There was plenty of activity with the past posts on church video announcements for your church service.  So I thought I would post some more resources to help with that process.  Here is a 3 part video series from Vimeo about how Hillsong creates their “Church News.”  Sure most of you reading this do not have the production resources that a church like Hillsong has but nonetheless there are great bits of information anyone can use in thinking about producing video announcements for your church. So enjoy and watch these to be inspired.

Sorry that my blog posts have been so few and far between. Life has been good but very very busy getting adjusting to a new ministry, new schedule, and just about a new everything. I have thoroughly been enjoying my new ministry here at WCON. The first month so far has been spent getting to know everyone serving in my ministries, figuring out how things have been operating both in the interim and under the previous Worship Pastor, and just getting my feet back underneath me while I figure out each next step. It was another great weekend at WCON and though I have yet to master the language change from morning to evening on Saturdays, I am excited and blown away at the response in worship services so far.

All Because Of Jesus by Steve Fee
Blessed Be Your Name by Matt and Beth Redman
There Is A Fountain by William Cowper and Lowell Mason (Enfield Hymns Version)
Revelation Song by Jennie Lee Riddle
My Savior My God by Aaron Shust and Dorothy Dora Greenwell

Check out what other churches are doing at “Sunday Setlists” or TheWorshipCommunity.com.

I remember watching the cartoon over and over and over and over as a kid.  It was one of my favorite books and still to this day is as well.  I was beyond excited to hear that they were going to film the movie!  Here was what got my geek flag flying today – a sneak peak into The Hobbit.

The creation story told by Long Hollow Baptist Church. Creative moment using many mediums from environmental projection, music, art, spoken Word, and more. But it’s not creative for creative sake. It’s creative for the sake of connecting a group of people to a creative God. I love how worship explodes out of this.

I posted a while back about the benefits of playing with a click track in worship. One of the benefits what once your band can stick with a click track you can then open up the ability to use drum loops, sequences, and more. There are many benefits to using loops even beyond having those cool lo-fi drum loops and etherial sounds. In a worst case scenario you can fill in a missing instrument (smaller ministries can utilize this to create a “bigger than appears sound” from stage). Sound samples have come so far in the past 10 years that you can literally have the London Symphony Orchestra at your fingertips or backing your worship set. The sonic possibilities are endless.

“How do I do that you ask?”
“Great question” I respond.

There are a variety of tools you can utilize from GarageBand, Ableton Live, Main Stage, Pro Tools, Reason and many many more. There are also a variety of pre-made loops created by other for sale or free. Some sites will sell the multi-track file so you can edit rather than start from scratch.

While this is not an extensive list of all the resources available here is a great list to start you on your way. (special thanks to Brannon Hancock who compiled a part of this list to help get me going).

Loops in Worship YouTube Site – Training
Loops in Worship Site – Loop Elements and Training
Our Rising Sound – Blog and Loops for Sale
Loop Community.com – Free Loops, Loops for Sale and Training
My Music Writer.com – Loops for Sale and Custom Loops
Bwack’s Forum – The David Crowder Band Drummer BLog, Forum, and Musings
Interactive Worship Live.com – Multi Track Loops, Lite Loops, Loops with video
Sacred Loops.org – Loops and Training
Drum Loops for Worship – Free Loops and Training
Modern Worship Loops.com – Loops for sale
Praise Charts.com - Sheet Music, Multi-Track Files, Click Tracks, Rhythm Tracks
Looping Worship.com – loops, training and more
Create Digital Music.com – Great training resource

What other resources have you found to be beneficial for Worship loops?

The church was afraid of Luther’s idea to put a bible in the hands of every person. They would then have the power to interpret scripture on their own which could lead to theological issues. My generation has seen the rise of youtube and the video camera being available to just about everyone. No longer do you need piles of equipment, large VHS tapes and a 25 pound over the shoulder camera to film your child “eating” cake on their birthday to share with friends and family. Now you can use your phone to record everything and anything an post it for the world to see. Great! now my day is wasted searching through the massive amounts of banal videos that people thought fit to share just to find something worthwhile (i could also just spend my day doing actual work but I mean it’s totally worth it to find that one video where the cat jumps at a toy attached to a ceiling fan and is swung around the room before being flung into the wall). While the Bible in everyone’s hands has been overall a good thing, the video camera in everyone’s hands has really lowered the bar on what determines a quality video and movie. I submit for the jury’s consideration, Praise Band The Movie. A church produced movie that epitomizes the genre of church produced movies (chalk full of one liners that would make Horatio Caine jealous). And proves the point that not everyone should be allowed to have a camera and iMovie.

Video announcements are a good way to move from the dreaded awkward moment at the beginning of service where the youth pastor or some other unlucky person at bottom of the totem pole talks about postponing the carry-in dinner for sister Midlred. Ok it is not that bad, in fact I have been to many churches who have a cool looking guy with a graphic tee and thick rimmed glasses delivers the announcements with a charisma that engages every last person in the room. Anyway announcement time is important to help get information out but can also be a tricky time in service. It can be awkward at times as well as disruptive to flow. We have moved to video announcements used right before service and have found them to be a great way to communicate creatively and effectively. If you are thinking about video announcements or are doing so now and just want some inspiration, here is a great list of some church video announcements I have come across.
The production quality is great (this is important because the church has a reputation when it comes to production quality – see reference here) they are informative and in my opinion these are among the best produced video announcements I have come across (and I have come across some bad ones – in fact we have added to the pot of terrible video announcements in the past). Enjoy the samples below.

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New church presentation software is coming out soon called Proclaim and it’s located here http://proclaimonline.com. Unlike all other church presentation software systems, this one will allow pastors, worship leaders, and worship team members to all access and add to the same presentation before it’s presented, and then use the same application to run the presentation during the service.

To add to the excitement of the release of Proclaim, they are giving away $25,000 in worship resources in The Great Worship Resource Giveaway. They are going to have 100’s of winners of some of the best worship resources on the market. The giveaway is located on the Proclaim home page http://proclaimonline.com where you will see how to enter. You can also see all the prize partners there, listing out some great resources from companies like Planning Center Online, Graceway Media, Worship Leader Magazine, Centerline Media, Musicademy, Clover Sites, Christian Musician Summit, Luna Guitars, National Worship Leader Conference, and prizes from many more.
I’m excited about this new product Proclaim. You can see a video of the software on their site which gives a quick detail of how it will help worship leaders and ministry teams. Visit http://proclaimonline.com to see the video, and enter ‘The $25,000 Great Worship Resource Giveaway’.