stealing ideas</h1> <article> <h1>stealing ideas</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:50:34 +0000</p> <p>I recently created a video where we took the script from a skit guys script. The script was originally designed to be a drama, however with the time crunch we deal with in our services we decided to video the skit and condense it down to two minutes. Most of the time the videos we create are pretty original, however this time we decided it was okay to steal the general idea and make it our own. Below is the video</p> <p><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7396719&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/7396719">Run in such a way</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/lyf">LYF</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=stealing+ideas+http://zseoq.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=stealing+ideas+http://zseoq.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Facebook ads for your youth group</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:01:28 +0000</p> <p>I recently launched a new ad campaign for our youth group through facebook. Once you have a facebook fan page setup you can go to your fan page and click promote with an ad. The great thing about these ads is that you can target them to 13-18 year old students that live within a certain mile radius of your city. You can also decide how much you want to spend and choose between clicks or impressions. Creating a facebook ad campaign for your youth group may help get exposure in your community due to the high volume of students that are on facebook. Visit <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ads" target="_blank">facebook.com/ads</a> for more info.</p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Facebook+ads+for+your+youth+group+http://bkgwk.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Facebook+ads+for+your+youth+group+http://bkgwk.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Vote for our film</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:37:53 +0000</p> <p>A couple of months ago our student media team at my church entered the 24 hour film race. We had to write, shoot and edit a short film in 24 hours.</p> <p>Our film has gone on to the national competitions and we need your help.</p> <p>Vote for our film “the choice” <a href="http://www.filmracing.com/films/competitions/houston2009.htm" target="_blank">HERE</a> and spread the word.</p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Vote+for+our+film+http://srcyd.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Vote+for+our+film+http://srcyd.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Using voice-overs in videos</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:41:07 +0000</p> <p>The truth is most students in your ministry are not actors and the few that can act probably still aren’t incredible. We recently did a series on evangelism in our youth ministry called ASK. The concept was to thread a series of videos together that show students being afraid to ask something. The last video focuses on asking your friends about God, while the first three are other real life situations. These videos were actually easy to shoot because we didn’t have to record audio on site. After filming each video we would go into our studio and record the voice over separately. I recommend this approach as an easy means to creating videos because the acting is all through facial expressions and is not dependent on a students ability to say lines.</p> <p><strong>Ask – Bathroom</strong><br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6576951&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /></object><br /> <strong>Ask – Girl</strong><br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6685787&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /></object><br /> <strong>Ask – Text</strong><br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6796949&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /></object><br /> <strong>Ask – Faith</strong><br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6895248&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Using+voice-overs+in+videos+http://iiptk.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Using+voice-overs+in+videos+http://iiptk.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Practices for unleashing student artists</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:30:12 +0000</p> <p>Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a <a href="http://www.studentministry.org/podcast-unleashing-student-artists-to-use-their-gifts-in-ministry/" target="_blank">podcast</a> as a guest with Tim Schmoyer. I spoke about unleashing student artists and gave some practical ideas on how to do just that.</p> <p>In reality unleashing student artists can be a pretty time consuming thing. One of the things Tim mentioned on the podcast was that it would be a lot of work to have students helping with the production of his videos. This is probably one of the biggest hurdles I have had to overcome is knowing that involving students on almost every task is nine times out of ten more work. Despite knowing this the reward is huge knowing that I am able to help future artists by giving them opportunities to help and fail now. Artists are so important in telling God’s story in a creative and captivating way and we as the church have an opportunity to raise up artists and propel them into areas such as the business world, hollywood and even the church.</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong><strong> </strong><br /> </strong></p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Practices+for+unleashing+student+artists+http://oa36q.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Practices+for+unleashing+student+artists+http://oa36q.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>See You At The Pole</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:42:40 +0000</p> <p>Every third Wednesday of September <a href="http://www.syatp.com" target="_blank">See You At The Pole</a> takes place at campuses around the nation. This is a great opportunity for not only students to pray for their schools, but for churches to encourage students to see their schools and friends as their mission field. Below is a video we shot at a local school for syatp this year. We weren’t pleased with the videos syatp offered and decided to make our own.<br /> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6577088&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /></object></p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=See+You+At+The+Pole+http://3e7ki.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=See+You+At+The+Pole+http://3e7ki.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Creating a student talk show</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:09:53 +0000</p> <p>Recently we launched a new website or micro-site called <a href="http://www.whatisyourproblem.tv" target="_blank">whatisyourproblem.tv</a>. The idea came to us when a couple of our students were creating videos on facebook and were really getting some attention. We got to thinking that maybe there is some stock in their idea and maybe the church or in our case the youth ministry could support their efforts and help them produce the show at a higher level. We spent the last several months figuring out details and this past month we have been developing different episodes and creating the website. The website was actually fairly easy to create using a wordpress template from <a href="http://www.themeforest.net" target="_blank">themeforest</a>. Once we created the website, facebook fan page and youtube site we were ready to go. Creating fun sites like these can be great avenues for students to share with their non-christian friends as a vehicle to starting spiritual conversations, becoming familiar with a youth ministry and going to students instead of expecting them to come to us. This is still a pretty big experiment, however giving students opportunities to take ownership and lead is always an experiment worth taking.</p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Creating+a+student+talk+show+http://p3hix.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Creating+a+student+talk+show+http://p3hix.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Creating an e-news letter for parents</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:25:51 +0000</p> <p>We finally gave in and started to send out a monthly parent email using <a href="http://www.constantcontact.com" target="_blank">constant contact</a> to all the parents in our student ministry. I was really amazed how easy it really was to create the email using the online editor. It took me several hours because I was creating custom graphics, however it should be very simple next time because all the emails will be there and I will only have minor changes to make with the graphics. Consider using tools like constant contact when you want to include graphics and pictures in emails and don’t have the time to do it from scratch.</p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Creating+an+e-news+letter+for+parents+http://h3kxs.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Creating+an+e-news+letter+for+parents+http://h3kxs.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>That shotgun approach to communication</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:30:01 +0000</p> <p>It used to be that everyone got their news from the morning newspaper. Then came tv and the internet. Now the chance that you heard the latest headline is from a twitter post or news article mentioned on facebook. Today more than ever we get our news and information from a wide array of sources and more often it comes from someone we know.</p> <p>When it comes to communicating news and information to teenagers, we can’t expect to send home a monthly newsletter and that be sustainable. It’s almost like we have to sometimes use every communication device possible in hopes that the shotgun will hit something. Below are some ideas and thoughts to communicating to your group.</p> <p>1. announce it on the website<br /> 2. announce it at a large meeting through slide/person<br /> 3. create a video announcement for a service<br /> 4. twitter about it<br /> 5. send a facebook update through your fan page<br /> 6. send out a mass parent email newsletter<br /> 7. mail out a postcard<br /> 8. send out a mass text<br /> 9. word of mouth. word of mouth. word of mouth<br /> 10. did we mention word of mouth</p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=That+shotgun+approach+to+communication+http://9cwfc.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=That+shotgun+approach+to+communication+http://9cwfc.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> <article> <h1>Taking Christian education online</h1> <p>radiantfirst — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:00:23 +0000</p> <p>Last week I had the opportunity to visit with Rob Shiflet, one of the directors with Liberty Christians’s new online school. After a lot of research and coordination, Rob decided to partner with Liberty Christian and offer online classes to students practically anywhere. In this online enviornment, teachers will instruct via webcam and special teleconferencing software in a new and very interactive way. After hearing about this idea and seeing the demo first hand I was really blown away at the potential this online education really has to offer.</p> <p><strong>Online education of this kind would be ideal for students in the following areas:</strong><br /> 1. Students that don’t live close to a private Christian school and desire to attend one<br /> 2. Students that attend a private school but are unable to enroll in a certain class due to inadequate number of students enrolled in a certain class<br /> 3. Students that are home school that would like to take certain subjects that may be too difficult for their parents to teac</p> <p>etc….<br /> For more information about the program click <a href="http://www.libertychristian.com/online/" target="_blank">HERE</a> or to watch the newscast click <a href="http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=41662@ktvt.dayport.com" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</p> <p align="left"><a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Taking+Christian+education+online+http://px7w6.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter"></a> <a class="tt" href="http://twitter.com/home/?status=Taking+Christian+education+online+http://px7w6.th8.us" title="Post to Twitter">Tweet This Post</a> </p> </article> </main></body></html>