Imovie Videos

Short videos during a service can enhance the worship experience by giving the congregation additional information about a topic or event through the use of video and audio. This is especially appealing (and fun!) when these videos are done by the church itself. For those that have digital comcorders available and own Apple IMac systems, IMovie is an easy to use (and free) digital video editing application. It's very simple to take raw footage and enhance it with background music, narration, and dissolves/transitions to create a professional looking video :)

One thing to remember is to make certain that your lyric projection software supports the use of Apple QuickTime videos as several do not. An option is to convert the file saved in QuickTime to a standard video format such as mpeg or avi for projecting during the service.

More information on the Apple IMovie application can be found at:

http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/edit.html

Plus! Digital Media Edition

Plus! Digital Media Edition includes an application called Photo Story 2 which is an excellent tool for creating still photo slide shows. It includes professional zooming techniques to enhance the presentation experience as well as background music track and narration. This is

a great tool to use on Sunday morning to recap an outreach event that has recently taken place!

The final presentation is saved as a windows formatted .WMV file which can be used within your lyric projection system...

An Hour on Sunday

Willow Creek Association has published an excellent resource by Nancy Beach who currently is responsible for Media Ministries at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois. I recently puchased a copy while attending the Leadership Summit and am passing it on to members of our praise team staff to get additional insight into the worship experience. A quote from the web site says:

"If someone attended your church service last Sunday, would they say that it changed their life?"

Nancy is quoted as saying " "I am convinced that modern day miracles can take place when people enter our churches. The hour on Sunday can be a time of wonder, a time to quiet souls, spark deep emotion, and prompt turning points with eternal significance."—

An excellent resource which I highly recommend...

Worship Backgrounds

Two excellent sites for ordering looping video backgrounds which can be used with your lyric projection system include:

http://www.worshipfilms.com
http://www.midnightoilproductions.net

Both sites also provide free weekly email articles on media ministry tips and suggestions for improving your worship experience.

EasyWorship - Worship Software for Churches

EasyWorship is an excellent lyric presentation application which allows for live lyric projection during your service. It includes the ability to use live looping backgrounds as well as live video feeds underlying the lyrics. Lyrics are stored in a relational database which allows for easy query capability. I highly recommend it!

EasyWorship - Worship Software for Churches