The One Video You Should Make This Year
Whether your budget for video this year is zero dollars or $100,000, there is always a limit to what you can do with video and choices need to be made to get the best leverage of impact for your time and money.
Not News Videos
A lot of churches I’m hearing from are feeling the pressure to produce weekly news videos because “everybody is doing it.”It’s true, news videos can be really effective, but they also have a short shelf life (they expire within a few days of viewing them) and news can be communicated in so many other ways- print, stage announcements, posters, lobby booth, social media, etc…
Not Inspirational Videos
A lot of us are inspired when we see a gorgeous and creative video for a sermon series or a Christmas event. But those take a TON of time and a TON of resources I’m guessing you don’t always have. Companies like StokHub can help bring the cost down significantly, but you still need a great editor and script. Plus, more and more, there are companies who make generic videos that aren’t cheesy to inspire your congregation at Christmas or Easter or about the Book of Ephesians. Someone else made it, and you can buy it for $20. There’s some really lame stuff out there, but also some great short films. Is there a church you know who did a video you love that you can’t find for sale? Reach out to them directly. They might just give it to you if you buy the rights for the song or any copyrighted content in the video. I do this fairly often with content from C4 Church. Here’s one people get permission from us to use regularly: The Gospel.
The ONE Video
The ONE video that you need to make this year is a testimony video. This is the only video that no other church in the world can make, because no other church has that person and that story in their congregation. Only you have the story of what God has done in particular with your own church, and you carry the responsibility of sharing this testimony of God’s work with the world.
It doesn’t need to be fancy- you can shoot it on an iPhone (indoors to be out of the wind, in a place with natural light), or with some volunteers with a bit of skill in your congregation. But if you were able to hire out for only one video this year, invest in hiring someone to make this video at a pro level.
News can be told another way, and those videos have a short lifespan. Creative videos can be purchased from a company who’s an expert in the genre and has likely made something that fits your theme.
But a testimony video is something that can be shown over and over for years to come. It can be shared on social media and people WILL share it. It can speak volumes about your church programs and impact in a way that an advertisement can’t.
Find stories of God at work in your community, and bank all your money on telling the stories that God has given you to steward. They are your responsibility to share, and so no one else can do it like you can do it!
