I remember several years ago I made the mistake of a lifetime. Actually, my tech guys did, always blame them it makes you feel better. I don’t remember what the point of the message was but I was using a clip from the movie back draft. It was near the end when they were up on the roof and they were arguing with each other. It would have been a great illustration except it went about 10 seconds too far and then all of a sudden one we heard the “f-bomb.” What happened from there was night mare for me. I was stuck calling the parents of every student in the room, whom of which for the most part thought it was funny that i was calling them and making such a big deal about the whole thing.

I would like to share with you some thoughts that I have when it comes to choosing our media to use during our program times. Here they are:

1. Read the reviews – often this is the first place that i will go when i am reviewing media. It gives me a good look at what the issues are and often leads me in an understanding of what message is being shared. It can save you a lot of work.

2. Be Selective – it is so easy to use a clip based off someone else’s opinion or ideas and never actually sit down and view the movie ourselves. We need to watch an entire movie if we are going to be showing just a clip. It will help us in our preparation as well as give us a full understanding of what is being communicated through the movie. Sometimes there are clips that would really communicate a point well but when you look at the whole thing it can make you a little nervous.

3. Permission granted – realize that when you show a clip you are ultimately granting permission for your students to go home and tell mom and dad that you said it was okay to see this particular movie. With that said, rated “R” movies would not be a good idea unless you are willing to take a 15 year old to the movie with you.

4. Follow copyright laws – there is just simply no way around this. Too many of us have used clips and even shared music that we had no legal right to share. I now nobody likes to deal with this, but we have a guy on staff who has written and published some of his own stuff and he references this as taking food from the table of an artist. Follow the laws, it will make you feel better in the end.

Just a few of my thoughts on using media in your ministry.