“Respond to This”

Last Sunday morning at my church, one of our associate pastors, Bill Haley, preached a message titled “Jesus is Supreme: Don’t Neglect His Offer”. It was based on Hebrews 2:1-4, and was a call “not to neglect so great a salvation”. It was powerful.

As I began thinking and praying about what songs we should sing this weekend (Bill is preaching again, on Hebrews 2:9-18), I really felt strongly that we should spend the first half of our time together continuing to consider and respond to what we heard last week.

I asked Jon Crocker, my friend and brother-in-law, if he would be able to take some audio clips of Bill’s sermon from last week and make a short video with them for us to watch during our opening time of singing. He said if I gave him the audio clips, he’d be happy to do it.

So on Tuesday night I emailed Jon a transcript of what sound bites I wanted him to edit into a three-and-a-half minute long video. In three days, he put this video together, and we showed it at our weekend services:

Are there ways you can use creative gifts in your congregation to do things like this? People are usually glad to help if you ask them.

Are you moving on from last week’s message too quickly? Think about ways you can reinforce and respond to the previous week’s message.

Does your use of media (specifically videos like this) point people to Jesus? Fancy backgrounds, countdowns, lights, set designs, and videos can cost a lost of time and money but have zero lasting effect on people. Integrate media into your services intentionally and prayerfully.