www.churchvideoideas.com 

Some title for a creative article, huh? I know its cliché and gets thrown around a lot, but there are always lessons that church leaders can learn from the simple phrase, "Less is more". From working with your musicians, to training communicators, to creating media for your worship experiences, the phrase packs a potent punch. I'm going to give just 3 examples of why "less is more" as it applies to our corporate worship experience.

STILL IS STILL GOOD

I recently led worship at a church in Dallas. Those of us who were facilitating worship (the singers and band) were trying our best to disappear. Those who were supporting the worship (the tech crew) were trying their best to go unseen. We wanted people to focus on God, not us or the media.

I must brag on the tech crew at this church – they get it. They not only know that "less is more", they demonstrate it. Although their presentation software has the ability to put text over moving/looping backgrounds, they used mostly still backgrounds. Often when a church moves from PowerPoint to a presentation software designed for worship they forget about still backgrounds. It's as if there's an either/or rule. Just because we now have the ability to place our lyrics over motion backgrounds doesn't mean that we have to do it 100% of the time!

Countless churches purchase presentation software and forget all about the many wonderful still backgrounds available to use. Motion backgrounds are awesome, and we have literally thousands of looping backgrounds to choose from these days. But to me, motion backgrounds add so much more and really stand out when used in contrast to still backgrounds. Just as using all still backgrounds can be plain and routine, using all motion backgrounds can be too busy and possibly lead to over-stimulation, which distracts people from worship.

99 SLIDES OF NOTES ON THE WALL

Another way to apply the "less is more" principle in corporate worship is in how you create and use the message slides for your pastor's sermon. Maybe your pastor creates them and you "touch them up". I hear ya. Been there, done that. My pastor would give me his 50 PowerPoint slides with every quote, every Scripture, every point, every sub-point, etc. He basically turned his outline into PowerPoint slides. I would then have to go in and delete and shorten slides. This happens in a lot of churches because visual presentation principles weren't taught in seminary. Many pastors have heard the reasoning for visual aids and got on board with the concept of using media in worship, but they have never been properly trained on design and how to communicate effectively and creatively.

Let's assume you hear 2 sermons: One that is supplemented with 30 messages slides and one that has 3 message slides. Which one do you think you are most likely to remember? You guessed it: The one with 3 slides. Less IS more, especially if it is done creatively. I'd rather you give me 3 images than 3 bullet points. Read from the Word, explain it, and tie it to 3 images, and there is a very good chance that weeks later I could recite back to you what your text was and the 3 points you made.

Images engage my mind, especially my imagination, and eventually touch my heart. Since worship – and particularly preaching – isn't an academic exercise, the goal isn't how much information I can remember; the goal is transformation. Teaching supported by images instead of points is more likely to stick, more likely to challenge and ultimately more likely to influence my heart, my mind and my behavior.

ANNOUNCING A LIMIT ON ANNOUNCEMENTS

Lastly, let's touch on the subject of announcements. We all go through it – the grueling battle of what gets announced, when it gets announced and who is going to announce it. Some churches go through this battle weekly. Some have scars from old battles that resulted in policies. Some churches have ruled out announcements altogether.

The "less is more" principle applies first to the actual number of announcements. Announcements take on many different forms in churches. For example, at my home church, announcements are made in 4 distinct ways: First, the announcements are part of a pre- and post-service slide presentation. The second and most obvious way of making announcements at my church are printing them in the weekly bulletin. The third and most unpopular form is the platform announcement, when one of our staff members vocally shares an announcement. The fourth and most time-consuming is through video announcements that a part-time video producer comes up with each week.

Here's my 2 cents: As long as you have bulletins, you'll have announcements – that's not a battle worth fighting. My thought is to apply the "less is more" principle to how we present our weekly announcements, whether it's an actual staff member mentioning the top announcement(s) of the week, or a video that highlights the top 2 to 3 things that need attention. It's simple logic that people are more likely to remember 1 or 2 announcements than they are to remember 5 or 6. If retention is our goal, why do so many of our churches make numerous announcements? Do we really expect people to remember the top 10 opportunities of the week?

Not every church can or should do video announcements each week. Churches like mine that do go to the trouble of producing them should eliminate the platform announcements. I don't think both are necessary. Maybe in your scenario, announcements are only made via pre-service slides on the screens. Try lowering the number of slides and making an effort to create eye-catching visuals that grab people's attention. The fewer announcements they hear and/or see, the more they remember – it really is that simple.

Obviously, there are areas where the "less is more" principle does not apply. If people give less, then your church will not be able to support all its ministries or ministers. But for those examples mentioned in this article, it holds up and is a simple phrase that's easy to remember and apply. Paul, when speaking to the Corinthians, said he'd rather say 5 words that people could understand than a bunch that made no sense. That's my heart in this philosophy. I'd rather see your church do a few things well than a lot of things average or poorly. So take this simple principle to heart and go transform your communication!

©2007 – Greg Atkinson (www.churchvideoideas.com) Used by permission from author. All rights reserved by author.

 4.5 things to make the most excellent experience ever (seriously ever in the history of the world) this weekend.
Shawn Wood is the Experience Pastor for Seacoast Church a multi-site church with 14 locations (24 Weekend experiences) in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Lists seem to be really popular in the church world this year so it makes for a great title.  Originality, creativeness and the all allusive target of "excellence" also seem to be a driving force behind the lists so that makes for an even better title.  Finally the idea that we are in the top whatever list which can somehow make us the best at something "ever" seems to be a definition of excellence that many are comfortable living with.  I am not.

What if we said being #2 is not acceptable and the #1 spot is already taken so the best we can hope to do is be invited to sit at the table with the best. 

This may seem super-spiritual, but what if our goal was not to be original, creative, or excellent but it was to be effective.

I find that anytime we start saying that our church services have to be _____________ (and you can fill in the blank with a multitude of verbs and adjectives), that we have probably left our vision for something inferior. Yes, excellence is inferior. 

People coming to know Jesus Christ through whatever means and degree of originality, creativeness and excellence needed is both effective and supreme.

Now that we have that theory out of the way here are the 4.5 ways to have an effective experience.  I will expound on each of these in upcoming posts.

1.     Revolve your experience around Jesus Christ and His ability to change lives.

2.     Reduce your experience to simple next steps for people to take in order to become fully-devoted to Christ.

3.     Redux classic elements that have helped people experience God through the ages with a church 2.0 twist.

4.     Realign your priorities to put number #1 first instead of originality, creativeness or excellence.

4.5   Remember that the "experience" is mostly mystical anyway and you can't plan that - you can only pray for the Holy Spirit to show up.

 Using Motion Backgrounds in Worship

In the last few years, media ministry in churches has come a long way. And along with that is the pool of resources for the Church to tap in to. From a few video production companies that made videos and backgrounds for worship to now over a hundred. From a look and feel and quality that now looks cheesy to some amazing eye-catching visuals that are now available. The Church now has literally thousands of visual resources at its disposal, either through the various producers’ websites or through clearing houses such as FaithVisuals, Meatloaf Media, OnScreen Impact, Sermonade, SermonSpice, The Shoutable Store and WorshipHouse Media.  

Another area that has come along way in the last few years is the evolution and eminence of presentation software designed for worship. Three years ago 90% of churches using projection software were using PowerPoint™ - that’s no longer the case. With the rise of software companies such as EasyWorship, MediaShout and ProPresenter (yes, there are others, but these are the main 3), churches around the world are taking their media ministry and its flexibility to the next level by switching to these software options that were designed specifically for worship environments.

Going to the next level
I bring up these two topics: media producers and worship presentation software, because they go hand-in-hand with the topic of motion backgrounds being used in worship. Let’s first look at the effect that the rise of media producers has had on the Church. For example, churches don’t need to have graphic designers, video producers and animators on staff (it’s great if they do, but it’s not necessary) due to the many companies that are producing and cranking out quality videos, countdowns, stills and motion backgrounds. With our culture and audience being so visually minded and saturated, using only still backgrounds can come across as very dry and dare I say, boring. The quality moving and looping backgrounds that so many companies are producing (this includes non-Christian companies such as Artbeats, Blue Pony Digital and Digital Juice, to name a few) give you and your church an unending choice of colors, designs, styles and options to choose from.  

The second topic I mentioned is the rise of the worship presentation software companies. This is important because with the past stats of 90% of churches using PowerPoint™, that means that 90% of churches couldn’t use motion or looping backgrounds behind their lyrics because PowerPoint™ can’t handle that. Side note: yes, there is a new plug-in that kind of allows you to put text over video in PowerPoint™, but it has its draw backs and limitations and is not worth paying $150; so you might as well put that money towards a presentation software designed for worship. I don’t even consider the plug-in an option, so if you want to use moving backgrounds behind your lyrics you have to step up to a better presentation software (such as EasyWorship, MediaShout or ProPresenter). Once you move to one of the above mentioned software applications, you can put lyrics over video with no problem.

A few things to consider
One is that motion or video backgrounds do not necessarily mean looping backgrounds. There are companies that create some very cool seamless looping backgrounds, but not every motion backgrounds loops. Some are extended video clips or long plays that play behind your lyrics for 3 to 6 minutes without ever looping. Some churches use their IMAG or live camera feed to act as their background and place lyrics over that.

Two is that just because you may have stepped up to a new presentation software and have the ability to put your lyrics over moving backgrounds, doesn’t mean that you abandon still backgrounds. The beauty and power of motion backgrounds is in the contrast they make to still backgrounds or pictures. If you’re singing four songs, try using still backgrounds for two and moving backgrounds for the other two. Another thing that I love to do is start out a song with a still background and as the song grows, switch to a moving background at a key-change or upbeat part of the song. Many companies include the jpeg stills of a product along with the matching moving backgrounds, so using the two together makes the still look like it comes to life. Remember, less is more.

Third, and this kind of goes along with the above suggestion, is to use taste and discernment. There is such a thing as over-stimulation and it’s entirely possible to be too busy and distracting. I’m all for a moving background if it’s done tastefully and adds to the overall worship experience, but it should never become a distraction. Our whole point as facilitators of worship is to disappear. You also need to know your people and then design for worship based on who your audience is. There are backgrounds that I would use for a youth or kids event that I would never use on a Sunday morning and vice versa. Besides knowing your church, know the mood and theme of the day. If it’s a kind of somber and reverent service (maybe you’re observing Communion), it may be the wrong call to use a flashy and highly energetic looking background.

Fourth, I’d add that you use the “less is more” principle as to how many different kinds of backgrounds you pick for a given service. I remember coming on staff at a church a while back and the guy who created the worship slides before me changed backgrounds with every slide/verse – talk about over-stimulation. I typically use one background for an entire song, occasionally doing the still background to the same looking moving background, as I mentioned earlier. I’ve done two to three songs back to back with the same background, especially if there is an overall theme for the day that we’re trying to stick with.

Fifth, stay consistent with your size and type of font. Something that will really mess with people’s minds and actually give them a headache is to change fonts for each song. Please don’t put your congregation through that. You as the leader or creator of the worship slides should pick a font type and size and then go with that throughout the entire service. Jason Moore and Len Wilson, in their book “Design Matters” wrote, “Sadly, designers frequently treat fonts as the “unwanted stepchildren” of design, giving them little thought. Those who make this mistake can destroy the power of what would otherwise be an inspiring image by randomly choosing a font and slapping on text at the last moment. Many nice images have been ruined by poor font selection. As fonts are one of the most significant elements in design, choose them with careful consideration, keeping in mind the overall tone and theme of the graphic.” They go on to support my philosophy by writing, “When building graphics for a worship series, try to stick with the same fonts throughout. After picking the font set, don’t veer from it. Staying consistent is much better from a design perspective. Use the font set for everything from Scripture, to points, to song lyrics, etc.” One more tip: avoid serif fonts. A serif is a fine line finishing off the main strokes of a letter, such as at the top and bottom of “M”. Most serifs are too thin for the screen and may flicker.

Lastly, I’ll throw out my two phase approach to lyric projection. I divide my graphic ministry into two teams: preparation and presentation. Many people may be able to serve on the presentation side of your media ministry; this means they would be the one actually running it during the service. The preparation team is comprised of a smaller group of people with an eye and understanding of taste, creativity and discretion. Not everyone that serves on the presentation team serves on the preparation team and vice versa. Some people, like graphic designers, might help create the slides for each week, but are not the ones actually running it during a service.
We live in a great time with tremendous opportunity for the Church to communicate the Gospel in fresh and relevant ways. I encourage you to consider stepping up from business or corporate presentation software to software that was designed for worship. I also encourage you to slowly begin to introduce moving backgrounds into your worship experience. When used tastefully and creatively, they can really enhance your corporate worship experience.

©2007 – Greg Atkinson (www.churchvideoideas.com)

Used by permission from author. All rights reserved by author.