The videos we’re producing as a substitute for our weekly worship services are as similar to those services as we can make them.
That’s intentional, rather than sourcing professionally produced content with some input from us.
If people are missing our worship we’re providing a sense of continuity with that.
If we want something that looks and sounds like a professional show then we’re not really missing our gathered worship.
One aspect of the move online has been that more complex forms of services have more logistic difficulties to overcome.
You’d think some people might realise that this season is an opportunity to simplify and deepen, not add even more complexity and overwhelm people with content.
As this situation drags on the opportunity to add will present itself.
Preacher Thoughts puts it like this:
One of the best pieces of advice I read suggests pastors should stay in their lanes. If you are suddenly videoing yourself, don’t act like you’ve got the full production studio working behind you. Just… be normal. Few things are worse to watch than somebody acting like they are pro when they are quite clearly not. You were not hired to be a reporter or newsreader or game show host. Be you.
Another free piece of advice, this one just from me, is this: Don’t make it too good. Read some Neil Postman before you shoot. Think about the effect of the medium itself. We committed to a no-rehearsal, no-edit version of a stripped down Sunday worship service for the first two weeks of the pandemic. This was intentional. I would argue that as production quality increases, authenticity diminishes. In fact, we shot the whole thing on one iPhone with zero edits. And, in my opinion, it was fine. Listen, I used to work a little in this field. The bad lighting, bad sound and one-shot filming did everything wrong in one sense, but everything as close to right in another. We were not filming this service to send out to the world. It was for our members. They know us, so they know fake.
Very true Gary, hang in there you are doing an excellent job.