3 minute read
Tips for Church Pandemic Christmas
Have Yourself a Social Distance Christmas...and Say So
Preparing for Christmas guests in normal years is challenging enough. Doing so in 2020 with the unpredictable meeting schedule makes the options more difficult. Attack the issue by integrating your messaging live and online.
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1. Be specific about “Social Distance Christmas” in your interior and exterior building décor.
2. Place your COVID-19 protection actions on your website home page, social media covers and include in online service announcements.
3. Update your Google and Yelp church profiles with “Social Distancing Compliant.”
REFINE YOUR TECH
Take Zelfies -- Zoom-Selfies to get a feel for where you should look in the lens so viewers look you in the eye.
1. If using a laptop keep the lens at eye level: Elevate the laptop, boost your chair, or both.
2. Tilt the screen forward to eliminate the ceiling shot over your head.
3. No matter how many cameras you have (or two) people speak, adjust the camera for a closeup.
4. Practice Zoom selfies: angles and lighting by recording yourself a practice with the lid up.
The Eyes Have It, So Look in Them
It’s hard enough making contact when the audience is live, even when the audience is through a camera lens especially if you’ rely on audience response to spur you on.
However, it’s vital to develop appropriate eye contact timing and comfort. Too much contact can be unnatural and intimidating. Too little can appear aloof or isolating.
A few guidelines for speaking to live and video audiences:
1. Know your text.
When reading from Scripture or sermon manuscript, know the text well enough to look from the page, look a person in the eye, then don’t), when only one (or look back without losing your spot on the page, or in the lens.
2. Establish your eye line.
Don’t think of the camera lens as a camera, but another person. Find the focal point of the lens to come back to if you need to look away. Mark the spot with a small sticky note if you must.
3. Speak to faces.
Whether live or streamed, look to specific faces to deliver certain points. One specific faces is the closeup camera lens which is the eyeballs of the person at home. Talk to those faces for 3-5 seconds before moving on. Smile.
4. Remember First Line, Last Line.
Just as Paul introduced himself in the epistles, introduce yourself to viewers in the eye... as if you met them at church for the first time. Say goodbye the same way. Both looks make the viewer feel connected. In the middle...
Mark points to remember.
What do people at home need to know in the middle of your message? Deliver those to close-up camera as if expecting an answer.
6. Be still. Move with Purpose.
Anchor your feet confining movement to upper body and gestures. Random foot movement distracts.
ABOUT KINGDOM IMPACT THEATER MINISTRIES
Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries is an ensemble of theater missionaries who use performing arts to entertain, engage and educate for community outreach and leadership training.
KIT Ministries is based in Elk Grove Village, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago. KIT was founded by Michael Edgar Myers and Vikki J. Myers, professional actors in the Chicago theater community, as an educational tool and a bridge between church ministries and industry professionals who are Christ-followers.
KIT Ministries is supported by tax-deductible donations as a department of Artists in Christian Testimony Intl, a 501 (C)3 not-for-profit organization since 1973. Please consider a one-time or on-going contribution to enable Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries to present the gospel without finances becoming a stumbling block.
How To Invest in the Dream
Old School Check Contribution:
Payable: KIT-Ministries/Myers
Memo: (5640kitministries)
Artists in Christian Testimony Intl
P.O. Box 1649 Brentwood, TN | 37024 United States
Electronic Contribution
actintl.givingfuel.com/kitdonations
