The Making Sunday Happen Podcast | Episode 005

Five Media Recommendations for Churches with Under 1,000 in Weekly Attendance

Show Notes

Show Notes and Resources Mentioned:

If you are a church that averages under 1,000 in weekly attendance, consider these five media recommendations:

1. Consider using high-quality Video Elements for your screens. 

Resources like our twelvethirtymedia.com/store or worshiphousemedia.com have made pre-produced content incredibly cheap. You could easily purchase a collection of coordinating media content and a mini-movie for under $50. For custom media content for your sermon series, you can get packages that include a sermon bumper, a countdown, motions and stills for as low as $299.

 

2. Transition to Using ProPresenter on a Mac as soon as you can. 

You can purchase an iMac for under $1500. You can purchase a single House of Worship license for ProPresenter for under $500.

 

3. Consider the following quick tips when executing your worship slides and media content.

1. Limit your lines of lyrics to 3, maybe 4 for a hanging word or phrase. Never go more than this.

2. Be consistent with your fonts and font size. Choose one font for all your lyrics for the whole day. Choose a font size that is readable but doesn’t overwhelm your screen.

3. Choose Non-Cheesy Motion Backgrounds. Cheesy clipart or rainbow backgrounds are not only just poor design, it distracts your congregation from worshipping.

4. Lead lyrics! Nothing is worse than being late on lyrics. It halts the worship of your people. A good rule of thumb for leading lyrics is to advance to the next slide when your worship leader sings the next to last word on the slide.

5. Never let your audience see what’s going on “behind the scenes”. You never want to see a cursor, a desktop background, another program, or anything else on your screens besides media content from your presentation software.

6. No Repeat Lines or “Hymnal directions”. If you sing one line repeatedly, it should be on one slide and the slide should be duplicated in your presentation software.

7. Set up your presentation software in the order of the service. You should primarily be using the spacebar to advance your way through your media content. You should only use your cursor to catch a worship leader on a rogue lyric or to fire a video element.

8. Gently encourage your leaders to not make any last minute changes. Last minute changes affect the concentration of the team and can throw your execution game off. Set guidelines to when is too late to add content to your presentation.

 

4. Plan ahead!

A full run-through of your service is preferred, but if that is not possible in your church, at least work with your pastor and staff team to walk through your content of your service.

Work together to get all lyrics, announcements, scriptures, and other elements into your presentation software during the week so you are prepared and ready going into Sunday.

 

5. Raise Up Leaders!

Production isn’t your ministry. It’s the Lord’s and the church’s. It doesn’t belong to you. Your job is to steward it well. If you’re a church of under 1,000 in weekly attendance, depending on the positions and needs you have, you should have at least 10-20 people serving in Production.

 

PDF IconClick Here to Download a FREE Transcript of this Episode.

Quotes from this Episode:

Suggested Tweet: "Are there things you are spending money on in other places that could be going to enhance your Sunday worship experience? @carlbarnhill"

Suggested Tweet: "Nothing is worse than being late on lyrics. It halts the worship of your people. @carlbarnhill"

Suggested Tweet: "Set up your presentation in the order of the service. Primarily use the spacebar to advance your way through your content. @carlbarnhill"

Suggested Tweet: "Production isn't your ministry. It's the Lord’s and the church’s. It doesn't belong to you. Your job is to steward it well. @carlbarnhill "


Sharable Content:

I want you to have the resources you need to lead your volunteer team well. That’s why in nearly every episode of the podcast I like to provide you with downloadable, sharable content that you can take back and use as you lead your teams. This content is absolutely FREE of charge. You can take it, copy it, and distribute it to your team members. May God bless your ministry as you serve Him.

PDF IconFREE .PDF Version of my list of “5 Media Recommendations for Smaller Churches.”

I’ve also written an extensive blog post on this topic. Click here to read more.

 

About the Show

The Making Sunday Happen Podcast is the definitive podcast for those who plan, create and execute worship experiences all around the world. This is a legacy podcast where we interviewed hundreds of church leaders, pastors, authors, worship leaders, and church production staff.

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