H.S. YOUTH: Great Faith Sharing Projects

I forgot that I'd made these videos and found them today when I was looking at my YouTube channel (more math videos than anything so don't get too excited). Anyway, kids love creating videos and we need to have them express what they believe in different ways so they become uber comfortable with it; comfortable enough to be able to freely share it. My standard church education goal is to have everybody be able to answer two questions without hesitation.

1. What do you believe? 
2. Why do you believe it?

I also want them to be as biblically literate as possible and this is one more way for them to become more familiar with what it says and be able to share it in their own words. You can choose any topic or story, but it can't be completely direct from the Bible. They can and should add a few verses to support what they believe, but it needs to be in their own words.

WARNING! Be careful about your choice of music if you upload your videos to YouTube or elsewhere on the internet. There are copyright laws about using other people's music and YouTube is good at noticing those kinds of things. If you need some public domain photos use Pixabay or Wikimedia Commons, but be careful with Wikimedia. Not everything there is public domain.

Here are a few different video creating/editing tools (but you might be surprised to find that many of your youth already make their own videos):

Windows Movie Maker (only PC)
iMovie (only Apple)
Wondershare Filmora
Stupeflix
Lightworks

Video Samples

This one is a sample of how they can create something simple to share the Bible and show that they have an understanding of it. They can choose something from the old or new testaments. I used Screen-cast-o-matic for this one because I used it to create math videos and it's familiar to me. Obviously my art skills are stellar! It was easy to create using a PowerPoint background and stick figures. Sometimes the simpler you make it the easier it is to tell the story! HINT: Let the kids take the time to storyboard their projects and show them to you before they start.

This one is a straight forward slide show I created on Stupeflix.com. It was simple enough to use, but I didn't like the music they had so I took a song from YouTube and added it after it was uploaded. At least I was sure the song was public domain. HINT:  Have kids add photos of themselves or their friends too. They can even write a script and have their friends help.