Lights,
Camera, Worship?
Multimedia in the Modern Church
by
Kelly Adkins
from the july/august 2001 issue
Title Index
Topic Index
Scripture IndexArticle Listing:
The Touchy Stuff:
How to Handle Edgy ScenesThe Unspoken Contract: How to Keep Your Audience Satisfied
Method Acting and the Church Drama Team
Incorporating Drama into Your Church’s Ministry Program
Don' Call Us...We'll Call You!
Cross Where and
Don't Break What?Let Me Check...
I'm Only the Assistant DirectorSeven Deadly Sins of Directing
Finding Your Character from the Inside Out
Why Some Christmas Dramas are Doomed for Disaster
How to Take it From the Page to the Stage
What to do When the Unexpected Happens on Stage
Do You Know Where You're Coming From?
What Your Kids Get From Drama Ministry
What to do When Your Drama Team Doesn't Care Anymore!
10 Things to do Before Your Performance
Extraordinary Lessons from Peculiar People
Tech Talk: Costumes
Jeni Fabian's costume book recommendations
The lights dim, a large screen flickers to life and you settle back in your seat. No, you’re not passing popcorn at the latest box office hit — you’re in one of a growing number of churches that bring the power of multimedia to their worship services.
One such congregation, Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana, has been a pioneer in multimedia since the church was founded in 1986.
“Granger has always used multimedia presentations in a variety of ways, from promoting events to illustrating sermons,” said Roy Bronkema, pastor of creative arts.“We believe that more than any tool we use, it speaks the Gospel message in the language of our culture.”
Granger’s weekly three- to four-minute computer-generated video productions have been used by Willow Creek Community Church as teaching tools in their national conferences. But that wasn’t always the case.“We had a vision for media from the beginning, but almost no experience or equipment,” said Karen Schuelke, Granger’s director of creative arts. “With a lot of dreaming and planning, our media ministry is now one of the largest in our church.”
Getting Started
in Multimedia Ministry
With today’s technology and some creative inspiration, it’s
easy for a church of any size to explore multimedia as a communication
tool. Many congregations already use basic multimedia in their services
by projecting song lyrics via traditional slides or Microsoft PowerPoint.
It was Granger’s senior pastor, Dr. Mark Beeson, who began the media ministry by creating simple slide shows and manually advancing them to keep time with contemporary Christian music. Eventually the equipment improved, bringing creative photo transitions carefully synchronized to music. As the potential uses for media grew, volunteers experienced in both traditional and computer video editing surfaced, creating endless possibilities in effects and style.
Though Granger began its media ministry with basic equipment, today the church is making progress toward a complete media suite, including high-end computers with video editing, graphics and postproduction software; high-resolution projectors; VCR and DVD players; three large screens; and a top-of-the-line audio system.
“Ultimately, though, it’s about doing your best with what you have,” Bronkema said. “Once people catch the vision for what you’re trying to accomplish, the support and equipment will follow. We’ve always found that excellence attracts excellence.”
Overcoming the
Obstacles
But there are
always obstacles to attaining excellence. Finances and time are potential
challenges.
“Creating a show requires a unique combination of giftedness and technical ability, as well as a huge time commit-ment,” said Jeff Petersen, the lay leader of Granger’s all-volunteer media ministry. “For us, it has become far more than one person can do alone— it is definitely a team effort.”
Multimedia equipment is expensive and must be upgraded often, so church leaders must have a vision for the ministry and its funding. “On the bright side, many people who volunteer for media ministry will own their own equipment, alleviating some of the expense for the church,” Petersen said.
But the obstacles of developing multi-media are outweighed by the relevance and effectiveness the ministry brings to helping the church glorify God and reaching visitors for Christ. “One of the biggest challenges of today’s church is holding the attention of a media-savvy culture,” Schuelke said.“To do that, we believe that the church should be leading the way in the visual arts, not catching up twenty years later.”
In addition to reaching visitors, media presentations foster community for a church. “Seeing familiar faces makes you feel like you’re at home,” Schuelke said. “We take extreme care not to use bad photos, because media should never be used to embarrass people. People here know they’ll look good if they show up in a medium, so they aren’t shy about posing.”
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Multimedia in Worship No matter the size or equipment, any church can use multimedia in worship to: •Add life to a drama sketch. Bring home the main point of the message with a video clip or by videotaping a sketch. Try using scripts that require interaction between live performers and previously taped scenes or transitions. (Check out Who’s da Man? at www.DramaMinistry.com.) •Enhance worship singing. Display photos of nature, historical artwork or Scripture passages on screen during musical interludes or between songs. •Jazz up announcements. Encourage attendance at an upcoming retreat, concert or other event with images of similar past events or with a filmed sketch. •Recap a cool event. Heighten a sense of community within your congregation by playing highlights of a church-wide celebration. •Introduce a sermon series. Develop a compelling video introduction to an ongoing series and use it to transition between worship and the message. •Inspire during the offering. Create video or slide presentations of nature, kids in the congregation, recent events or other themes that give the offering a sense of integration with the worship service.
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