Attention-grabbing graphics in church are no longer just nice to have – they can be crucial to keeping an audience of tech-savvy attendees engaged – and the younger the audience, the harder that can
be. First Baptist Church in Minden, Louisiana is as traditional a church as you can get, nestled in small-town America. “You're going to say hello to people as you walk down the brick streets to the coffee shops and the antique shops,” says First Baptist Minden’s Media Communications Director Kevin Stevenson. He says his church’s sanctuary resonates with a choir, orchestra, and hymns. “The architecture is beautiful. It looks like a traditional sanctuary,” he says.
Shift Worship has earned the Church Production Road Test certification.
“Because everything is student-operated…everything has to be done typically on a Sunday morning … there's no time to prep, so it needed to be easy,” – Kevin Stevenson, First Baptist Church, Minden, LA
But student ministry, called the Third Floor is another story. That’s where you’ll find more contemporary, modern worship led by a student minister who wants it to be a fun and exciting environment. “He wants lighting, he wants color, he wants visual graphics,” Stevenson explains.
Now that they’re using Shift Worship content, Media Communications Director, Kevin Stevenson says it’s much easier to keep kids engaged in the service. “It's a fun atmosphere, so high energy, and I think it takes a lot of effort to keep the kids' attention,” he enthuses
Until this point, their graphics consisted of white letters on a black screen. But as part of Church Production’s Road Test User Experience, Shift Worship gave First Baptist Minden access to their inventory of modern, top-quality worship backgrounds, mini-movies, and graphics. Stevenson explains that they previously spent a lot of time searching for free content on the internet, but Shift Worship has made it so much easier to find high-quality content that matches their student ministry themes.
“Because it's student-operated..., because everything has to be done typically on a Sunday morning when they first get here, there's no time to prep, so it needed to be easy,” he explains. “We don't have a huge budget to hire a full-time graphic artist. We don't even have the budget to hire an intern to do graphics for us. So, we are completely reliant on outsourcing graphics.”
…when I came across Shift Worship, I started to see something a little bit more original and creative, and that's why I like it more. They are different.” – Kevin Stevenson, First Baptist Church, Minden, LA
Now that they’re using Shift Worship content, Stevenson says it’s also much easier to keep kids engaged in the service. “It's a fun atmosphere, so high energy, and I think it takes a lot of effort to keep the kids' attention,” he enthuses. “So, the more graphics and visually stimulating it is on the screens, the more they're going to turn their eyes toward the front of the stage and a student minister will have a chance to speak to them and make eye contact. So, it's very beneficial to us to have videos that make an impact, videos that catch their attention, lots of color, brilliant videos, clever videos, backgrounds that are fun, backgrounds that keep their attention.”
Stevenson says the site has offered way more creative content than he expected – with more variety than other websites he’s seen. “I see a lot of the same mini-movies. I see a lot of the same backgrounds and backdrops for motion, and when I came across Shift Worship, I started to see something a little bit more original and creative, and that's why I like it more. They are different.”
He says there are more colors, more cutting-edge art, more motion content, and even content they hadn’t thought about using yet. Stevenson concludes by saying Shift Worship is just what they needed. “I think the industry calls it eye candy - but we've gone from plain vanilla to being very creative, very fun. It's enhanced our worship a lot.”
Visit Shift Worship for more information.
