Monday, May 18, 2009

Right Idea, Wrong Media

I've posted my sermons on here, but I've never really been comfortable with it. It always seemed like something was amiss. Then, at a continuing education event, something was said that hit me like a ton of bricks...Someone was talking about putting up layers and layers of text on a website, and he pointed out that it was defeating the entire purpose of a website....to reach a post-Gutenburg generation.

Bingo.

Having a ton of text in one post of a blog isn't quite what's supposed to happen, so I'm currently asking our A/V people at church if we could podcast sermons. They've been positive to the idea, and I've been doing some research on what equipment we need/don't need. I don't think it will be hard once we get it going...

I'm excited to include our shut-ins who can't make it to church on Sunday mornings, and I think podcasting might be the best way to do that. Then again, we could post small videos of our service, too, but that would take a bit more of work each week...

What do you think? Text, audio podcasts, or videos?

5 comments:

Kara Szyarto said...

look at you, being all 21st century! I love that you're doing this- hopefully we'll catch up with you soon. As a visual learner, I prefer video, BUT i do know a lot of times in the office, i'll play a video and end up listening to it as I work. either way, two thumbs up for technology!

word verification: ammunks- what you shout when you see a resident of a monastery; i.e. AMMUNKS OVER THERE!

bja said...

I like being able to read the sermon on the blog. It gives me an opportunity to ponder what I heard or to catch up if need be. bja

Heather said...

I encourage you to continue seeking to podcast and/or video. One caution, though, would be to make sure you have the correct licenses to host what you put up (especially for the songs if you're recording and making available the whole service) and that might mean a couple different licenses to make sure you're covered. Good for you for making the change!

Rebecca said...

We are looking into those options as well. I leave printed copies out at the church for folks to pick up if they want. we currently have CDs people can get copies of. Video is next, most of our congregation isn't techno-savvy enough for podcasts yet, though I love that idea.

Anonymous said...

I podcast my sermons as a way to share what I'm saying with a few friends around the world who actually want to hear what I'm preaching and for a few people in the congregation who actually listen to them if they miss a week. I also podcast my sermons as a way of being accountable ... the notion that anyone anywhere can listen to them gives me a sense of accountability that I desire. I use a very simple process. I have an inexpensive digital recorder (Olympus DS-330) which I place in my pocked and a $29 lapel mic I bought at radioshack. I simply record my sermon and then download it onto my laptop. The olympus software creates a file I can edit with Audacity (which is available for free). I usually edit the beginning and the end (since I start the recorder during a hymn and usually don't include my closing prayer in what I podcast). Using audacity, I export the file to an MP3 file (you can set the bit-rate so that a 30 minute sermon is a 6-7MB file size). The sound quality is good enough for my purposes. You can see/hear what you think at www.rockland.cc. If your church has an actual sound system, they can plug a digital recorder right into the sound system, or you could rip a recording from a CD if they are recording it that way and then convert it to an MP3 file for podcasting purposes. Good luck!