Three Reasons Church Videos Help to Deliver a Powerful Easter Message

Easter is a big deal. Palm Sunday. Good Friday. Resurrection Sunday. These are seismic events in God's redemptive storyline. Add to that the fact that tons of people who aren't regularly in church are in church on Easter and you have a situation where, as a pastor or worship leader, you feel a great deal of pressure to deliver great services that powerfully reflect the Gospel of Christ. So what do you do?

Using video in your Easter services certainly won't solve all your problems, but church videos are what I know, and so I would like to give you a few reasons why I think using video can help to alleviate some of the pressure you feel to deliver powerfully at Easter.

Video...

1. Meets people where they are. You've heard it before but it’s worth repeating: We live in a visual culture. Incorporating video and other forms of visual media into your service will put people at ease, so they can settle in and prepare to hear the message. For example, starting the service with a funny clip is a great way to put the congregation at ease.

2. Connects emotionally. Video operates on an emotional level and provides you with a great tool for getting the congregation emotionally prepared to hear your message. Using a Sermon Illustration video is an excellent way to set up your message. The video you choose can illustrate one of your points, demonstrate a situation where people need to hear your message or raise questions that you can then deal with in your message.

3. Gives people space to reflect. Using video is also a great way to guide the congregation into a time of reflection and also helps focus them on the things you want them to reflect on. Use it to start the service to prepare their hearts for what they will hear. Use it during a special time in the service such as Communion to guide them through what you would have them reflecting on. Use it at the end of your message to give them space to think about and respond to what they've heard.

In all these ways and more, video provides you with a powerful tool to help do the most important thing at Easter" connect people to the life-changing message of Christ.

How To Make Your Own Countdowns

A lot of people have been asking us lately, "Can we make our own countdowns?" The answer is yes and we can help. We're excited to be able to offer you a clock that you can use to make your own countdowns. Now you can use your own Announcement Slides or video or whatever for a countdown. All you need is a little technical know-how and our clock. Check out this video tutorial on how to use our clock and what you'll need to know before you do. Click here to purchase your own and start using it this week.



Click here to purchase this video.

Happy Birthday America

I know the 4th is still a few days away, but I wanted to send out this birthday greeting. What a blessing to live in a country where we are free to worship God and to follow after Christ. It's my prayer that we would take advantage of that freedom and allow God to work in and through us to reach people with His life changing message of true freedom. The freedom found only in putting your life fully and completely in the hands of Christ.

We have some great 4th of July resources on our Seasonal Tab. Jump over there and check them out. We made a 4th friendly version of our very popular For Freedom video and we've also got a couple of great countdowns for your 4th of July festivities. Click here to peruse our 4th collection. We hope you find something you can use.

I'm going out of town next week, so keep an eye out for some brilliant blog posts from my partner Lee. I'm retreating to the mountains of New Mexico and will be without an internet connection. Although I'll be spending time with family, I also hope to find time to connect more deeply with God in His beautiful creation.

Happy 4th and God Bless!

Last Call for Mother's Day Media

There's still time to sign up and get our free Mother's Day Media pack. Click here to go to the homepage and sign up. Once you've signed up, you will be emailed a link to download the free Mother's Day media. If you'd like to see what you'll get, click here to see our FREE MEDIA page.

We've also got a great Mother's Day Sermon Illustration and Countdown available on the Seasonal Tab of our website. For Mom: A Breakfast Story is our best selling video ever, so we must have done something right with that one. Here's a comment we received about For Mom:

Well done! Way to give Moms a good laugh and recall good memories at the same time.
Michael Yaeger
Temple Baptist Church

We've also got a great Mother's Day Countdown where real women share their answers to the question: What's the worst Mother's Day gift you could get? Hint: Don't buy her a Dieting Cookbook!

Here's wishing you all a very Happy Mother's Day.

Important Dates and Resources for May

I wanted post an update on what's happening around eleven72. First, we're hard at work getting our April round of free still backgrounds and free worship backgrounds ready to post and send out with our next newsletter. Look for that newsletter early next week. If you're not in the know, we give away free stills, backgrounds and other stuff every month to our email subscribers. To sign up, go to our homepage and you'll find the information in the lower right hand part of the page. If you sign up now, you can still get last months free stuff and then the new stuff when the newsletter goes out next week.

The National Day of Prayer is coming up May 3rd. If you've got plans to do a Prayer focused service the weekend before (April 28th-29th), we've got some resources that would work great for you.

Check out our Prayer Volume 1, a bundle of prayer related media pieces that include two Sermon Illustrations, a Countdown, five Still Backgrounds and two moving Worship Backgrounds. This has been a very popular volume for us, in particular, people have really responded well to the Prayer Illustration, which features thoughtful and inspirational quotes on Prayer, as well as original photography by esteemed photographer Joel Salcido. You can get a great deal by purchasing the entire volume, or you can order ala carte and get whatever you need.

Next up, in May, Mother's Day falls on May 13th. We're currently working on some new Mother's Day resources which I'll post about in the next few days. In the mean time, check out our wildly popular Sermon Illustration, For Mom: A Breakfast Story, which is a really honest, funny and heart warming look at some kids who are trying to make Mom's day extra special. While you're looking, don't miss our even more popular Mother's Day Countdown, which is based on an actual survey we took asking Moms the question, what's the worst Mother's Day gift you have either received or can think of (hint: getting her a scale is a really bad idea). The answers we got are hilarious. These two videos have been the most popular seasonal videos we've ever produced. Check them out.

Finally up in May is Memorial Day on May 28th. For those of you having Memorial Day services on May 27th, we're working on a brand new Sermon Illustration just for you. It's going to be a powerful piece that highlights the history of Memorial Day and ties that rich history into our remembering those who have fallen today. I'll be sure to post about that video when it's finished and available. Another great video we have that would work well on Memorial Day is Let Freedom Ring, a thoughtful collection of quotes and scripture that highlights the God centered values and principles our nation was founded on Let Freedom Ring is available as an Illustration and as a Countdown.

Palm Sunday Resources

If you're looking for media to plug into your Palm Sunday service this weekend, we've got a Palm Sunday Countdown and a Palm Sunday Worship Background that would work great. Count down to the service and then use our background for worship to continue the Palm Sunday theme. You can find both these videos, along with a ton of other Easter resources on our Seasonal page.

And don't forget, if you sign up for our email list on the homepage, you'll be emailed a link to download our free Easter Resource Pack. You'll get our Crosses on Hill Background, Praising Man Background, Jesus on the Cross Still and Jesus on the Hill Still. You can't beat free Power Point Backgrounds and free loopable backgrounds. And they're for Easter! Check it all out on our Free Media page. We give away stuff like this every month. So sign up already :).

End of plug.

Free Easter Worship Backgrounds and Stills

The March Free Media is here! Check out the add on the homepage. You'll notice the ad is now clickable. Click on it and you'll be taken to our new FREE MEDIA page, where you can preview the free downloads each month.

My hat's off to Lee this time. He has really created two awesome backgrounds and stills that are highly usable for Easter. And we're giving them away! We're so pumped about Easter and it makes our hearts glad that we can participate in your services by offering you this media. It's our gift to you because God has given us so much.

We also have other Easter content available on our Seasonal page. Check out Jesus Is and I Will Remember. We've got a Palm Sunday themed background and countdown, as well as some great Sunrise stuff (Sunrise Countdown w/Scripture, Sunrise Countdown and Sunrise Worship Background). Check out the Seasonal page to see them all!

We would really love to hear from any and all of you. Please let us know what you think of our stuff and how you're using it. We want to help share your stories with others and learn from you how to better serve God's church with our gifts.

God Bless,
Storme

Did you know?

In China, 10,000 people a day convert to Christianity.

Over the last 20 centuries, 70 million Christians have been martyred.

67% of all humans from A.D. 30 to the present day have never even heard the name of Jesus.

These are amazing statistics, aren't they? These statistics and others like them made such an impression on us, that we put together a sermon illustration and a countdown that highlight these exciting facts. Check out our Evangelism Statistics Illustration by clicking the image below: (if you're interested in downloading these for your church - click here to purchase the illustration and here to purchase the countdown).

For more information and statistics like these, visit the following websites:

http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/gd/findings.htm
http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/1040.htm#religion

Easter? Already?

Well, Easter is coming up on us, but there's still plenty of time. Whew! Yes, April 8th is Easter so we're just under 2 months away. I'm sure you're feverishly planning for that season with Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Lots coming up. What a great time of year for the Church! We get to celebrate the greatest story in history and invite the world to celebrate with us!

So to get you started, we've added a few illustrations, backgrounds and countdowns to our seasonal section of our site. Check out the resources we have already as you begin to prepare for the upcoming season.




We'll have much more in the way of media for this season in the coming weeks, so make sure you check back frequently to the updates. Also, if you're an email subscriber, you'll be getting an email with Free Easter media in the next few weeks. If you're not already a subscriber, then sign up today and get the Free media package we're offering February. Really cool backgrounds and stills.

Happy Valentines Day!

Lee

Digging for Fire




Any Pixes fans out there? I've re-christened the eleven72 blog. It shall henceforth be known as "Catch Fire." We've tasted the fire of God's Spirit here lately and we're really praying that the fire will spread. What I mean by that is that we really desire to tell God's story in a way that will set people on fire for the Lord. That will make people hungry for Him. And so, we hope you "Catch Fire."


Free New Worship Backgrounds and Stills




We've got two new Worship Backgrounds and four new Still Backgrounds that we're offering for free on the homepage. Sign up for our newsletter and you'll get a link to download the free videos and stills. If you're already a subscriber, we'll be sending out a newsletter with a link to the free media early next week. Click here to preview the worship backgrounds (Praising Hands and Powerful Worship) and click here to check out the stills (the top four images - really cool urban black and whites).


Backyard Evangelism and Evangelism Statistics




And speaking of new media, we just released our latest Sermon Illustrations, "Backyard Evangelism" and "Evangelism Statistics." There's also an "Evangelism Statistics Countdown." Be sure to check those out.

New Years Videos (Ready to Serve!)






New Years is all about second, third, fourth or five hundredth chances. The beginning of the new year provides a great space for people to reflect on their lives and on the people they are and want to be. It is a time of Hope, Resolve and Change. Is it just a coincidence that we've got some brand new Countdowns and Sermon Illustration videos that are perfectly suited to those new year themes?

Check out the funny sermon illustration videos Change IS Possible and Resolve. And don't miss the incredible time-lapse photography and inspirational scripture that is New Year's Hope (Available as a Sermon Illustration or Countdown) on the New Years Tab.

Let us know what you think :).

A Tip On Using Countdowns
(if you don't know what a countdown is, see the note at the end of this post and hit this link to watch a few of ours).


When talking to people or reading comments left about countdowns, I often hear people say things like, "I would have used this countdown, but the music is too ________." The music is too slow for our church. The music is too quirky. However you choose to fill in that blank, don't despair. I have a very easy solution for you. If you like a countdown visually, but don't like the music, then don't play the music from the countdown and choose your own. How do you do that?

Depending on your A/V setup there are a lot of ways you can do this. Here's something really simple that most churches should have the capability of doing: Turn down the audio coming from the computer or deck where your video is playing and play a track you think is more appropriate from a CD.

This tip doesn't only have to apply to countdowns. If you find any video set to music that you like but the music isn't right for your church or service, simply mute the video and play your own song. You can play a track off a CD that you start at the same time you start the video like I suggested with the countdown. Or you can have your worship band play a song live on stage while the video is playing.

Don't be afraid to get creative with the media you purchase. It's a shame to let something like a song stop you from using a video that you think otherwise would be a great addition to your service.

A NOTE OF CAUTION: In our efforts to get creative, we have to take care, to the best of our knowledge and ability, not to break copyright laws. If you have questions about what you can and can't do with regards to copyright, it's always best to err on the safe side. Copyright is its own big hairy ugly beast and I'll have to save elaboration on it for a future post.

IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHAT A COUNTDOWN IS: A countdown is a three to five minute video, usually built around some kind of theme, with a clock visible on the video that counts backwards to zero. When the clock hits zero, the service begins. Many churches find this a useful way to let people know that the service is about to begin. And by picking a countdown that fits your theme for the day, you can use them to start focusing the congregation on what it is you want them to be thinking about that day. Click here to check out eleven72's countdowns.

Happy Thanksgiving !

eleven72 would like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. We know time with family can sometimes be crazy, but we hope your Turkey Day is filled with fun, relaxation and good food.

For all you procrastinators, we still have some great Thanksgiving videos available for download on our Seasonal tab. Depending on your message, Giving Thanks, Pray With Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving to the Lord might make great visual additions to your weekend services. And you can kick off those services with our Thanksgiving Trivia Countdown or our Thanksgiving to the Lord Countdown. We've also got a Thanksgiving Volume that includes a sermon illustration, a countdown and three themed still backgrounds all in a convenient downloadable bundle. You can check out all the above mentioned videos at http://www.eleven72.com/media/seasonal.html.

And don't forget (click here to read all about it), our Seasonal tab will have all new Christmas videos on it this coming Tuesday, November 28th. We'll have four Christmas themed Sermon Illustrations, A series of Advent videos, and some great Nativity themed Still Backgrounds available Tuesday, so come back and check those out next week.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Christmas Content: Coming Very Soon!

We are extremely excited to bring you brand new Christmas content! All of our Christmas media will be available for download from our Seasonal tab this Tuesday, November 28th. Here's a break down of what you'll find on the Seasonal tab Tuesday:

Just Ask

We've all been given the opportunity, but how often do we actually step out of our comfort zone to invite a friend, colleague, or classmate to our church's Christmas service? Watch as one man imagines some crazy responses when he asks his co-worker to a Christmas Eve service. Great video for a pre-Christmas service.

Advent Intros and Stills

Each short Advent video and still is designed to be used during the lighting of the wreath and scripture reading portions of your Advent service. Use the short video as an introduction/transition in your service. Then simply put the text of your choice on the matching still for each video and place that still at the end of the video introduction. For example you might put up text on the December 3rd still that says, “A Season of Hope, Luke 21:25-36.” Then place the still ad the end of the Advent 1 Intro Video and transition directly to it from the video. It will match seamlessly and it will be a great visual addition to your Advent service.

Peace on Earth

Finding peace on earth while enduring the hardships of life can be a very difficult task. Several individuals share their story of surviving life. Is there peace on this earth? Find peace this Christmas in Christ.




The Nativity: All Too Familiar?

A man sent to fetch a Nativity from his Mother's attic wonders whether we've become so familiar with the Christmas story that we've forgotten what it really means. Who is this baby lying in the hay? And what makes his Nativity so important?



Nativity Stills(Click Here and Scroll Down Seasonal Page to see them)

This series of stills will feature gorgeous shots of a beautifully crafted wooden nativity set. Add a creative touch to your message with these wonderful still backgrounds. Perfect for your Christmas worship, sermon or scripture slides.

New Programming Packs!
(for those following the series on getting started using media in the church, the next post in that series will be out by early next week)

Our two newest Programming Packs are now up and available on the Volumes page. Check out Money and Church Volumes 1. If you don't know what our Programming Packs are, I blogged about them recently here.

Money Vol. 1 features the hilarious Sermon Illustration, "How Much?" We were fortunate to have a couple of great actors and a talented crew to pull this off. And it really shows. Check out "How Much?" here.

This Programming Pack also features a great new countdown that contrasts the difference in the way Scripture and the World view money. We also have the first two of a series of Worship Backgrounds that we're really excited about featured on this volume. And it's rounded out by 5 original stills. We got some authentic, ancient Roman coins and were able to get some wonderful photographs of them that we think will provide a great backdrop for services on money, giving or tithing.


Church Vol. 1 is anchored by "The Body." Peopled with great characters like EYE, EAR and FOOT, this fun illustration is a wonderful reminder that the Body of Christ is made up of a diverse group of people, each uniquely created by God, and each needing the others to function completely. The rest of the Programming Pack keeps the fun going. The Countdown mixes and matches different people, literally, to illustrate 1 Corinthians 12. And the Still Backgrounds feature very usable and well designed silhouettes of hands, feet and a body of people. The entire volume urges us to "Be The Body!"