Sermon on the Run

How I write and preach and record a sermon while training for a marathon

Raise your hand if you’re busy.

🙋

(Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.)

Between work and life and two kids and soccer practice and dishes and laundry that just keep reappearing and training for a marathon and more and more and more, I still find myself with new ideas.

And if you’re a pastor or involved in any type of ministry, you are well aware that ministry must also find ways to live in online spaces.

While it’s easy to default to the occasional TikTok video or Instagram post, I still think there is incredible value in longer form video content on YouTube. (I could talk about YouTube for ages, just ask…)

My latest project has been a weekly-ish youtube video. Only rather than trying to find additional time in my already busy life to write and record this content, I have completely hijacked my weekly running schedule.

Here, let’s watch the latest one and then I’ll talk about the process a bit more.

Getting started

I started by making a list of a dozen or so topics and ideas that I could develop. I have each one a rough description, more for my own reference later on as I’m developing them week to week to week. Then I went over to everyone’s favorite AI and asked for YouTube titles and thumbnail ideas. I copied and pasted it all into a document, made some minor edits, and opened up Canva to build out a simple video template with the text on screen (and plenty of space to drop in a photo).

All that just got me started. It gave me a plan. It provided some direction. But I still have to figure out what I’m going to say and actually make the videos!

Creating an Outline

At the beginning of each week I look at the title and rough description I have in my notes. I start capturing any and all ideas I might have around this theme. This includes scriptures, quotes, any random and rambling thoughts I might have, and more. It’s less of an organized list and more of a free-flowing catch-all for the topic. Basically, I’m trying to externalize my ideation as much as possible, capturing whatever I can, focusing on quantity rather than quality (for now).

Once I have this sprawling outline complete I drop it all into Chat GPT and ask it to help me create an outline for a video that I can create. (I have already input information about the video series, including linking to examples of my other content so that the AI is building it’s recommendations based on my tone and style and content.)

I might ask for a revision or two but typically the AI generated outline organizing my divergent thoughts quite well. I paste it all into my notes document and am ready to start filming.

Action!

I have a fairly rigorous running life, typically running to and from school drop offs five days a week, so rather than carving out additional time in my life to film I just use the time I already have! My outlines typically have 5-6 parts and I try and film one part on each run. I alternate between running shots and still shots (where my phone is propped up on something — I use a small tripod attached to my jogging stroller or a tree!).

I simply look over the outline, think about what I want to say, hit record, and start talking! I often record a part in multiple videos, capturing a few sentences or ideas with each one. I am also sure to film some “b roll” on each run so that I can drop it in to help transition between the parts.

And that’s it! I do this each day, adding a green check mark when I’ve filmed the content for a part of my video outline ✅ and by the end of the week I have dozens of short videos sitting on my phone, ready to become a complete video.

Almost there

Just as creating the outline isn’t making the video, neither is filming all the parts. They are both essential steps but they are all just putting the colors on the palette. Now that I have all my colors laid out I’m ready to dip by paintbrush and add a few strokes to the canvas.

(And all of that is a metaphor for “start assembling and editing the video!”)

This part might sound intimidating, and there is definitely a learning curve, but by having a clear outline and all my recordings filmed chronologically, it’s a pretty straight forward process.

I beam all the footage from my phone to my laptop, drop it into a folder, drag it all into a project in my video editor (I use Final Cut Pro), and then clean up any edges around the clips. I might add text and music and extra bells and whistles like that, but all of that is just frosting on the cake. The biggest thing is that I don’t have to film a video in one sitting or try and create a video from nothing or a big pile of who-knows-what. I simply take all the work I’ve done during the week and tidy up any rough edges and watch the video come together!

Publish!

The final steps are to upload the video, polish the thumbnail (remember when I got those started in Canva way back at the beginning of all this?), go back to that outline in Chat GPT and ask it for recommendations for a title and description for the YouTube video, and hit publish.

And then it’s another week and it’s time to repeat the whole process for the next video!

Not Nothing, but Far from Impossible!

You’re probably reading this thinking, “you expect me to do all that?!” I will admit, this whole process is not nothing, but it is far from impossible. And most importantly, this is a process I have developed that works for me. It fits into my already busy life and results in a simple editing process for a video I am proud of.

Because the goal is to make something rather than nothing. And to keep making something so each one gets better and better, improving the not only the content but the process, what I make and how I make it.

Sometimes starting is the biggest hurdle we need to overcome. And when we do we often realize it was bigger in our imagination than in reality.