jack bauer I ain’t…

We are minutes away from the end of an era.

After tonight, Jack Bauer will no longer be saving America by going rogue, disarming the bomb, killing the terrorists, stopping the deadly virus, and revealing the mole in CTU.

After 9 years (only 8 seasons, but even Jack Bauer couldn’t defeat the writer’s strike a few years back), we will have to rely on our own dangers to get the adrenaline pumping. You know, the heart-racing moments we all live through, such as waking up late for work, making our paychecks last until the 30th of the month, avoiding foods that will surely give us acid reflux, and stressing about the upcoming class reunion.

In other words, we have a lot of real stuff to deal with. But Jack Bauer gave us some escape, an hour at a time.

Does this have any connection to church stuff? Probably somewhere. I could pull out a verse or two that would make the secular-spritual connection work.

But right now, all I can say is that I’m gonna miss Jack. Mostly because now I’ve got to live in the real world.

Well, at least until the next Star Trek movie comes out!

if you don’t have a podcast…

if you don’t have a podcast set up for your church, then you are missing out. More importantly, your congregation members are missing out.

A clean, crisp recording of the message, along with a reliable podcast hosting company, is a must in today’s electronic age. This was not more evident to me until this past message series at LifePointe. It was a relationship series that touched everyone’s soul, and the podcast hits were off the charts!

Give your congregation the chance to re-listen to the message, give them the chance to share it with friends and family. Your pastor spent the time putting together the Word, so don’t make it a “one chance only” opportunity.

the day before

It’s Friday, the day before the first service of the weekend. So what does the day of the Media Guy for LifePointe Church look like on a Friday?

9am, roll out of bed. Check Facebook, and think of witty tidbit to post as my first status update of the day. Then, decide what to eat for breakfast…big bowl of cereal (or, The BBC as it’s know in this house), or leftover cold spaghetti? No contest….spaghetti. Then, I turn on the tv to see…wait a minute, this isn’t what you want to know.

Actually, earlier in the week I was able to load up the song lyrics thanks to our worship leader Stephen. He usually has them posted on Planning Center Online weeks in advance.

Then later this evening, Jamey will call with the verses and the phrases he’ll want up on the screen. This is awesome, because there are many pastors who wait until moments before the service to release this info, and that puts the stress factor at 78 for the tech team!

The real trick comes in deciding what types of video backgrounds to use for the songs and the message. Why is that tough? Well, you want to keep it interesting, cool, and relevant, but you don’t want it to distract from the words on the screen, which are the most important thing. The most important thing for any church media guy to remember is to enhance the message, not distract from it.

Mentally, though, the truly hard part is always remembering that it’s not a “show” we’re putting on…it’s a living, breathing embodiment of God’s word.

media and mother’s day

As Mother’s Day approaches, I see men and women, but mostly men, scrambling for ideas for a last minute gift. For some reason, men were not born with the gene that allows a normally sentient being to pick out a gift for someone they care about.

So here’s my gift to those people….

Media. Create a small but personally piece of media to give your Mom.

Mom’s love memories. That’s what they live on, what drives them. So why not take a couple of dozen photos of family events and put them into a simple, yet effective, presentation?

With programs that already come on your computer, such as Windows Movie Maker on PC’s, or iMovie on Macs, you can take those photos (you’ll need to scan them if they aren’t already digital), an appropriate piece of music, create a short masterpiece, put it on a DVD,and give your Mom a gift that will have her believing she raised the most incredible, sensitive and amazing child on Planet Earth! And you did it for FREE!

Or, buy a digital photo frame, load those pictures on it, and your Mom will swoon as she see’s a picture-show of her life dissolving in and out on the frame before her. This option may cost you $50-$80.

Option #3: Go old-school! Buy a scrapbook at Walmart, and place those photos in it, along with other tidbits from the past, and you’ve got another winner.

Memories. Create a gift based on memories, and you will make your Mom’s Day.

pay zilch, you get zilch…

One of my duties as Media Guy at a church is to post the weekly podcast. Here’s a brief outline of what’s involved:

-record the message on Sunday morning

-convert it to the correct file type, then edit it as needed

-upload it to the podcast site

Always trying to be aware of budget, I have tried to use a number of free podcast hosting sites. They all worked fine initially, but would always fail, or shut down, after a period of time. What was the affect? Irritated congregation members who couldn’t find the messages when they wanted to hear them. This is unacceptable, especially when someone needs the spiritual charge that listening to a sermon can give.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I broke down and signed the church up on a paid hosting site. And guess what? It works perfectly! And, the peace of mind factor is huge! And, for the $5 a month it’s costing us, it’s turning out to be the best investment we’ve made in a while. Folks can tune in whenever they want. They can listen on the site itself, or download on iTunes. It’s heaven! (pardon the pun)

Moral of this story? Pry open the wallet, spend a few bucks, and your life, and the lives of others, cold improve by leaps and bounds!