Stuck On An Escalator

Earlier this month, I visited with the American Bible Society about YouVersion.  After our meeting, one of their guys shared a video with me that I think captures the distinction between using innovation and being innovative.  What do you think?

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30 Days To Live: Larry’s Story

If you have not had an opportunity to watch the second week of our current series, 30 Days To Live, I at least want to share a part of it with you.

Larry Damerval was diagnosed with ALS in 2005. He went from a very normal and healthy life, to being essentially a quadriplegic today without the ability to take care of himself. He is not currently expected to have much more time here on Earth.

I just had the team put this video segment on YouTube. I wanted you and others to have an opportunity to watch this brief, but powerful message about what he values at this point in his life.

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30 Days to Live

We just started a sermon series called “30 Days to Live.” The driving question we’re asking is, “How would your life be different if you only had 30 days to live?”

We’ve built a website you might want to check out. You’ll want to view the extended interviews of some people we’re talking with. Their perspective on the brevity of life and the reality of eternity is riveting. We’ll post a new interview each week. You can also participate in weekly online posts and spiritual exercises.

You may want to take some time to watch the message.

I’m highlighting the message for two reasons. First, I think the content is valuable. Second, we did an experiment on the message that you might find interesting.

• We prerecorded some interviews to use.
• We recorded the message I taught to our staff on Tuesday.
• On Wednesday, we post-produced the message.
• On Saturday and Sunday, we showed it to all the campuses and network churches.

I’ll try to explain the post-production process and why I like this idea:

• God does something special when His word is preached to an audience.
• In the studio, we watched the recorded message and asked what parts we could do better with post-production videos.
• Then we shot 5 short video segments that would enhance the live preaching. We edited these into the video message.
• You’ll notice, we added music to part of the live presentation as it transitions into the video clips.

This obviously takes a lot more work than a regular sermon, but I think the extra work could potentially increase the impact.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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YouTube Custom Player

YouTube continues to expand its platform and reach. I previously discussed how YouTube has partnered with Apple to deliver videos on the Apple TV and most recently the iPhone. A couple of days ago, YouTube started to offer the ability to customize its player. Now you can select from multiple color schemes, choose from two different layouts, and customize the title of the player. Additionally, you can choose your own playlist of videos to be displayed in the custom player.

This last feature is the most significant from my perspective because it provides a “free” platform for people (or churches of course) to deliver/share a series of videos. Your viewers can place one custom piece of code on their website/blog and you can update the playlist they are watching without having to change any of the code.

I put together a sample below (it is squeezed down a bit to fit this blog).

Credit: TechCrunch, and Adrian (one of the swerve readers)

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NewSpring Church offers free resources!

I’m a day late on posting this. In case you missed the news yesterday, our friends at NewSpring announced that they are making several message series videos, graphics, outlines and more available for download through their NewSpring Ministries website…and it’s FREE.

It is very encouraging to see a growing number of churches contribute quality creative resources to The Church. Way to go NewSpring!

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Apple TV = iTunes + YouTube + IPTV?

I’m a little slow at getting caught up on everything while traveling, but it appears that the Apple TV is transforming into something that will likely be even more useful for churches to use.

• You can already bring publish a video podcast of your messages/services/worship for the Apple TV.
• This week apple announced that they will release a software update in June making it possible to stream YouTube videos directly to the device without a computer or iTunes.
• It is also rumored that AT&T is working on an IPTV solution that uses the Apple TV.

While the new announcement and rumor do not necessarily directly benefit churches today, it is a significant sign that the Apple TV is transforming into a set-top box that will be a conduit for content providers (churches) to connect directly to the living room television.

The good news is that the Apple TV is not the only device that’s transforming. The PS3, Xbox360 and Wii are also becoming options. Not only will all of us be able to cost effectively broadcast to the television, but it will be able to be interactive since it exists in a two-way medium.

On a related note…you can now get 4x the storage (160GB) on the Apple TV for $399 in addition to the $299 40 GB version.

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5 things I love about the Apple TV

As some of you know I have been using a couple of Apple TVs at my house for the last several weeks. Last week I posted about the 5 things I hate about the device. However, overall I actually like the Apple TV (which I know is comforting to some of you rabid Apple fanatics).

So…here are the 5 things I love about the Apple TV

1. Podcasts become more usable. I’ve watched many podcasts on my computer and/or iPod, but the Apple TV makes it much more convenient to watch a video podcast. Now that I can easily watch a video podcast on my TV, it seems just as common and accessible as TV programming.
2. Easy to configure/setup. Like many Apple devices…the Apple TV is extremely simple to setup, plug-in and configure out of the box. This is a significant advantage over some other devices that require a more complex setup process.
3. Content looks great in both SD and HD. The downloaded movies and TV shows from iTunes look great in my opinion on the Apple TV. Video podcasts will vary in quality, but that is the choice of the producer and not a limitation of the device.
4. It’s reliable. I’ve watched or listened to many hours of TV content, video podcasts, movies, music or photos on multiple Apple TVs. With the exception of some sluggish responsiveness on the menu occasionally the devices have been remarkably reliable.
5. It will work as a platform to distribute the Gospel. We have had an Apple TV version of our podcast available for a few months now. It is now relatively easy to distribute video content to people’s living room television. Now you don’t have to have the expense, complications or “shot gun:” approach of a television ministry to have a “television ministry”…AND…it is just as easy to deliver this content to someone in Berlin, Germany as it is in Las Vegas, NV.

There are certainly improvements that can be made that I outlined in my previous post, but all-in-all I think it is a good start for a set-top box that connects the TV to Internet delivered content.

Additionally, we are looking at using Apple TV devices to distribute/playback the LifeKIDS curriculum in individual rooms at our campuses. With a couple of additional features (more screen saver options and a repeat video function)…it would make a great digital sign playback device with wireless connectivity.

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Mother’s Day (belated)

Our video guys put together a little Mother’s Day video that we played at the end of the experiences this past weekend.

Thought you might want to see it…

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