Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; we can help.

Q & A Resources for PowerPoint creations and image use ideas

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Power Point, an incredibly useful tool
You can use Power Point in many ways in church communications and here are some resources for effective use of it.

PowerPoint is one of the most useful tools we have for creating church communications. Recently I was asked about some ways I use it at a church potluck and I told the woman asking me I'd send her an email of some of my favorite resources and some of the ways I use PowerPoint to do things like create videos. After putting it together for her, I realized this would be very helpful for Effective Church Communications.

At the end of this article, please out the Indezine site. In addition to many excellent resources, the site is now offering a FREE e-book if you sign up for their newsletter that is an excellent overview of some of the resources

Animoto

http://www.animoto.com.

This is one of my favorite tools--you can use it to take pictures, images, words, or a PowerPoint presentation, and turn it into a video complete with special effects and a sound track, all with a few clicks of the mouse. They have a FREE version (regularly $200 a year) for non-profits and churches. If you haven't tried it, check it out! You can create incredibly impressive videos with little work and no cost! It is really one of the most fun programs I use.

The  videos in the collection here  were all created with animoto:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvrABjnZwYw&list=PLF12CC86F2FA2FC15

Presenter Media

http://www.presentermedia.com/

I use the images from this company in many of my training videos that start out as PowerPoint presentations. The faceless people in many of my videos come from them. The materials aren't free, (price varies from $49 to $99 a year, depending on the specials they run) but if you need to do training PowerPoints or videos may be worth the cost:

Free PowerPoint Resources

The following videos illustrate free resource sites for Power Point. Be sure to check out the last one Indezine****It is currently offering a great free e-book on graphic use in PowerPoint slides.

Free PowerPoint Templates for Churches Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gxrW7PhSa0&index=2&list=PLA46F2C26E078F1EB

Free Templates and Clipart for Churches from Secular Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEPd_V7Z8aI&list=PLA46F2C26E078F1EB&index=3

Free PowerPoint Templates and Training, a video review of Indezine, a great resource
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhJWG-g1Hv0&list=PLA46F2C26E078F1EB
***The link above is offering a free e-book that has some very helpful information on resources for using pictures in PowerPoint

If you have additional resources, templates or tips you have found useful for PowerPoint, please tell us about them in the comments below.

Video: How I create training videos–software, process, tips

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Over the last few years I've created over 100 videos on a variety of topics to help church communicators. I get great feedback from many of you on how much they help and in addition to that I've had a number of requests for questions on how I do them.  Several church communicators have suggested that this type of video would be great to do to help church volunteers learn various tasks and I agree.

The video below is an overview of the software I use, my process and some tips. If you have additional questions or if you do this and want to share your video or ideas, PLEASE put them in the COMMENT section below on this website--that way everyone can see your comment or question and my answer.

HD Video Version for Effective Church Communication Members

The video below is a higher resolution and is suitable for large screen and projection viewing. These options are for ECC Members only. For information on how to  become an ECC Member, CLICK HERE.

 

 

Q & A: Where can you find Free PowerPoint resources, artwork and templates?

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Question:

"Our church has recently added a video screen to our sanctuary. We are in the beginning stages on learning how to use it for announcements and other parts of our church service. We have found some resources for slide backgrounds, videos and countdowns. Most of the video and countdown sites have a fee to use these. We are a small church and just wondering where the best sites are for these things, and possibly free usage sites also. Any suggestions?"

Answer:

Though there are many excellent companies that create PowerPoint presentations for churches, many do charge a hefty fee for their materials. As someone who creates resources for churches, I know everyone needs to make a living, but at the same time, I as someone who is married to a bi-vocational pastor and whose work at the church is done for no compensation, I do know that church resources can be very tight, while ministry demands can be challenging.

I did a good bit of research on this and found the following websites have some excellent FREE resources! Rather than simply telling you about them, I did 3 video reviews, so you can actually see the sites. Following are video reviews of the sites I found most useful with preliminary comments and direct links to them.

PLEASE respond in the comments section if you have other sites that you use either free or paid for. Any extra comments would be very helpful. Thanks so much!

Free PowerPoint Templates from Christian sources

Heartlight.org
http://www.heartlight.org/powerpoint/2262.html
This site is just WONDERFUL! Lots of free materials, really good quality, and I found the overall attitude of the site encouraging and uplifting. Not only PowerPoint, but lots of other materials you'll find very useful for church communications.

Ebibleteacher.com
http://www.ebibleteacher.com/
I didn't find this as useful for worship-type PowerPoint as some, but I really like their teaching materials. Good graphics and maps section and OK background images. I use a lot of maps and historical images in my Bible teaching to remind people that the Christian faith is rooted in real history that took place in real places.

Hyperpixels Media
http://www.hyperpixelsmedia.com/motion-background-loops/fire-flow
I really liked the materials here. This site has mostly materials that cost, but they also have some free materials, that change and that are wonderful. Their quality is excellent and their prices are very reasonable. This does cost, but their video: A Man's Thesaurus had me laughing out-loud. Check it out when you need a bit of humor.

Free PowerPoint Templates for Churches Video Review

Free PowerPoint templates from Secular Sources

PowerPoint Styles.com
http://www.powerpointstyles.com
This is a weird site—but useful weird. Be sure to look at the video before you go to it. It has some GREAT material and it's all FREE, but what is weird about it is all the junk ads, software download boxes and other stuff that clutter up the site. But if you take a few minutes with it, you'll be rewarded with some really great PowerPoint Templates.

Microsoft.com
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/results.aspx?qu=presentations
The link above goes directly to the free PowerPoint templates from Microsoft. As you'll see the best ones they offer don't come from Microsoft themselves, but from companies that give free resources to them. It is a little tricky to find and access these resources, but the video that follows shows you how.

Free Templates and Clipart for Churches from Secular Sources

Free Power Point Training Resource

Indezine.com
http://www.indezine.com/
This is a very interesting site—it does have lots of free templates for PowerPoint and the video below shows you how to access them, but it also has lots of educational information on all sorts of topics related to PowerPoint, such as an extensive tutorial about presenting on the iPad. There are lots of links to books and other resources related to PowerPoint and links to downloads of software trials. Their religious templates feature ones for non-Christian religions, which could be very useful for world religion classes. Bookmark this site as the offering and education materials change often.

Free PowerPoint Templates and Training, a video review of Indezine