Ministry Moment – Maximizing your ministry through YouTube

In February of 2005, the internet was irrevocably changed when YouTube was born. Who would have thought that a website, built around the idea of sharing videos, whose first video was a guy at a zoo, and whose offices were located above a pizza shop would become in 5 years the 4th most visited website on the internet? Undoubtedly you have visited YouTube once or twice (perhaps to view Chad Vader or The Evolution of Dance). You probably were like me – you enjoyed the entertainment, but didn’t think you could participate because you were not a)A professional video producer who could make outstanding 10 minute videos or b)a person who enjoyed making an instant fool out of yourself in front of millions of people.

Thankfully, you don’t have to fit into those two categories to take part in YouTube. As a matter of fact, YouTube could and should be one of the top 3 sites (along with Facebook and a Blog/website) that you should be using to communicate in your ministry and reach out to your community.

The reasons YouTube is valuable are obvious. Its always on and your videos will always be there. Students and parents can check any time to see what you’ve loaded up. People in the community can either be directed to it or stumble across it with some well planned key words (I am sure many of you have looked up YouTube videos of your home town before, haven’t you? Or am I the only one? I also google myself, deal with it.) You can embed the video on Facebook or blog posts or Myspace or wherever. You can send people links to it via email or Facebook or Twitter. What it does is that it opens up your ministry to the world, and that is a great thing!

So, how can you use YouTube in your ministry? I came up with a bunch of ideas, and I am sure there are hundreds more out there waiting to be discovered. Here is what I came up with -

• Show off your weekly announcement videos/slides
• Create a unique advertisement for your youth group
• Play your weekly message/teaching time
• Display photo slides of recent activities
• Have students make creative videos and show them off
• Post a (short) weekly devotion
• Do student profiles that examine a student and their faith journey (a testimony)
• Interview students around town leading up to a topical bible study
• Do a “mashup” (creative dubbing over popular movie clips or music videos)

NOTE – Some of these may require checking with your lawyer (or someone who stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night) to see the legality of each one. You should be careful how you use copyrighted material or use the likeness of a minor online.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. The internet has a lot of bad in it. But, it also has a lot of potential to be used for the kingdom of God. So, be creative! And Happy Birthday YouTube! May there be many more years of people making fools of themselves online!

Each Monday I will give a ministry thought or tip that hopefully will help you in your ministry. If you have any suggestions for a topic, let me know!