3 Reasons to Video Your Youth Messages

I tried something this past week. We had our Wednesday small groups where we began our Instalife series. I gave my message, we discussed and everything went great. However, all day Thursday there was this thought running through my head. Make a video. Make a video.

So, I did. I set up a camera, fixed the lights, and recorded the basic ideas from my Wednesday Message. It’s not awesome, but it’s workable. That night I used garage band and wrote a little background track to put behind the video. I edited the video simply in Imovie, and uploaded it to youtube.

All of this was done really at the urging of that little voice in my head. It was not until later that I realized three good reasons that I should be videoing my messages.

1. Parents Can See What Youth Are Learning – My small groups are led by older Sr. High in our youth group. I have a few adults who help out on Wednesday night, but the majority of my parents are not there. By videoing my message my parents can see what their youth talked about in small groups. They can ask follow up questions of the youth and it can serve as a time to discuss together.

2. Youth Can Watch Again – By videoing the message youth that were there that night can go back and watch the message again. If they really wanted to remember something I said, it is there on video. They can use the video to remind them of what we are talking about, or even share it with their friends. They can also get caught back up if they miss a week.

3. Satellite Groups – I was not planning on this until I had a conversation with one of my youth parents. Since we moved to Wednesday nights for our small groups, her youth are not able to participate. By videoing the message and the questions, it provides a way for youth who cannot come, to stay involved. We discussed the idea of gathering a few friends together and starting their own small group at a different time. They hear the same message, have the same discussion question, just meet separately.

So my encouragement to you is to get a camera and try it. If you are not a video person, you probably have some youth who would love to help you, and who are pretty proficient at it. Check with your schools and see who is in the Video/TV production classes.

im Schmoyer, has been doing videos like this for years, and is one of the best. Check out his post “Tips for Shooting and Producing High Quality Videos”

How do you use video in your youth ministry?

Do you video your youth messages? Send us a link and we’ll check them out.