Blog – Page 2 – Motion Worship – Video Loops, Countdowns, & Moving Backgrounds for the Christian Church

Best Practices for Changing Lyric Slides

When executing services and events at your church, the onscreen presentation is a huge part of your congregation’s experience. When it comes to slides with lyrics, going unnoticed is the goal. If an attender is thinking about when the slides change, it’s likely because they’re too early or too late. In that case, they serve to distract from the experience rather than enhance it. Here are...

How Pastors Can Embrace Sabbaticals for a Lasting Ministry

In the relentless pursuit of ministering to others, church pastors often find themselves drained emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Sabbaticals serve as an invaluable tool to help ministry leaders refresh their spirits, recenter their vision, and fortify their commitment to their calling. Taking months away from your ministry, however, can be an intimidating proposition. Here, we’ll delve...

How to Follow Up with Families After Vacation Bible School

Summer Vacation Bible School (VBS) is an exciting and impactful event in the life of a church community. It provides a unique opportunity to share the love of God with children and families, creating lasting memories and building strong relationships. However, the impact of VBS does not end when the final day concludes. Sometimes families are introduced to church and Jesus for the first time throu...

Help Students Transition from Middle School to High School

The transition from middle school to high school is an exciting yet challenging time for students. As a youth pastor, you have a unique opportunity to help make this transition smoother for young individuals who are navigating significant changes in their lives. By providing support, guidance, and a nurturing environment, you can help them thrive during this crucial period of their spiritual and p...

Plan a Church Picnic That Meets Everyone’s Dietary Needs

With warmer weather and longer days, Summer is the perfect time to take your community events outdoors. Outdoor potlucks and picnics are a fantastic way to gather as a community; there’s food to share, wide open spaces for the kids to run around, and minimal prep and clean up required. Chances are, however, there are people in your congregation with dietary restrictions that sometimes make it ha...

Talking About the Theology of Worship Lyrics

As worship pastors, we know that leading our congregations in worship is not just about playing music and singing songs. It’s about creating a space for people to connect with God, and one way we do that is through the songs we choose to sing. However, from time to time, people can and will take issue with the lyrics of worship songs and claim they have bad or harmful theology. Some of these can...

Tips for Your Summer Movie-Based Sermon Series

Over the past couple of decades, it's become extremely popular for churches to lean into summer blockbuster season by creating whole sermon series in which their pastor uses clips from popular movies to connect people's hearts with scriptural and spiritual truths. For most churches, this is seen as an easy outreach invitation opportunity for church attenders. It also gives a reason for folks to de...

Practical Tips for Training Your VBS Volunteers

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is an exciting time of the year for many children and their families. As a children's pastor, it can feel like a lot of pressure to ensure that VBS runs smoothly and to craft a meaningful experience for everyone involved. One of the key components of a successful VBS is a well-trained group of volunteers. Here are some tips on how to best train your volunteers for VBS: ...

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Keeping Summer Fun and Meaningful for Your Youth Ministry

Summer is a time when students get to relax, unwind, and have fun. But for youth pastors, the summer season can be challenging as it means changing schedules and programming for their student ministry. With so many options available, it can be overwhelming for youth pastors to decide what to do with their youth group over the summer months. As a youth leader, it’s important to balance fun with p...

Motion Worship is Celebrating 10,000 Members!

We want to take a moment to say a huge THANK YOU to you for all of the support over the years! We're constantly in prayer for you and your ministries. As we celebrate the milestone of 10,000 members, let's take a moment to look back over the years and hear the story of Motion worship as told by our founder, Josiah. "I began leading worship, producing worship services, and designing Christian ...

3 Low-Cost and Cost-Free Ways to Make Your Church Coffee Better

Let's face it. The term "church coffee" is basically synonymous with terrible coffee. When you think about church coffee, you probably picture coffee that's too weak, too burnt, and just plain tastes bad. There are exceptions to this. I've been to several churches that have a bit more of a coffee-centric atmosphere in the lobby with a coffee shop, some going as far as making pour overs and espress...

7 ways to Follow up with First-Time Easter Visitors

On Easter Sunday, it’s likely you saw many new faces join you for worship. Did you know that more people in the United States conduct an online search for “church” around Easter than at any other time, even Christmas? Easter is a fantastic opportunity to connect with members of your community that aren’t yet plugged into a church home. You shouldn't have to wait until next year to see thes...

6 Tips for Budgeting for Your Next Youth Group Retreat

Youth retreats are fun and formative experiences for the students in your youth group. They provide exciting opportunities to connect with their peers, grow in their faith, and explore activities that help them stretch their comfort zones. Planning for and pulling them off, however, can feel like an overwhelming assignment. One of the biggest challenges you may face is budgeting for the event. Wit...

Pastors: When to Recommend Professional Counselling for Congregants

As pastors, we are called to serve our congregants in any way we can. We strive to provide spiritual guidance and support to our congregants during difficult times. But there may be times when it is necessary for us to recommend that a congregant seek specialized counselling in addition to meeting with pastors and church staff. In this blog post, let's take a look at when it might be necessary for...

5 Tips to Make Your Production Better Today

As creatives, we're always on a journey to make the things we're working on better. God is glorified when we use our gifts, talents, and skills to reflect his glory and declare his goodness. In today's creative landscape, however, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the thought of improving. The connectedness that the internet affords us gives us access to countless massive churches and creative ...

How To Schedule Your Week as a Senior Pastor

As a senior pastor, your work schedule is unlike most. While you might enjoy more flexibility in your calendar and diversity in your to-do’s than a typical 9-5 gig, you also face unique challenges and uncharacteristic demands. Creating a schedule that allows for deep productivity, meaningful pastoring, and sufficient rest is a puzzle that takes trial and error to figure out. While everyone is di...

Effects & Color Filters | ProPresenter in 5 Minutes

This “ProPresenter in 5-minutes” series is hosted by Chris Fleming, Motion Worship Creative Director, professional drummer and music director from Minneapolis, MN. In this collection of concise tutorials you will learn about the ProPresenter interface, how to customize slides, build a library of songs, compile a full church service, and tons more! In this specific video tutorial, Chris ...

Preparing for Easter Services as a Worship Pastor

Easter is a great day for celebration in the church! It’s also a great day for a gallon of coffee, nerves, anxiety, and stress... If you’re a worship pastor of course. We kid, but if you are a worship pastor, you can probably relate on some level. The only reason those of us in the church get stressed about Easter is because we recognize how important of a holiday it is. There’s going to ...

How To Handle Criticism as a Lead Pastor

As a senior pastor or someone in any leadership position, criticism is inevitable. That, of course, doesn’t mean it stings any less. For most of us, our first reaction to complaints and critiques is defensiveness. Especially when the criticism feels harsh, personal, or unfair, it can be tempting to take a “haters gonna hate” mentality and harden ourselves to it. And while it’s true that so...

How to Prioritize Your To-Do List as a Church Admin

As a church admin, It can be difficult to prioritize tasks when everything feels like the most important, asks come out of nowhere, and your inbox and co-workers won’t quit interrupting. How do you stop letting your to-do list run your life and use it, instead, to set you up for success in the moment and for tomorrow? There are many productivity techniques and different methods that work for...