5 Ways To Improve Your On-Screen Content

by Kendall Conner on May 23, 2013 in How-To with No comments
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It’s 2013 and media is everywhere. When guests walk into your church, it’s no longer impressive that you have a screen on the wall. Down the street, McDonalds has six of them trying to convince you that McCafe is just as tasty as Starbucks. The Church has the greatest message on Earth and it deserves to be presented in a way that outshines all the other clutter fighting for our attention.

You might not have the equipment, software, or staff that you’d need to turn your creative vision into reality. However, there is one area that you can pour into that will make a huge difference no matter what budget you’re working with—content. I’ve visited numerous churches who didn’t have a tremendous budget for their video equipment, but was pleasantly surprised by their excellent use of content. So whether it’s countdowns, backgrounds, sermon slideshows, or mini-movies—it’s important to make sure they make a good impression and communicate the message well.

Read my “5 Ways To Improve Your On-Screen Content” on Echo Hub

Sunday’s Visual Setlist (5/19)

by Kendall Conner on May 20, 2013 in How-To with 2 Comments
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One of my favorite parts of the week is choosing which motions, stills, and countdown I’ll use for Sunday morning. This week, I used the “Color Filter” collection from Shift Worship. Following their lead, I used a free font called Nexa for my announcement and scripture slides, but I’ve been on a Myriad Pro kick for worship lyrics lately. Overall, it was a great set at our movie theater campus, but our normal shadowed-white text didn’t show up quite as well over these light bg’s at our traditional campus. (However, that’s definitely more of a projector in a bright environment problem. Future post coming soon for a projector replacement I’ve been working on.)

Color Filter Countdown  Color Filter Clouds  Color Filter Large  Color Filter Blank  Color Filter  Color Filter Corner

What content did you use on Sunday?

Shaking My Head In Worship

by Kendall Conner on May 14, 2013 in Articles with 5 Comments
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I’ve been visiting a lot of churches lately. I’ve been a part of a couple conferences, attended a few regional gatherings, and stopped by a few just for fun. Because church media really is my thing, that’s what I naturally look for when I walk through the door. Some of the churches that I’ve attended in these past few months have caused my mouth to drop in awe. In these cases, I immediately start jotting notes, taking photos, and dreaming about how I can apply some of their ideas or techniques to my normal workflow. But, to be honest, most of the churches that I’ve visited have given me quite the opposite effect. Frankly, a lot of them have looked a hot mess. I’m talking U-G-L-Y, no alibi, straight up ugly. And because I’ve never been very skilled at hiding my emotions, I typically end up with a disgusted look on my face and/or shaking my head right in the middle of worship. It’s not healthy. No matter how jacked up their lyrics look or how 90′s their background is, for all of my attention to get wrapped up in such trivial things is poisonous for my soul.

So what do I do instead? I close my eyes. I lock out the lyrics, the backgrounds, the lighting, and all other distractions. And it’s in that visual silence that I worship. Better for my heart to enter God’s presence with no sight than with my eyes judging every motion on the screen. The crazy thing? After I take a note or two, I’ve learned that this is a very good practice in those mouth-dropping, awe-filled services, as well. More than a few times I have gotten so caught up in jotting down notes and comparing lyric techniques that I went through an entire worship set without acknowledging God’s existence. This is just as bad—or maybe even worse.

Have you ever gotten so caught up in church media that you forgot the entire reason why you do what you do? Is it really beneficial to critique your way through a service when you’re visiting another church? What’s a healthy way for me to respond when I see media that looks jacked-up when I’m visiting other churches?

Join Me At The Echo Conference (+Promo Code)

by Kendall Conner on May 10, 2013 in Articles with 3 Comments
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This July, I’ll be headed to Dallas for my first time attending the Echo Conference—a church conference for artists, geeks, and storytellers. For several years, I have admired this conference from afar and really appreciated what these guys are doing for the Church. (And let’s be honest…I kind of fit all three criteria for their target audience.) Since I live in Baltimore, it’s not exactly an easy or inexpensive trip for me, but I made up my mind that I would raise the money this year for my wife and I to attend. We’re really expecting to learn a lot and we are super-stoked about the keynote and breakout speakers. My inner geek is also really giddy about getting some inspiration for media, lighting, stage design, and every other tiny detail in each session. But more than anything else, I’m looking forward to meeting people. My biggest hope is to finally connect with all of the people that I recognize best by a Twitter handle. I can only imagine how awesome it’s going to be to gather in one place with so many people with the same heart and drive as us.

I would love to have the opportunity to meet you there! I’m confident that it’s totally going to be worth the investment, but here’s a little something to help lighten the load a bit. Be sure to use the code “CR8IVEPR” to save 15% off of your registration price!

Find out more on the official Echo Conference page.

Free Motion of the Month – May ’13

by Kendall Conner on May 6, 2013 in Freebies with No comments
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This month, we’ve teamed up with Centerline New Media  and they’re hooking you up with an awesome motion that will work perfect in your services this Spring/Summer. It comes from their nature-meets-geometry service pack called “Creation’s Wonder” that’s been a favorite around our church.

This download includes HD and SD versions for PC & Mac, as well as JPEG stills.
This motion is free to download, but please do not redistribute. (Please link back to this page.)

To get this free motion, simply subscribe to receive our blog posts via email. You’ll receive your download link via email within the hour.

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