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(and Kidmin hacks to make them easy)

Ok, so there is a thing called COVID-19… it’s impacting the world in a lot of ways, but one thing it’s doing to our children’s ministries is…… taking all the kids away! This is more than just a little annoying for a children’s pastor or leader because your God given calling is to minister and equip children to live amazing lives for Jesus. A bit hard when you can’t see them! But hey, at least you have good leader-to-kid ratios every week 🙂

You’re doing great work in ministering to children and families by dusting off your old school techniques such as phone calls and sending things in the mail. But the one strategy you really want to get off the ground and just don’t know how… is starting a YouTube channel.

I started a YouTube channel from scratch 2.5 years ago and I am here to tell you it is hard, really hard, but it doesn’t have to be. There are some life-hacks, simple solutions, that will make it much more manageable and I am here to share them with you.

1. Reach the World (Kidmin Hack : Realign your expectations)

So you want to start a YouTube channel to minister to the children and families of your church – great! However, YouTube is open to the world so in theory you could reach way more kids than the ones in your community. It’s tempting for that idea to become your expectation, but that mindset can easily get in the way. When there’s only 5-10 views on your video instead of all 2.2 billion kids in the world, it’s depressing. Try looking at it this way; if you had 10 kids in your service on a weekend, then you’re doing great. Realign your expectations and set realistic goals to mark your progress! If God wants to highlight your videos to others around the world He will, but focus on what you’ve been given.

2. Shoot with a fancy camera (Kidmin hack: Focus on the sound)

Often people think they need to shell out big bucks for a fancy SLR camera with a bunch of features that in reality they don’t even need to use. Forget it – any smart phone in the last 5 years is capable of giving you a great picture. Just get a simple tripod and phone holder to keep it still and you’re good to go. It’s the sound where most people go wrong. The microphone on cameras, webcams and phones are not great, they will pick up everything in the room. The hack is this – buy a simple, plug-play microphone such as the ‘Rode VideoMic Me’ which will plug directly into an iPhone and give you much better results.

3. Edit a masterpiece (Kidmin hack: Keep it regular)

It is tempting to work for days and weeks on the perfect video that will change the world, but that’s not how media is consumed these days. YouTube channels that produce high quality videos yet have no release schedule, simply do not survive on YouTube, no matter how good they are. Kids aren’t expecting masterpieces from you, but they expect regular, consistent content. So do the best you can with the time and resources you have and get it done.

4. Remember Content is King (Kidmin hack: Connection is King).

Content used to be King. When YouTube was new it was all about getting people on the platform with exciting new things. The more creative, catchy, click-baity the better, but it’s been a while now and the whole world’s on YouTube, so creators have realised their audiences want to connect with them as people. Remember point one, though you may reach the world you are called to reach the children and families in your ministry. They want to connect with YOU, not your crazy clever ideas. So make sure your videos are reflecting who you are, not just what’s trending.

These are the ‘4 incredibly hard steps to creating content for YouTube and the Kidmin hacks to make it all easier’. I wish you all the best in this season and I pray you stumble upon things that bring so much value to your ministry, not just for now in this season, but well into the future.