The weekly announcements; despite their value and necessity, they are a thorn in every Pastor's side. The information is vital to get to the congregation, yet finding a way to do so in a way that the parishioners both absorb and remember presents a number of challenges. I have seen and tried a number of different approaches, and have FINALLY stumbled on what I think is the most effective to date.
Bulletins and Service Interruptions
For years, my church turned to the weekly printed bulletins that were handed out each week. While in previous years these may have worked, I have found that as of late they are nothing more than an expensive waste. Either the information is outdated due to changes that occurred after printing dates, or our cleaning crew found them covered with children's scribble and laying in the pews after church. Sound familiar?
Of course you could always use an Emcee and do announcements during the service, which has been the more successful route until recently for us. While they CAN stay current, they often became a distraction, especially when the Spirit was moving in the service. Nothing can stall a service and kill the momentum like turning on the lights and reminding everyone of the cookout in 2 weeks.
Welcome Tool for Tomorrow's Church
As a Pastor with more than 20 years of experiences with churches, I have made it a vital part of my week to devote time to discovering tools that exist for the business world that have incredible potential for Church growth and outreach. One of the first that I found was a wonderful company called Pictory.ai which specializes in EASY and AFFORDABLE video creation. Originally designed for marketers and content creators, I logged in and signed up for the free account to give this a try.
Overflow Participation and Excitement
With an upcoming Church outing to announce, I figured there was no time like the present to try something new. After a quick sign up, a short prayer, and a "how to" video on Youtube, I sat down and created my first video. I believe I invested about 20 minutes in total, including some mistakes and changes. The video was about 30 seconds long and downloaded easily, so I loaded it to a jump drive and handed it to our projectionist with the request to play the video after the worship service but before the message.Walking on stage, I noticed a bit more conversation than normal amongst the crowd. Eager to present the message the Lord had blessed me with, I began my sermon and moved on.
After the service, I quickly picked up on the buzz on those leaving the service. Conversations of both the video AND the event were evident, which was a relief to hear. The surprise came the next week when our participation FAR outpaced our expectation. Talking with a few saints from the congregation, I was pleased to learn that the video stuck in the mind and really stirred up the excitement. As an added bonus, I found out our projectionist also uploaded the video to our church Instagram page which furthered the reach.
This WORKS, You CAN Do It...Let me Show YOU
The only way I think other churches will believe me is to simply have them try it. So...here is a very quick walk through on how to set up your first video.
First, you will need to go to Pictory.ai and sign up for the free account. It allows 3 videos and gives you access to pretty much every took you need to try it out. The paid version simply allows you to create more content. In truth, we stepped up just to the first level for now, but that was only because we have had really inspiring success.
Getting Started
When you begin, you will see a page like the one pictured here that gives you 4 options. For now, simply choose the first one which is called "Script to Video".
While the other options are VERY tempting, we can cover those later. For now, we want to use the easiest option to get you started. The Script To Video option is exactly what it sounds like. You write out the script and the rest is done for you.
Writing the Script
Next, you should see a a blank screen like the one to the below with two clear sections. The top is for the title, and then the body of the script goes into the larger section below. There is no need to get fancy or over do it.
Stick to the basics and include a simple name, and then hit the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and WHY of the announcements. This would be pretty similar to any announcements or descriptions in your bulletin.
I have included a sample script which you can see below. You will notice that it covers all of the basic points of the information that you need to convey without adding a lot of unnecessary wording.
Theme's, Video, And Sound
Next, you will get prompted to choose a type of theme for your video, similar to what you will see on the right here. I spent a lot of time on this, only to later realize this was not all that important. Simply choose the one that appeals to you and move forward.
Once you select that, Pictory creates a video for you based on the description you have provided. IT'S THAT SIMPLE! There are a few more quick steps which I will detail below, but you are ALMOST there! Keep in mind, these steps are just the very basic ones to get you started. I will present a different blog post that will go into more details for some of the other features.
On the left hand side, you should see categories you can choose from. The top one, labeled "STORY" allows you to see the frame by frame breakdown of each part of the video. Next is "VISUALS", which gives you the options to change any of the video portions into something more suitable (or your own clips, but that is for another post!). Take some time and play around with these.
Closed Caption, VoiceOver, or Narration
Under the "AUDIO" section, you will want to take just a moment. Here, you have a choice to do a voiceover of your own if you want, or select any of the computer generated voices (male or female) to speak the script you provided. The narration works very well, but as an added tip, I turn on the closed caption to display the words as well. That button is located just below the image itself. Select On For All Slides, and you are ready to roll!
Download and Go!
You have the opportunity to demo the video and make sure you are happy with the product before you download it. On the free trial, there WILL be a final slide that advertises Pictory, but on the paid version that is gone.
Below is the finished version of the sample we have talked about. Timed, this took me just short of 9 minutes to create. Of course I could spend more time for more specific and detailed display, but for the sake of our conversation I wanted to keep this as easy as possible.
Give it a TRY
You really have nothing to lose, and your congregations engagement, excitement, and participation to gain! There are so many variations and options that you can use and try, the options are endless.
This week, I added a small television to our foyer entrance (from WalMart), downloaded all of our announcement video's onto a simple USB jump drive, and let them play on loop. Now, when the congregation arrives, it is greeted by our weekly "advertisements"! The display has been a hit, and it has freed up our service to focus on the truly important part; praising and worshiping God and helping those in need find his love.
I hope this tool helps, or even gives you ideas beyond this that truly make an important to your church. I plan on posting as many blogs as I can about different tools I have found and used (both good and bad!), and would be so honored if I am able to help in any way. Please feel free to follow this account on Pinterest or including your email address on our website to see more information like this.
Thank you for your time, and may the Lord bless you and your congregation!
The links on this page are an affiliate offer would would provide a small commission should you choose a paid option, which is not a requirement. This does not affect your cost in any way. Thank You and God Bless!
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