At our pastors/elders planning meeting last week, we came up with a great idea that is sure to sweep the country! As our church is growing, we are talking about the options for handling growth and the possibility of a video-venue service – live music/etc. in the gym and then the message from the pastor on screen from sanctuary. (Just in discussion mode, VCBers, no set plans yet)
ANYWAY, someone mentioned that to make the video sermon enjoyable to watch, it would be important to offer several different camera angles rather than just one static camera showing one boring view from the back. THATS WHEN IT HIT ME!
I blurted out, “THE DAVE CAM!”
I slipped out to our Kids Church backstage and retrieved a helmet mounted webcam that I hooked up several years ago for Kids Church (where what/who I looked at appeared on big screen!) and returned to the serious pastor/elder meeting and plopped it on my boss’s head.
Pastor Dave modeling the prototype “Dave Cam”
I tried to convince the group that this was a fantastic idea! Not only would it create a great alternative view of the service, but it would provide a view of the service that few get to experience – the preacher’s perspective! See people nodding off or sleeping…. watch wives elbow their husbands at certain points of the message… watch kids looking up in a daze counting the ceiling tiles… teenagers passing notes…. people reading the church news instead of listening to the sermon….see who the pastor is looking at when he discusses certain points in the message(!)
The attention paid to sermons would sky-rocket since everyone in the service would know that the people in the alternate service or overflow room would be able to see them on the big screen. What do you think?
My idea got a few laughs, but was ultimately rejected at our pastor/elder planning meeting, and I even got to keep my job… so there will most likely never be a ‘Dave Cam’ at the Village Church, but….
What do YOU think of the idea of a “Senior Pastor Cam?” Why, you could even stream it on the Internet!!
