Whatever Works For You

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I recently spoke with a church media buddy of mine about the visual content that his church uses on Sunday mornings. Simply put, their method focuses primarily on using still backgrounds, while occasionally bringing in a motion during high-energy songs. At first, this really surprised me. My visual setlist is typically the exact opposite; it’s pretty rare to see a still background during the music portion of our services. This difference intrigued me. After he started to explain to me their reasoning behind the choice, I was quickly reminded that not every congregation is the same. Every church is going to have a different style or flavor that works best for their people. And that’s okay. In fact, I would encourage it. It’s not about aligning yourself with everything that the Joneses are doing this week. Rather, our goal should be to use the resources that are available to us to create an excellent presentation that works best for our church family.

Undoubtedly, there are some rules that should be applied to media in every church. This certainly isn’t a license to use Birth of a Hero for lyrics or that oh so wonderful cross clipart you found on Google. Using easily readable fonts and professional looking images is day one stuff. Hopefully you’ve found this site a valuable resource when it comes to those across-the-board guidelines. But when it comes to the small things like motions and stills, it’s important to do what feels right in your church. Look around next weekend and ask yourself if your current media is effective in your unique environment.

Free Motion of the Month – June ’13

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This month, we’ve teamed up with Church Motion Graphics and they’re hooking you up with an awesome motion that will work perfect in your services this Summer. This background has become one of my favorite motions in my arsenal and it’s quite often a go-to for me whenever I’m running media on the fly. I downloaded it as a part of their Monthly Mega Pack, which you should definitely check out for great media for a low price.

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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Four Go-To Fonts For Worship Lyrics

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Sunday morning media is so much more than pressing a spacebar and tossing random pieces of content on a screen. The art of visual worship starts with the longing to ensure that every projected lyric and image is excellent and points the congregation towards God. One of the simplest ways to make a Sunday morning presentation look good is to use a proper font. You’ll notice really quickly that I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to this matter. But, the goal of my simplicity is to allow the font to go unnoticed to the worshipper. Here are four of my go-to fonts for worship lyrics that accomplish this best.

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What are your go-to fonts for worship lyrics?

Sunday’s Visual Setlist (5/26)

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This Sunday, I used some of Centerline’s Holy Week Volume 1 and was really satisfied with the atmosphere that they created. I stuck with my go-to lyric font, Myriad Pro Bold, and used Bebas on our pastor’s sermon slide. Feel free to download the sermon graphic (including background and a blank version) here. This design was based off of another freebie that you can find here, but I decided to use colors that matched our motions for the day.

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What media did you use this weekend?

5 Ways To Improve Your On-Screen Content

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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