Recently Forest Hill South Park Church posted a video on their YouTube and Facebook pages. It can be found here.

The video is titled “Gratitude.” In it we are challenged to change our perspective this Christmas and give thanks for the big and little things in our everyday life. It is a little campy in places, but the message is clear: in life we have much to be grateful for, so celebrate those gifts.

The video is not a Hollywood production, with paid actors, set design or sound technicians. Its acting is cheesy and over the top. And it is clearly shot with everyday recording equipment. And yet, it’s message has struck a chord and it has been viewed over 7.4 million times!

Forest Hill South Park invested a little in recording equipment, many hours editing, lots of tape and wrapping paper and some playful energy and produced this video. I am sure they had no idea at the time it would go viral.

Video as part of a communication strategy is an underutilized tool in many churches. Yet it is a tool that reaches across all generations and easily accessible through Facebook and YouTube.

So whether it is your next youth group meeting, parish council or even wardens meeting, toss a few ideas out, grab your IPhone or camcorder, play around with iMovie and start using video to tell the story of your church. The video could be a parody (instead of All about The Bass, how about All about The Grace), a recap of an event, an introduction to your community for seekers or just a little bit of fun. You never know how far it might spread.