One of the reasons for starting this blog was to encourage youth workers to use videoblogging in their ministry and explore the medium as a tool for ministry. So, today I am starting a column called “Videoblogging in Youth Ministry.” In it, I hope to encourage you to start videoblogging to help connect with people in your ministry and give you a collection of ideas about how to do it and useful content. As for content, the video studies are some things you could put on your own videoblog. Of course, we need to take a look at what a videoblog is first and why in the world you would want to include something like this in your ministry.

What is a videoblog?
According to www.videoblogging.info, “Videoblogging is a new form of expression centering around posting videos to a website and encouraging an audience response. It is the next step from text blogging and podcasting.” Like any other blog, posting is fairly easy, comments are invited, and there is lots of interaction between the producer of the content and the reader, or viewer. Subscriptions are also available for videoblogs through news-aggregators like Fireant and MeFeedia. Videoblogging has only been around for a little over a year, and already there are many people posting videos to their blogs.

Why should I include videoblogging in my ministry?

1. Availability: Apple introduced a video iPod not too long ago. The Sony PSP plays video. Broadband is becoming standard for all internet users. Video on the web is cutting edge. The Barna research group found out that 57% of all Protestant churches in the US have a church website, and 61% use video in worship services. The stats for youth ministries’ use of video are probably even higher. Videoblogging allows you to connect with people. In youth ministry (or any ministry), this is vitally important. Your students would probably love to watch something from you on the web and interact with it. They could also invite their friends to check it out. This would allow you to interact with more young people, sharing insight and hearing what they have to say.
2. The power of story: Jesus used a lot of stories and parables in His ministry. Today’s parables are in video form. Your stories can be made video fairly easy. Low budget or no budget videos are acceptable (see Napoleon Dynamite) as long as they are entertaining. There are many videos licensed under Creative Commons (more on that later) that you can use and adapt. If you can see the spiritual significance in something, you can videoblog about it. The moving image captures attention much more than words. Students will be watching video on the Internet. Shouldn’t we be using it to teach and interact with them?
3. Did I mention it’s free?: There are a TON of resources out there to help you make a videoblog. There’s a cool tutorial at freevlog.org that will teach you to videoblog. It helps you post to the web for free. It helps you set up a blog for free. It even helps you set it up so people can subscribe to your vlog for free (more about that later, too). Check it out…you’ll like it.

So…consider it. We’re here to help. I would love to see how we can use this form of media to interact. There are a lot of things to think through, but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to connect with more kids? Check back later for more info…

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