Seminar Saturday Morning: Don Nalle: A Gospel Centered Approach to Creative Media

This will be a seminar on how to creatively use media to glorify Christ.

Introduction

A. Four Goals

1. Look at how the gospel informs the use of video in the local church
2. Some thoughts on how videos can be used in church.
3. Some examples of how they do it.
4. All for Q and A

B. Definitions of terms and scope

1. “Creative media” means video in the from of slideshow, interview, a mini documentary, pre recorded testimony, etc.
2. The context is the local church—using video in the context of Sun morning worship or some other gathered meeting.

The Gospel and Video: Do They Mix?

•Paul wrote that he became “all things to all men that he might save some” in 1 Cor. 9:22. But don’t get the wrong impression

•Paul also had limits to what he would do in order to reach folks. We see this in 1 Cor. 2:1-5. On some occasions Paul would intentionally limit how he appealed to culturally conditioned expectations. He did it so that the hearers faith would rest not on his eloquence or ingenuity but in the power of God which is Christ crucified. He focused on the most embarrassing aspect of the gospel, the death of the Messiah.

•Paul’s outlook on relevance wasn’t what we think of. We think of relevance as communicating in the a popular and expected medium of our culture. Relevance to Paul was that the message of the gospel is applicable to our lives right now. His agenda is driven by theological convictions drawn from Scripture, not audience expectations drawn from culture.

• This doesn’t mean that we don’t use cultural means or that we aren’t aware of audience expectations. It means that we aren’t driven by it. The gospel drives how we use media. Media doesn’t drive how we share the gospel.

Practical Effects of Applying a “gospel understanding” to video

A. We continually pursue and apply humility (Phil. 2:3-7)

1. Throughout the brainstorming and conception stage
2. Taking direction from those who oversee you
3. Working out logistics for a video shoot
4. On the set
5. Throughout Post production
6. Receiving Feedback
7. Analyzing and critiquing projects
8. We don’t exist to promote the arts or media or to “push the limits” or even to achieve excellence in the video culture.
9. Understand and support the values of your church.

B. We follow the leader.

1. Our goal should be to work humbly and skillfully behind the scenes to support our pastors and the priorities that they identify.

C. We emphasize content and substance over style and technique.

D. We cast video in a “supporting role.”

1. Video should not be viewed as an idol or an enemy, but a servant.
2. The power of media is meant to point us to the glory and greatness of God.

E. We recognize the special place of the preaching of God’s word and acknowledge that video will never replace, preempt, or attempt to supersede it.

1. Video and film are not on a par with the inspired Word of God
2. We need to be appropriately humble in our use of video.

F. We undertake productions that are within our means and reach.

G. We seek to involve people in video production who are both skilled and passionate about using the medium to communicate truth—people who have attentiveness to the requirements and the constraints of what makes for effective communication.”

H. We seek to understand what video does best in the local church and use it accordingly.
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1. Documenting and celebrating events in the church life.
2. Promoting an event or sermon series.
3. Testimonies
4. How God used a sermon series.
5. How God worked through a church ministry.
6. Baptism stories
7. How people came to the church.
8. How God worked in a crisis.
9. How people are reaching out to their culture
10. Biographical sketch of a leader in transition
11. Educate about a particular ministry.

I. We avoid what we determine videos do poorly.

Examples from Covenant Life: Acts and Psalms

A. When a video rolls, audiences expect to be entertained; they hope for humor or thrills or sedation or stimulation, and t hey expect it to come in predictable ways based on past experience of film, tv, etc.

B. The mindset we enter to listen to a sermon is quite different. There is at least some built in incompatibility between those two worlds.

C. It may be better to put some distance between the playing of a video and the preaching of a sermon—that is, to separate them by time. We want to make it obvious we don’t’ view preaching and video clips the same way.

This was probably the worst seminar of the conference in terms of transferability to our context. They give some good cautions as far as making media king. But I'd like to know how they plan their videos, what are some tips on using video strategically, etc.