Creating a Graduation Remembrances Video

One of the more important decisions youth ministries make during the first half of the year centers around honoring the church’s graduates. Graduations provide an opportunity to recognize and celebrate a life-impacting milestone in the life of your students. If you have not tried this idea in the past, consider turning your media “techies” loose to create a graduation remembrance video.

For the basics of the video, ask parents, family, and friends to lend you the usual childhood photos that capture the students at their worst and their best. You will want the visual images to run the gamut of emotions from funny to the more serious. To this base, you can spice things up a bit by adding any of the following . . .

• Snippets from a video interview with the graduates about their past and future.
• Video taped comments from a parent, grandparent, or family friend remembering the day the student was born.
• Secret footage shot of the graduate.
• Selected footage from family home videos highlighting important events in the graduate’s life.
• Photos or video footage of the graduate’s involvement in youth ministry and church activities.
• Video footage or photos of the graduate receiving their diploma/degree if the graduate recognition is after their graduation.
• Favorite memories from past Sunday School teachers, adult volunteers, pastors, or youth leaders. Some of these stories could serve as narration behind images connected with those memories.
• Relevant trivia about world & cultural events that coincided with events in the graduate’s life. (An example of this can be found in an online sermon, New Beginnings, 2008 Graduate Recognition Sermon.)
  

Once you have selected your elements, interweave them with some special effects and motivational music to create a one-of-a-kind fast-paced video clip that presents a “positive” reflection of the student. Your congregation will enjoy the video vignette and family members will want a copy as a keepsake.

Youth Illustrator - A Source for Relevant Illustrations

Are you tired of looking through illustration books for that illusive illustration that would drive the point home? Then perhaps its time to check out Youth Illustrator, an online source for “relevant illustrations that will connect the Word of God to the lives of today’s youth!”

Started in 2007 by a former youth pastor, the website offers illustrations from youth workers in the trenches. Not only can you find illustrations for your sermons, bible studies, bible lessons, etc. at Youth Illustrator, but you can also share illustrations by clicking on their submission link.