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FLYTE a curriculum from Lifeway designed specifically for preteens showed up at my door a few months ago. I was pumped. I got a sample to review and I was pleasantly surprised.

First of all. The look and feel and sound of this stuff is amazing. I think they really nailed the age group. Here is an example of FLYTE’s video work:

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Gotta Do whatcha Gotta Do

So last weekend, my Jeep’s driver side window wouldn’t roll up. It’s been a few weeks of crazy stuff happening in our lives and our cars haven’t helped. We’ve had plenty of car trouble in the past. We know that it’s only a season, but sometimes these problems just seem to pile up. Not to mention, you are a youth pastor. It’s not like you are in this thing for the money. So I thought I would give you some insight into some things that I use pretty regularly to help with some problems with cars and appliances in your home to save you a few bucks.

I used some of these to fix my power window that wouldn’t roll up as well. Saved me about $200-$300 by DIY instead of taking it to a shop.

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Picture taken from a Go-Pro

This is a guest post from my co-worker and friend, Chris Brank. Besides being a phenomenal influence on our students, Chris runs a side business that you can check out at chrisbrankfilms.com and his blog at chrisbrank.com

You need a GoPro for Your Ministry.

And here’s four reasons why:

BUT FIRST…what is a GoPro?  Well, it’s very small. It’s waterproof. It’s 1080p at 30 frames per second or 720P with 60 frames per second for slow-motion stuff. There are a million attachments to put it on anything..bikes, surfboards, helmets, cars. People have dropped them out of airplanes and they hit the ground still recording. It has a beautiful, ultra wide fish-eye perspective…in fact, 5 different settings of fish-eye, depending on how wide you want to go!  You can get a screen to go on the back so you can see menus and see what you’re shooting. It’s very awesome.

Now, here’s those reasons:

1) It’s super cheap. I got the Motorsports edition on Amazon plus a screen, surf-mount, and tripod adapter for under $350. And you know what’s crazy? In the video I’m about to link to, I shot with a GoPro and a Canon 7D with a L-quality lens…and if you just casually watch, you won’t be able to tell the difference. Just know I didn’t take the 7D underwater!  http://youtu.be/_ghPVix68hY (PS, I colored the 7D footage, but didn’t even have to color the GoPro footage because it already had the saturated vintage feel that I wanted!)

2) It really does have a completely waterproof / shockproof casing. I’ve never been afraid to take that thing anywhere!  Mud, sand, snow, it just rocks it out. Lauren Germann, the Elementary Production Coordinator at Brookwood, just took it to their “So Long Summer” event at a local waterpark. Check out her highlight reel: http://youtu.be/XqUHm_6vTvU

3) It’s crazy easy to use. There are two buttons.  It takes approx. 15 minutes to memorize the instruction manual…then you are good to go!  In fact, during Adventure Week (the VBS at Brookwood Church) I handed to a student (Mary Erny) and she carried it around all week with no prior experience and put together this video in iMovie:  http://youtu.be/oHfbnBlRafs

4) Just look over the previous three reasons again.

Now, one quick thing before I wrap that you need to know: Do not expect good audio quality. Especially with the waterproof case…it protects everything from getting to the camera, including sound!  Without the case, it’s not horrible, but I rarely use the audio.

Get one, and put together some videos with angles that were just impossible before now. Hand it to students, take it on trips, throw together a million highlight videos. And throw IT everywhere!

Want to buy a GoPro for your Ministry? Here is where we say buy it. GoPro HD Helmet HERO Camera(affiliate link)

If your student ministry or preteen ministry is looking for some inspiration for stage design then you should definitely check out Church Stage Design Ideas. If nothing else, it will give your creative juices flowing.

Here are a few pics from their site.

So I got this interesting piece of material in the mail today with a sampler from SparkHouse. It has 2 sample video lessons with a small sample of a workbook.

This curriculum is geared towards 7th-8th grade students and is geared towards the confirmation type of service for students.

Here’s a sample of one of the video lessons:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARdwIWDnE90

I think the graphics and content of the 2 video lessons that I saw were pretty awesome. Especially for preteen ministry. I’m thinking my 5th and 6th graders would eat those videos up. They are humorous and are filled with great content aimed towards answering some of the questions that students have about faith.

The activities in the sample seemed to miss the mark a bit. Thumb wars and graffiti wall could be accomplished outside of the material provided and would fit better in a younger context. However, there was a cool activity that could apply to that age group called tower races. It seemed to match well with the content and I know my students would get into that.

Would this work for a Sunday morning in our context? Definitely not. But, if you do a more small group centric midweek program, then this could work effectively in that environment as well.However, if you have a class set aside for Confirmation or basics of faith class, then this is something I would definitely check out for 4th-6th graders.

I feel like the price point is right on as well. DVD with 40 sessions for $50 I think is a great deal.

You can find out more about the re:form confirmation curriculum on the SparkHouse website.

Or check out some sample vids on their youtube page.

Have you checked out re:form? What do you think of their stuff?