Since 2014, my husband John Plocher has been running the Video Ministry for St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Saratoga, CA. What started out needing a few hours a week using spare equipment has grown vastly since the Covid-19 pandemic took over our lives this year. John now routinely spends 12 or more hours a week creating and editing videos of music and worship services using sophisticated software and hardware. (Some of which were paid for by a 2018 St. Andrew’s Opportunity Fund grant.) John has been mentoring Youth Group members for over a year to develop their technical skills and extend the Video Ministry. In the hope that recruiting and training even more helpers will reduce his own load, John has written these process documents.
Online Worship Services and Music
- An Overview
- The Structure behind our Online Ministry
- Online Service Recording Process
- Postlude Slideshow Guide
- Virtual Music Recording Guide
John has developed a chat and video best practices exchange group – contact me if you want to join. He publishes stand-alone videos of the classical and folk service music on Saint Andrew’s Sings. Go there to hear “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” the “Navy Hymn,” a folk Taizé “Jesus Remember Me,” “Rest in the Lord,” “Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise,” “We’ll Meet Again,” and other favorites. Or, hear the music as part of the weekly worship service videos. (More in my blog post New Music for Quarantine Times.)
I have been helping John by reviewing videos during development, finding memes for the end, and providing photos for preludes and postludes:
- Trinity – Images of God (7 June 2020 Prelude, 3 minutes) – based on my 2017 “Images of God” Katysblog post for EfM
- Stations of the Cross, Harare, Zimbabwe (14 June 2020 Prelude, 5 minutes) – with pictures I took during the TechWomen Zimbabwe Delegation, 2016
- Tocatta on Amazing Grace, Photos from Lalibela, Ethiopia (14 June 2020 Postlude, 4 minutes) – with pictures I took in Lalibela, Ethiopia, 2014
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Images Copyright 2020 by Katy Dickinson.












