Church Video Ideas:  Less is More

Orginally published on Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 1:00 PM
by Todd Rhoades

Some title for a creative article, huh? I know its cliché and gets thrown around a lot, but there are always lessons that church leaders can learn from the simple phrase, “Less is more”. From working with your musicians, to training communicators, to creating media for your worship experiences, the phrase packs a potent punch. I’m going to give just 3 examples of why “less is more” as it applies to our corporate worship experience.

Still is still good
I recently led worship at a church in Dallas. Those of us who were facilitating worship (the singers and band) were trying our best to disappear. Those who were supporting the worship (the tech crew) were trying their best to go unseen. We wanted people to focus on God, not us or the media.

I must brag on the tech crew at this church – they get it. They not only know that “less is more”, they demonstrate it. Although their presentation software has the ability to put text over moving/looping backgrounds, they used mostly still backgrounds. Often when a church moves from PowerPoint to a presentation software designed for worship they forget about still backgrounds. It’s as if there’s an either/or rule. Just because we now have the ability to place our lyrics over motion backgrounds doesn’t mean that we have to do it 100% of the time!

I’ve seen countless churches purchase presentation software and forget all about the many wonderful still backgrounds available to use. Motion backgrounds are awesome, and we have literally thousands of looping backgrounds to choose from these days. But to me, moving backgrounds add so much more and really stand out when used in contrast to still backgrounds. Just as using all still backgrounds can be plain and routine, using all motion backgrounds can be too busy and possibly lead to over-stimulation, which distracts people from worship.

99 slides of notes on the wall
Another way to apply the “less is more” principle in our corporate worship is to how you create and use the message slides for your pastor’s sermon. Maybe your pastor creates them and you “touch them up”. I hear ya. Been there, done that. My pastor would give me his 50 PowerPoint slides with every quote, every Scripture, every point, every sub-point, etc. He basically turned his outline into PowerPoint slides. I would then have to go in and delete and shorten slides. This happens in a lot of churches because visual presentation principles weren’t taught in seminary. Many pastors have heard the reasoning for visual aids and got on board with the concept of using media in worship, but they have never been properly trained on design and how to communicate effectively and creatively.

Let’s assume you hear 2 sermons: One that is supplemented with 30 messages slides and one that has 3 message slides. Which one do you think you are most likely to remember? You guessed it: The one with 3 slides. Less IS more, especially if it is done creatively. I’d rather you give me 3 images than 3 bullet points. Read from the Word, explain it, and tie it to 3 images, and there is a very good chance that weeks later I could recite back to you what your text was and the 3 points you made.

Images engage my mind, especially my imagination, and eventually touch my heart. Since worship – and particularly preaching – isn’t an academic exercise, the goal isn’t how much information I can remember; the goal is transformation. Teaching supported by images instead of points is more likely to stick, more likely to challenge and ultimately more likely to influence my heart, my mind and my behavior.

Announcing a limit on announcements
Lastly, lets touch on the subject of announcements. We all go through it – the grueling battle of what gets announced, when it gets announced and who is going to announce it. Some churches go through this battle weekly. Some have scars from old battles that resulted in policies. Some churches have ruled out announcements altogether.

The “less is more” principle applies first to the actual number of announcements. Announcements take on many different forms in churches. For example, at my home church, announcements are made in 4 distinct ways: First, the announcements are part of a pre- and post-service slide presentation. The second and most obvious way of making announcements at my church are printing them in the weekly bulletin. The third and most unpopular form is the platform announcement, when one of our staff members vocally shares an announcement. The fourth and most time-consuming is through video announcements that a part-time video producer comes up with each week.

Here’s my two cents: As long as you have bulletins, you’ll have announcements – that’s not a battle worth fighting. My thought is to apply the “less is more” principle to how we present our weekly announcements, whether it’s an actual staff member mentioning the top announcement(s) of the week, or a video that highlights the top 2 to 3 things that need attention. It’s simple logic that people are more likely to remember 1 or 2 announcements than they are to remember 5 or 6. If retention is our goal, why do so many of our churches make numerous announcements? Do we really expect people to remember the top 10 opportunities of the week?

Not every church can or should do video announcements each week. I do think that for churches like mine that go to the trouble of producing them, they should eliminate the platform announcements. I don’t think both are necessary. Maybe in your scenario, announcements are only made via pre-service slides on the screens. I’d suggest lowering the number of slides and making an effort to create eye-catching visuals that grab people’s attention. The fewer announcements they hear and/or see, the more they remember – it really is that simple.

Obviously, there are areas where the “less is more” principle does not apply. If people give less, then your church will not be able to support all its ministries or ministers. But for those examples mentioned in this article, it holds up and is a simple phrase that’s easy to remember and apply. Paul, when speaking to the Corinthians said he’d rather say five words that people could understand than a bunch that made no sense. That’s my heart in this philosophy. I’d rather see your church do a few things well than a lot of things average or poorly. So take this simple principle to heart and go transform your communication!

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©2006 – Greg Atkinson (www.churchvideoideas.com)

Used by permission from author. All rights reserved by author.

Greg Atkinson lives in Dallas with his wife and their three small children. Greg served previously as the Director of WorshipHouse Media, after having served as a worship pastor for 11 years. He is the Founder of Multisensoryworship.com and Co-Founder of Wasteland Creative, where he continues to consult, teach and write about worship, media and creative communication. You can connect with him through his daily blog, Church Video Ideas, his podcast, Creative Synergy, or his email: .

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