WELSTech 2015 #welstechconf
Opening Keynote
Speaker - Thursday, July 9th, 2015
- 5 time Emmy winner.
- Produced WELS connection for 28 years. Kids Connection for 20 years.
- Has worked for almost every media company and network out there.
- An eternal optimist – his words. He feels sorry for those who aren’t.
- Media is his method of ministry.
Media is never neutral.
- Have we entered a techno-utopia or a techno-prison?
Media wants our hearts and minds
Robert Pittman – founder of MTV – “We don’t aim for 14 year olds. We want to own 14 year olds.”
There are more screens in the world than toilets – “More garbage going in than coming out”
We are amusing ourselves to death
- “A” = not AND “Muse” = to think
Young people spend
- 53 hours a week using a screen
- 4,000 texts a month
YouTube wants us to see ourselves as the center
“Broadcast yourself”
NOT caring about others first.
BUT Media tools should be an enhancer of relationships – not a replacer.
But it’s nothing new…
1844 – milestone of human communication – telegraph
- First instance of virtual communication (not F2F)
- Faster than any message could travel
- People started to chat, play checkers, swap recipes
- The first instance of timewasting using technology
1890 – Wired Love was published – a story about two telegraph operators
- Met at a boarding house in St. Louis
- Meeting face to face was awkward for 3 days
- Strung a wire cord between their rooms and telegraphed each other
- Day 4 - Proposed on the telegraph to each other
On the Titanic
- There was a message from another ship warning about the icebergs
- It arrived and was set on the desk under a paperweight
- But there was a pile of personal messages to send
- The message sat there while personal passenger messages were being sent
- It never made it to the bridge or the captain
We’re tricked into thinking video games life are real life
- Advance to the top level
- Beat the baddest boss
- All without actually doing anything in the real world
- You aren’t better. No one else is better. The world isn’t better.
What is our message to the world?
- We have a message – the best message there is!
- THAT is what we want to use media for
- Put on the full armor of God
They showed us the world premiere of the trailer to “My Son, My Savior” – the story of Mary.
- Next movie in the series of “The Road to Emmaeus” and “Come Follow Me”
- Movie will be done by September and available to congregations in the fall
- Mary – the actress was selected to play her – was one of 50 Mary actresses Robert saw
- She had memorized the entire script
- While rehearsing she was brought to tears by the words she had memorized and was saying
- Steve said it felt like God was saying – SHE is the one.
- FYI - One more movie coming in the series – The Journeys of Paul
How do we redirect the noise of media and point it to Christ?
- It really starts at home.
- What does your heart tell you? Should I be watching this?
How do we start the conversation with our youth?
- Use media as opportunity to start the conversation
- Example - On Easter Sunday Robert and his family went to the “God is not dead” movie and spent a couple hours having a family discussion after it.
500th anniversary of Reformation – October 2017
- Film on Martin Luther
- 2 hour film
- NPH started the idea
- Will be broadcast (Lord willing) nationally on PBS and possibly BBC
Ideas for use of media in ministry
- How welcoming is your congregational website? It’s your virtual front door.
- Involve our young people in the creation/production of media for ministry
- It is SO easy to capture video now
- Search engines are 53 times more likely to find a website if there is video on it
- 59% would rather watch a video than read text
- Introduce your church to your visitors before they set one foot in the door
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