Tech Ministry Turns One

[gletiecq]

A little more than a year ago at our small church we decided to do a little more than cut a single DVD from a fixed camera (I called the "security cam" for placement and quality) and start actually producing some videos as well as putting together quality videos of our Pastor's sermons. Sixty-four videos later, we've learned a lot, and are starting to get some response from the outreach efforts, and I thought I'd share some of the lessons learned for the purposes of inspiration as well as thanksgiving for these blessings.

First off, we're a small church that usually has about 150 or a few less in the seats across two services. The building is 25 years old, and not designed with any deference to the needs of video. The technology ministry is pretty much myself, and occasionally I'm able to inspire one or two other members to pitch in when there's something bigger going on, so our efforts and budgets are modest to say the least.

This really has to be a calling if you're going to shoulder something like this, and you have to expect it's going to be lots of solitary work and sometimes you'll wonder whether the effort is worth it. That's OK though, as God's calling is going to challenge you, teach you, and work through you in ways you can't imagine. Just put your faith in what you're called to do, strive to improve with every effort, and make sure you keep what's important in mind. It all works out to fulfill His purposes, and you just get to be a little cog in a great wheel and feel honored to have a tiny minor part in it. You're fortunate for that.

You're never going to have the budget you really think you need. That's OK, because you don't really need everything you think you do, and a budget isn't the sum of all your resources. Be content to hunt for deals, defer purchases long enough to carefully and prayerfully consider what you're doing, and carefully consider priorities. Good communication with leadership about what you think the priorities are and what they actually might be helps, and mitigates budget issues.

Undertaking something like this is committing to making a long series of mistakes. Remember they're how you learn. You'll mess up in ways you can't possibly imagine, and not only learn from them, but learn about anticipating failure and contingency planning in a way college courses could never prepare you for. God's making an investment in you, and sometime those investments of His efforts may be pretty humbling. When that happens, praise Him for what he's giving you. When he's not testing or teaching you, remember to praise Him then, also.

You can get better every week. Really, you can.

And some Sunday, a member who had stopped watching your videos months ago because it wasn't "the new thing" anymore will come up to you and say they watched one again and were pretty amazed at what you're going. You'll hear Pastor say someone in the neighborhood called him out of the blue to discuss a sermon he did three months ago and began a relationship that might lead him to greater faith in Christ. You'll hear a conversation where someone mentions your efforts that makes you feel good. Maybe you'll even find that someone getting baptized got started in his relationship with Christ through your efforts.

Or maybe it'll take a little longer for that to happen.

Year one culminated with the video production of our children's Christmas play. Shot on an XH-A1 and an HVR-HD1000u, using sound from CAD and Sennheiser mics going through Behringer boards and compressors, edited on CS4, and rendered in 720p/30 it's something I thought we'd never be able to pull off a year ago. I can't wait to see what God's plans are for us next year!

http://vimeo.com/8784435

[tedanderson]

You're never going to have the budget you really think you need. That's OK, because you don't really need everything you think you do, and a budget isn't the sum of all your resources.

So true. And I can say from my own experience that even if you have the budget, there are some things that money can't buy and there are challenges and issues that money can't solve.

[WORDpictures]

Great to hear your positive report. Keep up the good work!