Blog – Motion Worship – Video Loops, Countdowns, & Moving Backgrounds for the Christian Church

7 Tips for Simplifying Your Holiday Calendar

The holiday season is a special time for the church community, filled with opportunities to connect, celebrate, and share the joy of the season. However, managing the church's holiday calendar can be overwhelming, with the temptation to pack it full of events and activities. In this blog post, we'll explore the benefits of simplifying your approach to the holidays and focusing on just a couple of ...

Six Church Service Ideas for the Sunday After Thanksgiving

The week after Thanksgiving is a special time for church communities to come together and reflect on gratitude, share in fellowship, and spread love to those in need. It's an opportunity to transition from a season of thankfulness to a season of giving. In this blog post, we'll explore some creative church service ideas for the week after Thanksgiving that can help foster a sense of unity, service...

Buy It or Write It: Choosing Curriculum for Kids’ Ministry

As a Children's Pastor, implementing a curriculum that will guide the spiritual growth and development of the young minds in your care is just one of your many important tasks. When it comes to curriculum, there are two main options: purchasing a ready-made curriculum or crafting your own from scratch. Both approaches have their merits, and in this post, we'll explore the pros and cons of each to ...

Best Practices for Changing Lyric Slides

When executing services and events at your church, the onscreen presentation is a huge part of your congregation’s experience. When it comes to slides with lyrics, going unnoticed is the goal. If an attender is thinking about when the slides change, it’s likely because they’re too early or too late. In that case, they serve to distract from the experience rather than enhance it. Here are...

How Pastors Can Embrace Sabbaticals for a Lasting Ministry

In the relentless pursuit of ministering to others, church pastors often find themselves drained emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Sabbaticals serve as an invaluable tool to help ministry leaders refresh their spirits, recenter their vision, and fortify their commitment to their calling. Taking months away from your ministry, however, can be an intimidating proposition. Here, we’ll delve...

Help Students Transition from Middle School to High School

The transition from middle school to high school is an exciting yet challenging time for students. As a youth pastor, you have a unique opportunity to help make this transition smoother for young individuals who are navigating significant changes in their lives. By providing support, guidance, and a nurturing environment, you can help them thrive during this crucial period of their spiritual and p...

Plan a Church Picnic That Meets Everyone’s Dietary Needs

With warmer weather and longer days, Summer is the perfect time to take your community events outdoors. Outdoor potlucks and picnics are a fantastic way to gather as a community; there’s food to share, wide open spaces for the kids to run around, and minimal prep and clean up required. Chances are, however, there are people in your congregation with dietary restrictions that sometimes make it ha...

Talking About the Theology of Worship Lyrics

As worship pastors, we know that leading our congregations in worship is not just about playing music and singing songs. It’s about creating a space for people to connect with God, and one way we do that is through the songs we choose to sing. However, from time to time, people can and will take issue with the lyrics of worship songs and claim they have bad or harmful theology. Some of these can...

Tips for Your Summer Movie-Based Sermon Series

Over the past couple of decades, it's become extremely popular for churches to lean into summer blockbuster season by creating whole sermon series in which their pastor uses clips from popular movies to connect people's hearts with scriptural and spiritual truths. For most churches, this is seen as an easy outreach invitation opportunity for church attenders. It also gives a reason for folks to de...

Practical Tips for Training Your VBS Volunteers

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is an exciting time of the year for many children and their families. As a children's pastor, it can feel like a lot of pressure to ensure that VBS runs smoothly and to craft a meaningful experience for everyone involved. One of the key components of a successful VBS is a well-trained group of volunteers. Here are some tips on how to best train your volunteers for VBS: ...

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Keeping Summer Fun and Meaningful for Your Youth Ministry

Summer is a time when students get to relax, unwind, and have fun. But for youth pastors, the summer season can be challenging as it means changing schedules and programming for their student ministry. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming for youth pastors to decide what to do with their youth group over the summer months. As a youth leader, it’s important to balance fun with p...

3 Low-Cost and Cost-Free Ways to Make Your Church Coffee Better

Let's face it. The term "church coffee" is basically synonymous with terrible coffee. When you think about church coffee, you probably picture coffee that's too weak, too burnt, and just plain tastes bad. There are exceptions to this. I've been to several churches that have a bit more of a coffee-centric atmosphere in the lobby with a coffee shop, some going as far as making pour overs and espress...

7 ways to Follow up with First-Time Easter Visitors

On Easter Sunday, it’s likely you saw many new faces join you for worship. Did you know that more people in the United States conduct an online search for “church” around Easter than at any other time, even Christmas? Easter is a fantastic opportunity to connect with members of your community that aren’t yet plugged into a church home. You shouldn't have to wait until next year to see thes...

6 Tips for Budgeting for Your Next Youth Group Retreat

Youth retreats are fun and formative experiences for the students in your youth group. They provide exciting opportunities to connect with their peers, grow in their faith, and explore activities that help them stretch their comfort zones. Planning for and pulling them off, however, can feel like an overwhelming assignment. One of the biggest challenges you may face is budgeting for the event. Wit...

Preparing for Easter Services as a Worship Pastor

Easter is a great day for celebration in the church! It’s also a great day for a gallon of coffee, nerves, anxiety, and stress... If you’re a worship pastor of course. We kid, but if you are a worship pastor, you can probably relate on some level. The only reason those of us in the church get stressed about Easter is because we recognize how important of a holiday it is. There’s going to ...

Low Cost Ways to Honor Your Worship Team Members

Churches often work on tight budgets, so it can be difficult to find ways to thank and honor your worship team volunteers. However, there are plenty of low cost, high impact ways to show your appreciation for their hard work and dedication. Let’s take a look at some of the most effective and budget-friendly ways to honor your worship team volunteers. As a quick caveat, most of the suggestions in...

How to Jumpstart a Sermon-Based Small Group Curriculum

As a teaching pastor, creating sermon series that will serve your congregations is an important part of your job description. From finding the right scripture, narrowing in on salient themes, and constructing messages that will build meaningfully week after week, the time and intention that goes into crafting these series shouldn’t have to end after everyone leaves the sanctuary for Sunday brunc...

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Should Your Worship Team Start Using a Click Track?

Every worship pastor wants their band to sound tight, consistent and precise. But how do you get there? The answer might be a click track. So what exactly is a click track and why should your team consider using one? In this post, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of using a click track with your worship team so you can make an informed decision on whether it’s right for your church. Is a Cli...

How to Plan Your Church Calendar A Year in Advance

New year, new you! Ok, maybe not a completely new you. But January 1st offers a fresh opportunity to set your church calendar up for success in the new year. Building out an entire calendar advance can feel intimidating, but it can help reduce overwhelm and scrambling later on in the year. Looking at your content from a bird’s eye view can also help you avoid obvious holes or redundancies in you...

Give Helpful Feedback in Rehearsals

Everyone who leads rehearsals has a slightly different style, from how the whole rehearsal is organized to how he or she communicates musical changes. One of the trickiest things as a band leader is attempting to give feedback to band members about their playing. If you don’t play the instrument they’re playing, you may run into an added layer of “imposter syndrome” as you try to commu...