This post is part 8 in the series 20 Ways to Share Your Faith Online leading up to Internet Evangelism Day on April 25. We encourage you to tweet, share, blog & discuss these ideas in your church & circle of influence.
Video. It is all over the internet. Did you miss a story on the news? Did you miss Steven Curtis Chapman’s performance on the Dove Awards? Did you miss your favorite TV show? That’s okay, because chances are you can find video of it somewhere on the internet. With the availability of inexpensive camcorders, YouTube, and website hosting providers like OurChurch.com, video is being posted like never before.
I started using video on websites about a year ago. I had no idea what I was doing when I started. But I knew that using video and duplicating sermons on the internet was something I wanted to do. Even though we were pastoring a smaller church at the time, I felt that if we could get the message outside of the four walls of the church, that we could reach people. And we did. With adding blogs and video to our website and the use of social media, our page hits went up 500% in 2 months.
The first response to our videos came from those helping in children’s church and the nursery. They were thrilled to have a way to access the sermon other than listening to a CD on the way to work. Many began watching the videos at work, which gained interest from co-workers. We have a following of members who are homebound by illness or disability, but our biggest response was from fellow pastors. They wanted to know how we were doing it and how we could afford it. They had a misconception that it was unattainable to them.
Most churches already have the tools they need to put video on their site. Many churches already have a website and camcorders are now low-cost and affordable. If you don’t have a website that allows you to host video, make use of YouTube. If your church only has a Facebook page, upload video there. If you want better quality or a video longer than YouTube’s 10 minute maximum, invest in a website that hosts video, like OurChurch.com. Putting video on your site is simple to do and many website hosts including OurChurch.com has help pages and online tutorials to get you going in the right direction.
Technology columnist Mark Kellner made this statement in Christianity Today magazine: “The great peril of today’s online video technology lies in our not using it to share Jesus with others.”
I think that church and ministries who are not duplicating their message on their website are doing themselves a disservice. Adding video to an existing website is simple and will help your church or ministry reach people in a new way.
Wendy Spoon is the web administrator for speakinggraceonline.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment