be sure to see what they are offering.

I stumbled on this web service and I think it has a lot of promise for churches and youth ministries. The next time you are working on a video intro for a sermon series or a quick youtube video, check out Flixpress.com.  This would also work for short photo galleries or digital signage. You can upload your text and images, and they will incorporate them into cool 3D animations. The cost is under $5, and you get really good looking results.  Check out the video below and then go to their website and look through the samples. They also have several free templates for you to try out.

If you are needing images for your bulletin, website, or video screens, there are a number of places you find them on the internet. Please don’t use cheesy clipart!!! Clipart was really never in style, so please refrain from using what you will find in Microsoft Office or Publisher. Here are some of the sites I frequently use. Sometimes you can find great images for free, but occasionally you will need to purchase the graphics you need.

Free Stock Photos

• Stock.xchang - Good site, but not a lot of church specific images
• CreationSwap – Great Christian content
• StockVault

Paid Services

(there are a lot of stock photography sites out there, these are just the ones that I have used)

• iStockPhotos - This is the one I use the most because of their incredible selection.
• PhotoXpress
• BigStockPhoto
• VectorStock
• PhotoMission
• PhotoDune

Google Images and Flickr

One word of caution: Just because you can find a great image using Google Image search or Flickr photo search, doesn’t mean that you can use it for your church. If in doubt, be sure and request permission from the content creator or find an image that uses creative commons licensing. 

• for Flickr, you can use the advanced image search, and click search only creative commons licensed content
• for Google Images, use the advanced image search and click search only images labeled for reuse

If you’re looking for some great resources in church media, then check out only144.com. They have almost $1200 of church videos, images, and graphics available at a cost of less than $100. The only catch, it’s only good for 144 hours. Here’s what they have to say

WHAT YOU GET

You will receive a 5-disc data DVD set with all the files, over 15 gigabytes! Each disc is neatly organized according to producer and includes worship videos, loops, countdowns, graphics, announcement slides, PowerPoint games, sermon videos, sermon series plans, and so much more.

WHY IT’S A GREAT DEAL

The stars have literally lined up! Thirteen of the best worship media producers in the country have pitched in to bless the socks off of churches with this deal. Worship media can be expensive, and this is a great opportunity to get enough media to last your church many years to come. Maybe your church needs some good worship loops, or countdowns, or some great sermon illustration videos. Whatever you need to spruce things up…BAM! It’s in this collection. There hasn’t been a deal offered like this ever before, so don’t miss it. It only lasts 144 hours.

Final Cut Pro X just came out with the first update to the new version. They are also offering a free 30 day trial version. If you’re interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, now is the time to check it out. From what I have seen, it looks like a good solution for what we do at the church.

I had my first chance to test drive Final Cut Pro X yesterday at the Apple Store in Greensboro. It replaces Apple’s video editing software Final Cut Pro 7 and Final Cut Express. I’ve read several reviews and they have been pretty harsh about the newest update. I’ve been using Final Cut Express, iMovie, and Adobe Premiere Elements for a while now, so I was definitely interested in seeing how the new software functions. Here is a quick recap of my first impressions.

• It is different. It is a huge change from older versions of Final Cut. It does feel like a high end version of iMovie.
• In about 15 minutes of usage, I was able to open the demo project shown above and add titles, rearrange clips, add video filters and transitions, adjust audio settings, and explore through the available options. Watch the demo videos on Apple’s website for more info.
• Most of the complaints come from high end users of the software who are missing features that they are accustomed to. I think Apple maybe rushed this out a little quickly. They have promised updates to add back missing features, but they have received a lot of negative publicity during the release of this version. But for the majority of prosumer users that don’t need high end features, this release is perfect. This goes far beyond the capabilities of iMovie, and it is much easier to use than Final Cut Express. People generally are resistant to change, even if it’s good.
• For users generating content for online viewing, I think this is a great release.  It’s fast, it’s easy to use, and the results are amazing. I love the number of filters and transitions that are included, and I had no stability issues just playing around with the software. Apple will also continue to release updates for the software, so it will only get better.
• I think they launched at a good price point. $299 for professional software is a good bargain, especially considering the older Final Cut was over double the price. I also like that they offer $49 upgrades for Motion and Compressor. These tools really expand the functionality and power of the default package, but they are priced at a reasonable level.
• My opinion is that this is an ideal package for most churches. If you are primarily creating content to be shown on screens and online, this is a great product to invest in. It is geared toward tapeless digital tapeless camcorders, so if you capture a lot, this may not be the right package for you, but for us, it’s a perfect fit. I would love to purchase this to use for our church.

Since our church is smaller and without full time graphic designers, I’m always looking for high-quality free resources that we can adapt and use. Here is a new one that I haven’t shared before.

NLC Creative – The creative department of New Life Church has an awesome collection of motion backgrounds. Seriously, you want to check these out. They also offer sermon graphics that include layered photoshop files and video files. You can even download all of the motion backgrounds as one huge torrent file.  I love churches that have a kingdom mindset in sharing resources.

Check it out at newlifechurch.tv/creative

If you are interested in finding more resources, here are a few other places to checkout.

• Elevation Resources – Graphics from Elevation Church
• Lifechurch.tv Open – Graphics and sermon ideas from Lifechurch.tv
• Seeds – Graphics from Church On the Move
• Newspring Resources – Graphics from Newspring Church
• Stuff I Can Use - Graphics from the student and college ministry of Southeast Christian Church

Over the past few years, our church has hosted several simulcast events and we’ve learned what works well and we’ve also learned what not to do. We’ve hosted internet simulcasts with Beth Moore, Dave Ramsey, and Priscila Shirer, and we’ve hosted satellite simulcasts using the now defunct CCN.tv satellite service.  Last week, we were able to offer our help with a local simulcast of the Chick-fil-A Leadercast. Here are a few things we have learned.

Take Advantage of the Testing Times

Multiple testing times have been made available for each simulcast we have hosted. Don’t overlook these times. Their purpose is two-fold, it helps them make sure they have the back-end systems in place to handle the bandwidth requirements, and it helps you to make sure that your equipment is functioning properly. You also want to test with the exact same equipment that you will use on the day of the event. Eliminate as many variables as possible. For example, we always turn off our wireless internet access so we don’t have to worry about someone using all our bandwidth on their iPad or laptop.

For one of our satellite events, we had done all the testing and everything was working great, up until the day of the event. Someone at our church ran a Windows Update on the main projection computer that was feeding the projectors. So when it came time for the event to start, I immediately had a blue screen of death staring back at me. One of the updates had not installed properly and was causing the computer to crash with the video capture software. We had to do a system restore on the computer that took about 10 minutes to complete. So that leads to the next point …

Have a Backup Plan

Have a backup computer in place! Have a backup source for your internet. Have a backup projector. Try to think through everything that can go wrong and then come up with a plan for how to handle it. Another great idea is to have someone available that can jump up and speak to the audience in case of technical difficulties. If there is a problem, plan for group activities that everyone can participate in or have a DVD that you can play while the problems are fixed. And if you have problems, you better know how to …

Know How to Contact Support

Write down the phone numbers, emails, and any other ways to contact the simulcast provider in case of emergency. I think LifeWay does the best job with this. They have a livechat where you can interact with support during the event. You can quickly find out if other people are having any problems. Twitter is another great way to monitor what is happening with the other simulcast sites. Setup a twitter search with the event hashtag and keep a close eye on the updates.

During the recent Chick-fil-A Leadercast, we ran into some very significant problems with support. Our account was locked out 20 minutes before the start of the event, presumably because we had logged in from a 2nd test computer. When we called tech support, their number was disconnected due to the high call volume. The live-stream started late so we couldn’t tell if it was working until the event actually started with the first video. And they didn’t respond immediately to emails. In the end, it all worked out, but it made for a stressful time of trying to contact them via phone and email and find out what was happening. So that brings me to the last point …

Don’t Panic When You Have a Problem

Keep your cool. The audience will feed off of the attitude of the event organizers. If you are calm and collected during any technical difficulties, then they will be much more patient. During almost every single event we have hosted, there have been times when we have lost the signal. Sometimes, it’s only for a few seconds, and sometimes it has been for a period of several minutes. Don’t panic, find out what has happened and take the steps to fix the problem. Typically, the problems we have had have been caused by the event host having difficulties. When that happens, there is really nothing you can do except wait and pray.

For the Chick-fil-A Leadercast, we had numerous problems early in the event with the live stream pausing and buffering. Thankfully we were watching twitter and saw that it was a widespread problem. We stopped the stream for about 10 minutes while they worked out the problems on their end, and we were able to jump back in when things started working again. We had prize giveaways and activities planned, so most people didn’t mind that we had the problems. Chick-fil-A did the right thing by acknowledging they had problems (although they really downplayed how widespread the problems were) and they provided an online link to the videos to everyone who attended. They took responsibility and they provided a solution, which made the event a success even in light of the problems we faced.

For our church, we want to be a resource to our community. We have the technology capability to host events like these and we really believe strongly in building the Kingdom. So if there is any way we can help build up other churches and strengthen our community, then we want to take the lead in making that happen. Simulcasts are one way we can do just that.