Evangelistic and Video CD's
Most of this info is from Tony Whittaker's web sites below:
Almost every computer now has a CD-ROM player and within a year or two, DVD
capability will be almost universal. Yet there are relatively few groups
using CD-ROMs for evangelism. Yet increasingly, Christian organizations are
offering free multimedia CDs explaining their ministries to potential
supporters.
Advantages
CDs become so cheap when produced in bulk that the direct price of production
is no more than a small printed booklet. They have some big advantages
compared with evangelistic websites (and literature):
- No slow download times: sound, large graphics, animations and video clips
can be easily used, with complete user interactivity.
- External links to complementary websites can be included.
- Targeted distribution: people with a CD in their hands are likely to view
it, whereas they may never find an evangelistic website.
- Using it costs nothing, whereas in many parts of the world, Internet
access remains slow and expensive, paid for by the minute.
- People who might refuse to receive literature may be prepared to accept a
CD
- Easy to copy if copyright permits.
- A whole evanglistic video can be placed on a CD - either in DVD format,
or VideoCD format which is a useful stop-gap format until DVD is universal.
- Comic stories for children or adults, with animation and sound, are ideal
for CDs. Comics and story-telling are vastly under-rated channels for
evangelism.
Strategies and suggestions
It is time-consuming and expensive to design and write an evangelistic CD.
But the potential is so great that large organizations with the resources to
do it should consider this option, and perhaps be prepared to distribute
thousands free or at CD production cost (pennies/cents only) rather than
attempt to recoup development cost through selling at a higher price.
It is easy to incorporate existing evangelistic websites onto CD. It would be
easy to offer a range of the best evangelistic sites, navigable from an entry
page.
Such a CD might be made more attractive to non-Christians by incorporating
some genuinely useful secular material: language-learning, or some other type
of tutorial (perhaps like Newbie Club) or free software. Of course,
evangelistic material on CD should be designed the same way as evangelistic
sites and literature: no Christian jargon, no preachiness, sensitive
presentation, assumption of zero Christian knowledge and background, and
identification with readers' needs and viewpoint.
It would be wonderful to see such compilation CDs distributed in thousands on
secular magazine covers and available to give away in evangelistic campaings,
or on board MV Logos 2 and Doulos and in other types of overseas outreach.
It is also possible to have mini-CDs produced the same size as a business
card - they hold about 50mb and run in a normal CD player.
Available CDs
Here's a range of evangelistic CDs - please send details of others.
- THE QUEST is another CD in the course of preparation in UK. It contains
evangelistic apologetics material for the thinking person of student age.
Release is due later this year.
- Two Ways to Live from Matthias Media is an extended version of their
online evangelistic presentation.
http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/Guide/TTG/2wcd.html
- Across CD contains the Bible in many languages, evangelistic music with
testimonies of the artists, mini Bible browser, and much more. It is
available at a very low cost for distribution. 8000 were given away during
the Olympics. Large orders (5000+) can have a personalized CD label with
contact information.
- Power to Change is an extended version of the excellent evangelistic
website, and includes a full-length film about the Life of Jesus, plus a
small booklet. It is available to purchase, though is intended primarily for
use by churches as part of a co-ordinated local-area evangelistic campaign.
- Saltshakers were early pioneers in the production of Christian CD Roms
and have produced many Christian educational packages and games. Their CD,
THAT AMAZING WEEK, is an evangelistic presentation based on the week leading
up to the crucifixion. It is very interactive and does not assume much prior
knowledge from the reader. It has been selected as the only Easter software
resource of preference for primary schools in Northern Ireland. Also on the
CD are a RISEN and CONFLICT IN JERUSALEM for children and teens. It (and
other CDs) are available by worldwide mail order.
PowerPoint and CDs
PowerPoint was designed by Microsoft, primarily to create sequential slides
for business presentations. A PowerPoint presentation cannot be viewed in
real time on a website, but it can be placed on a CD for distribution.
PowerPoint files tend to be very large, so if offered on a website, they are
a lengthy download - which can be speeded up by zipping them. For an
individual evangelistic website user, they have no relevance, since a much
more interactive presentation can be built in HTML and possibly Flash.
However as a tool for making a set of sequential pages to display on a
computer or projector - to accompany a lecture, seminar, or discussion - they
can have a place in evangelism or teaching. PowerPoint can also be used as an
untended repeating loop display on, for example, an exhibition stand - and
again this has evangelistic potential.
PowerPoint can also be used as a cheap development tool for interactive CDs.
You can build in a lot of interactivity using PowerPoint and embed just about
any kind of video file including avi, mpeg, and even Flash.
PowerPoint is not the best tool for CD-ROM development, but can be used by a
church or smaller ministry with limited resources. The final product can be
fairly sophisticated and need not be linear in design. By non-linear, this
means that you can use PowerPoint as a tool to build a CD-ROM in a way that
allows the user to determine when components to access and in what order. By
using the "Action Settings" in the Slide Show menu, any item (button,
graphic, photo, etc.) can be linked to any other slide or action. Users can
choose to watch a video or to see a still photo. They can choose to click on
an icon for more information about something, or skip ahead to a different
topic. In function, this is just like a website that takes advantage of
hypertext and other links. Most people are used to using PowerPoint for
linear presentations, but this option is good for kiosk use or for building
CDs that can be distributed for individual use.
This is a cheap way of building a CD, but it gets the job done and avoids
investment in expensive software. It is possible to build a fairly
sophisticated CD just by using PowerPoint.
You can download a free PowerPoint viewer if you don't possess MS Office.
It is also possible to send a PPT file as self-opening, so that a user does
not need to possess a PowerPoint viewer. Under the file menu there is a 'Pack
& Go' option.
If you have any evangelistic PowerPoint presentations which you would like to
share with others, please tell us and we can add them to this page.
The Technical links and comments are at this web site:
- Online PowerPoint Tutorials
- Making better PowerPoint presentations
- PDF file (44 pages 1150k) on making CD-ROMs
- Among the less expensive alternative software available for building CDs
or other digital training platforms is Trainersoft 7 - which is available as
a trial version.
- It is possibly to create material using RealPlayer in high quality and
put it on CD. Since RealPlayer supports SMIL (Synchronised Multimedia), you
can make interactive full-screen CD presentations using only a media producer
for audio and video, and MS Notepad. SMIL is not much harder to learn than
HTML apparently.
Evangelistic Video
DVD is rapidly gaining in popularity, but it will be some time before most
computer users or video owners also posses a DVD player. Until this time, the
VideoCD format (not the same as DVD) can pack a whole movie onto a CD which
can be viewed by computers without DVD drives. The Jesus Film is available in
this format from Campus Crusade in various languages. There is, of course, a
great lack of evangelistic videos in languages other than English. There is
huge potential for CDs in Japan, China, and the Middle East. Also available
on CD-ROM and video:
- RANSOM: two men friends during their teens, became separated by military
service... Available in French, Arabic, Turkish, Sylhetti, Uzbek and in
Turkish with subtitles in English, Spanish, Cyrillic.
- ALI AND SILVANA: two young people who have fallen in love. Ali and
Silvana come from very different religious backgrounds (Muslim and
'christian')... Available in: Bulgarian, Turkish, Uzbek, Turkish with
English/French subtitles; Albanian in preparation.
UK's Christian Television Association will be offering their evangelistic
videos on DVD by the end of the year. Currently they, and CPO offer
evangelistic videos - but only in European video format. Mission Resources
maintains a list of evangelistic videos.
There is a lookup site on which video formats are used in different countries
round the world.
Evangelistic CD-ROMs
Several being widely used:
Across (New Zealand)
David Hall of ACROSS in New Zealand writes:
"We gave out over 8,000 at the Sydney Olympic Games - with the Bible in over
40 languages, 10 contemporary evangelistic music items, testimonies of some
of the artists, and more. God has provided an incredible opportunity through
a Demo CD that contains the Bible in over 40 languages. For example it
includes two English versions, both modern and traditional Chinese, Bahasa
Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish, Arabic, Maori, most European and
many other languages. (In most cases it's the whole Bible, in a few cases
it's only the NT.) Plus this CD has a mini Bible browser, colorful Holy Land
screen saver that shares a step-by-step scriptural gospel message,
devotionals, testimonies, and ten contemporary, first class Christian music
items - and more. It's a great tool for the spreading of the Gospel - and
also for Christian growth. This CD - when ordered in bulk is only one $1.00
each. You can give these out to friends, family, neighbors, people you come
in contact with. What a great way to share God's Good News! These are NOT to
be sold, only given away. We will send you a CD for each $1.00 you send for
this project. Some people have asked for 20, some 500, others over 5,000.
Some may want to go in with a friend or cell group, church or business.
Churches or groups who order 5,000 or more can have their name and address
and web info on the CD back cover, plus their info linked from the main page
of the CD."
ACROSS: http://www.across.co.nz/
Power To Change
The POWER TO CHANGE CD is available to purchase on the website below. It is
primarily intended for use by churches as part of co-ordinated geographical
evangelistic campaigns in conjunction with other types of promotion and
advertising. In such evangelism, it is distributed free in large numbers to
inquirers along with a small booklet. It contains POWER TO CHANGE material:
testimonies, a gospel presentation; plus a full-length film about the life
of Jesus.
http://www.powertochange.com/cdoffer/.
Saltshakers
UK's Saltshakers were early pioneers in the production of Christian CD ROMs
and have produced many Christian educational packages and games. Their CD,
That Amazing Week, is an evangelistic presentation based on the week leading
up to the crucifixion. It is very interactive and does not assume much prior
knowledge from the reader. It has been selected as the Easter software
resource of preference for primary schools in Northern Ireland. Also on the
CD are a RISEN and CONFLICT IN JERUSALEM for children and teens.
It (and other CDs) are available by mail order for anywhere in the world:
http://www.saltshakers.com/mall/software.htm#ama.
Mini CDs
Chris Priebe of Authentic Walk ministries comments:
"Another idea is that you can get little CDs made up that are the size of a
business card, hold about 50mb and run in a normal CD player. I've always
wanted to put my Authentic Walk stuff on it and then be able to give it away
to people I meet."
Senior Citizens
Peter Stanley here in UK would love to see a CD and/or website targeting
senior citizens. I am unaware of any site which aims to do this - this idea
has great potential. Older people are learning computing and the Internet at
a fast rate. It would be wonderful to see a site which could address older
people's issues and concerns in an accessible way similar to Women Today
Magazine:
http://www.womentodaymagazine.com.
I see WTM as very much a model for a senior citizen ministry site or CD.
Health and retirement issues would be key areas to cover. Appropriate
training in computer and Internet use could also be a useful feature,
tackled from a beginner's viewpoint, something like NEWBIE CLUB:
http://www.newbieclub.com/home/finding_out.
Strategies And Suggestions
It is time-consuming and expensive to design and write an evangelistic CD.
But the potential is such that large organizations with the resources to do
it might consider this option, and be prepared to distribute thousands free
or at CD production cost (pennies/cents only) rather than attempt to recoup
development cost through selling at a higher price.
It is easy to incorporate existing evangelistic websites onto CD. It would
be great to offer a range of the best evangelistic sites, navigable from an
entry page.
Such a CD might be made more attractive to non-Christians by incorporating
some genuinely useful secular material: language-learning, perhaps, or some
other type of tutorial, even free software. Of course, evangelistic material
on CD should be designed the same way as evangelistic sites and literature:
no Christian jargon, no preachiness, sensitive presentation, assumption of
zero Christian knowledge and background, and identification with readers'
needs and viewpoint.
It would be wonderful to see such compilation CDs distributed in thousands on
secular magazine covers, or given away on board MV Logos 2 and Doulos and in
other types of outreach.
If you know of any evangelistic CDs, let me know details - I'll feature them
in a future Bulletin.
It is also possible, surprisingly, to squeeze a whole video onto a CD in
what is called VideoCD format. This is not the same as DVD, and until DVDs
are universal, it is a great stop-gap method of distributing evangelistic or
teaching videos in a cheap and easily copied format.
Evangelistic CD
New credit-card-size mini-CD called "Who is He?" and there's no Christian
jargon on the package. In a clear, interactive presentation in 20 languages,
by the way, it explains the gospel message. Interested seekers may contact a
Christian Webmaster who speaks their language if they have web access.
Obtain one or more mini CDs for $2.75 each. Orders can be made
online at
http://www.campuscrusade.com/Outreach_Strategies/whoishe.htm.
Quantity discounts are available.
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