Growing Pains in Church Media

It's no surprise that church media is growing like crazy. With popular sites like YouTube, MySpace and iTunes, media is right at everyone's finger tips. In the past, I had always heard that church technology was, on average, 18-24 months behind the curve. For example, in 2002 our ministry was hard pressed to find a church that was willing to buy a Youth Group DVD product, so we had to duplicate our Youth Ministry product in both DVD and VHS.

Obviously, this technology curve has shrunk dramatically. Many churches are outfitting their sanctuaries with HD projectors, fully digital audio boards and lighting systems that would put most concert halls to shame. When the service is over, they're editing in Final Cut Pro, streaming the service online and then posting the audio as a podcast on iTunes. With the quick shift towards more technology, many churches are feeling the growing pains of becoming too technical too fast.

My hope is that through this blog, we'll be able to start some meaningful dialog that will help all of our ministries. I'll be posting on new tech products, new ministry ideas, different ways to use media and presentation software and also tips of the trade for getting the most of the technology you've been given.