Last week, YouTube announced a major milestone in their expansion. Every day they now upload 4 billion videos. That number, again, is 4 billion. This is a 25% increase in one year. (Don’t we all wish we had stock in Google/YouTube?)
Here at the Academy of Preachers we understand the power of the video. Almost half of the young preachers who registered for the 2012 National Festival of Young Preachers answer “YouTube” when asked how they first learned about the Festival.
For the last two years we have posted some or all of the National Festival sermons on our YouTube channel, and these videos have been viewed more than 76,000 times.
Last week, we began uploading sermons from the 2012 National Festival to YouTube (click here to watch view the playlist where those videos are being uploaded.) Post-production edits by the professional media company, Kertis Creative, has made these videos more professional and more attractive.
Moving into 2012, we are looking for new video opportunities for Young Preachers.
We have just received a grant from Odyssey Networks to produce one video focused on a Young Preacher and including preaching footage. Some people in the film business are skeptical this format for preaching can be done in a compelling and relevent way.
We also plan to host a video competition later this year. We will invite Young Preachers to design, film and produce videos featuring themselves as preachers but in creative and colorful ways that will attract an even wider audience (including employers!)
We plan to offer during the year (and certainly at the National Festival next year in Atlanta) workshops on how to use video to enhance the inspirational and influential power of gospel preaching.
Thank you, all of you, for watching our sermon videos. May what happened to Roger Jasper, AoP ’10 become a pattern for many Young Preachers: a pastor search committee saw his AoP video on our YouTube channel, called us for a reference, called him for an interview, and eventually called him to serve as their preacher and pastor.
Ah, the power of a video!
