In honor of Martin Luther King:

There’s a lot of Christmas Freebies floating around this year.  I thought I’d let you know about some before it’s too late.

• Free Media from the Simply Youth Ministry Media Store
• Free Media from Centerline Blog
• Free Training from Cadre Connection
• iTunes Holiday Sampler
• Appvent Calendar – Free iPhone games
• Free Christmas PowerPoint Game
• Free Christmas Backgrounds
• Free Christmas Message – “The Christmas Killers”

Some of these are daily or every couple days.  Even if you missed a few of them, there’s still a lot of freebies left before Christmas.

Wow, this makes me feel a little old.  The answers the kids gave is fascinating on so many levels.  I especially like their answers to the technology questions.

The decade according to 9-year-olds from allie garcia on Vimeo.

Over the last week, I’ve come across two different video projects online that are using or used the power and reach of the internet to produce them.  The first one is a group that setting out to remake Star Wars, but letting people pick their favorite scene and recreate it however they want.  The second is a music video that that was written, produced and shot by user submissions to the creators youtube channel.  He also has a bigger vision of getting this song on the UK music charts to raise money for charity.

Here are the videos:

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

I just love the idea, and really enjoyed the results.  I was thinking this could be a fun youth group project.  Getting different groups of kids to shoot different parts of video and putting them all together could be a really fun activity.  I used to volunteer in a ministry that had a film festival of student made films every year and something like this would have been a great addition.  And with the availability of cameras like the Flip it could be easier than ever.  Kids love to see themselves on screen, and what a great way to involve lots of kids and let them stretch their creative muscles.

Just for fun.  It’s such a great look to make it look like David was just carrying around his laptop filming with his webcam.  I also loved the effect of it being sped up, but the singing regular time.  Enjoy.

YouTube – David CrowderBand – “How He Loves” OFFICIAL Music Video.

If you are anything like me, every time you go on a camp or retreat, you come back with tons of photos (about ten of which are usually any good) and maybe even some video.  Of course you want to do something cool with them, and every once in a while, you take the time to create a video that is a mashup of your pictures, videos, and some recent Christian Music.  Most of the time, your schedule rules out doing anything of the sort.

That is where Animoto comes in.  This snazzy little web tool allows you to upload photos and video, and then creates a really slick looking video of them.

You start by uploading pictures (no larger than 5MB each) and videos (no larger than 200MB each).  You can then set what portion of the videos you uploaded you want to include.  Once you have all your files uploaded, it’s time to select your music.  You can upload your own track or select from their collection.  If you are looking for Christian music, they have 27 selections ranging from Toby Mac to Christ Tomlin (who should be on your playlist).  All that’s left at that time is to determine your speed and cover image at which point their servers take over rendering an impressive video with a cool soundtrack.

The finished video is ready for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, email, and even exporting to YouTube and Smugmug.

Sounds too good to be free right?  Well that’s where you’re wrong and right.  This is a freemium service.  You get all the photos and videos you can cram into 30 seconds for free, and if you want to make a longer video (up to the length of your song), the cost is $30 (the All-Access Pass) for all you can eat for an entire year… seems like a steal to me!  In addition to making longer videos, the All-Access Pass allows you to download the videos though they will only be 432×240 h.264 mp4s.  If you want dvd quality, you can pay $5 per video for the upgrade.

This site focuses on speed and ease of use.  Which means that you do not get a whole lot in the way of editing control.  As a matter of fact, you get NO control.  If you don’t like the transitions or timing, your only option is their “one-Click Remix” that sends it through their randomizer again to hopefully spit out something you’ll like.

However, if you want to be able to make a quick video about last week’s trip for this week’s worship service and have less than zero time, Animoto is a great choice, and an incredible value.  Check it out!

I am constantly amazed at the tools that lifechurch.tv produces.  This morning I found out about what is quite possibly the most useful of them all: Open.  What is it?  It’s thousands of top-quality resources for churches available for free download.  It’s not just youth resources!  Everyone can find something from adults to children and youth to pet ministry (I may have gone a little overboard on the pet ministry).

To begin, you simply sign up for an account and voila, the world of Open resources is at your fingertips.  Browse through the files to find videos of messages, background loops, small group curriculum, skits and video illustrations.

Don’t have a great worship band?  No problem, you can download worship sets to project on a screen with a band, lyrics, the whole deal.  There’s even forms and training.  Like I said, it’s awesome!  The only problem I could find with the well-designed site is that some of the video files require you to burn them on a dvd to play them which for a novice (especially one using a pc) could get a little hairy.

That being said, it’s all there, and it’s all free.  Next time you need help on a message or small group your first stop simply has to be Open.

First I want to say.  I like iTunes, it syncs content great to my iPhone and Apple TV.  I also love the genius feature, it creates great playlists.  But when it comes to getting content onto my sons PSP, I’m out of luck.  That was until doubleTwist.

DoubleTwist gives you an alternative to iTunes (that can still access you iTunes library).  It’s still pretty basic, but it does offer some great features that iTunes lacks.

1. Sync – it syncs with a lot more devices (including PSP, Blackberrys, Android, Kindle and more).  See the complete list here.
2. Amazon mp3 store.  You can directly access the Amazon mp3 and all the free content they offer.
3. Share with others.  It gives an easy way to share with your friends.

It’s still early in development, and I’m sure they will fill out the missing features in time.  It’s a great start, and I look forward to future releases.  And at FREE, it’s worth a try.  Right now it’s only Mac, but a PC version is coming.

UPDATE: It looks like the PC version is available for download now.

Check it out: doubleTwist.

I must confess, I’m a David Crowder*Band fanboy, but when I first pressed play on this album, I thought, “What’s happening here, did David Crowder just make a dance album and call it Church Music?”  It really caught me off guard, and not what I expected an album by the name Church Music to sound like.  You’re hit with loops and rhythms that sound more like they belong in a club, than a church, and I think that’s part of the beauty of the record.

That doesn’t mean that this album is missing the classic songs that all our worship teams will soon to learning, and hopefully not botching on Wednesday night. Songs like Alleluia, Sing and How He Loves are destined to be on the playlist of our worship leaders for some time to come.

The album also just has some great, fun songs to lift your spirits.  The funk of Church Music, Dance and the 80’s stylings of Oh Happiness just make me smile.

Give it a listen and I think you will like it.

Preview Now:

Available today on iTunes or at Amazon:
Download at iTunes:

(Click to open iTunes)

Buy the CD:

Or MP3 Download:

Here’s a funny promotion for a series on some of the more interesting scriptures in the Bible.