Free Countdowns? Tell Me More!

Looking for a source offering free video countdowns? Then . . . look no further than FreeCountdowns.net where they serve up a regular supply of fresh, hot countdowns. Their countdowns are suitable for use in presentations, church, youth ministry, children's ministry, etc.

The countdowns from FreeCountdowns.net are easy to download, and formatted for both the Mac and PC. They encode the free countdowns in MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 formats making them compatible with most of today’s presentation software.

Visit FreeCountdowns.net often as new countdowns are always being added.

Free Video Loops from Motion Loops

Wanna build or expand your video loop library? If so, then check out Motion Loops and sign up for their weekly newsletter. Each weekly newsletter contains a link to download their free video loop of the week along with special offers, online tutorials, etc. To sign up for this Austin, TX based company’s weekly newsletter, simply provide your email address at the top lefthand side of their homepage. Enjoy!

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.

Video Card -- A Unique Pastor Appreciation Idea

October is generally recognized as Pastor Appreciation Month. Here is a spin on an idea we recently did for Mother's Day . . .

Take a video camera and capture each member of your youth group telling "the camera" what they appreciate about the Pastor. Down load the footage to a computer, edit it in Windows Movie Maker (or similar video editing program), and burn the edited footage to a DVD.

Present this once in a lifetime Pastor Appreciate Video Card to the Pastor in a special presentation from the Youth Department. Your Pastor Appreciation Video Card will be a unique Pastor Appreciation gift and what memories it will bring to mind in years to come.