This topic is closely related to my post last week about video curriculum, but from a different angle. More and more churches are relying on video driven or video rich content for their curriculum. Sometimes the video supplements the lesson and at other times the video is the lesson. In either of these cases, using video curriculum has been difficult to equip our volunteers for the service they are leading. I’m not sure if curriculum publishers have thought this through at all. So I get a DVD (or video file for those publishers that are pushing the limits) that I’m going to use at my weekend experiences. However, I have 3-6 lead teachers that have to interact with the video. Or I have 50 small group leaders that really should see the video beforehand so they know how to lead their group best after seeing it.
When I get this video, how do I prepare my leaders?
- I can tell you what I’m not going to do. I’m not going to order 3-6 discs for my lead teacher, nor am I going to order 50 for my small group leaders. That would be financially irresponsible.
- I’m not going to host a training every week (or once a month) just so everyone can see the videos. That would be a waste of everyone’s time.
So here’s what my options are:
- I can just let my leaders not really know what the video is about and have them wing it as best as they can.
- I can make copies of the DVDs and give one to each of my leaders.
- I can rip the video of the DVDs, put them on youtube or vimeo and share the link with all my leaders.
One of those options doesn’t adequately prepare my leaders. Two of those options are technically illegal. However, I know many children’s pastors who do the last two. Why? Because they want to equip their leaders and they don’t see any other way. They don’t want to break the law… they just want the ability to get their teams ready.
Can’t there be a way or a place where leaders and teachers can view the video on a website that we can direct them to? Maybe the video is kinda crappy, so you don’t have to be worried about someone stealing it.
The same it true with resourcing our parents. In order to equip our parents to lead at home, we’d like to let our parents see the same video their kids saw on Sunday. It can provide a great frame of reference for discussion around the dinner table. However, I can’t in good conscience broadcast videos I’ve ripped and uploaded to youtube. But, I don’t really have any other options. Can’t there be a way to give my parents access to these videos where there isn’t a concern about content being stolen?
Thanks for asking this VERY TIMELY question! I will be interested to see what develops regarding this dilemma in the future…
I can tell you what worked for me (a parent that had a very strong desire to be involved in her children’s faith)….I volunteered to serve and see them while I’m sharing my faith!!!!! And I must say, I LOVE EVERY MINUTE!!!!! We use 252 Basics and every script I have seen (for 3 1/2 years) has been amazing!
.-= Theresa Haskins´s last blog ..NCC Bible Reading Plan =-.
Kenny, you are sparking some great dialogue here. Why not post to a password protected website? If you are given a QuickTime Video, you can easily use it in multiple environments or post it to a password protected website.
This could be a very simple back-end web page that has a password for your families to access. Or, Another tool that I wish more churches knew about is http://www.PlanningCenterOnline.com. This is an incredible ministry organizer ( also accessible by an iPhone App!). You can not only schedule your leaders but upload media for them to watch as a part of your training.
Another spot on post Kenny. Great series. Like unbelievable.
Even if you had to be a member or something to get access to a site like this would be phenomenal.
I think these are some key things you talked about during these blogs and like I’ve said before I hope that they are listening.
.-= J.C.´s last blog ..Will Sodas become the new cigarette? =-.
Great post Kenny, you are on the money!
We saw the same problems, so when we created 4 we addressed those challenges.
We have an online leaders section so the team are able to view the weeks content at their leisure. They can also watch the weekly leaders training video and download small group leader notes etc.
We also finishing a parents vidcast that contains the lesson the kids saw and adds parenting tips on working that message through at home, that will be ready in a few weeks.
We also wanted several leaders to be able to interact with the video segments and it works really well at Planetshakers.
lastly we didn’t want to become the pastors of the local church reducing the local pastor to a small group leader, so we produced a preaching clip that finishes with “now heres your leader” The leader can now get up and teach of a provided cartoon.
If you want to know more 4store.com.au
There is a new curriculum through GPH called Faith Case. The videos are all online, but you have to have a 4-digit code to view them. I give my leader the code ahead of time and the kids the code after we cover the lesson. Then the kids can go home and watch the videos with their parents (I have created a take home paper to facilitate this). Anyway, I cannot tell you how much this has increased their comprehension of the lessons and their excitement! I agree that more curriculums need to do the same. BTW, access to the videos is included with the cost of the curriculum, not some extra thing to purchase!
Great Post. This really has me thinking about how I can facilitate this type of access for my leaders and parents.