I found the idea in a radio book, of all things! Recently I referenced Valerie Geller’s book Beyond Powerful Radio. And though it is for audio professionals, it had a great suggestion for all of us in media. Find another camera angle. What? Another camera angle? For radio?
The idea behind that suggestion works in many areas of media and ministry. God is the great Creator. And He has not stopped the creative process. So, we need to approach our media work with a creative mind. Do you start your program the same way each time? Do you use the same visuals over and over again? Is your writing so predictable that listeners are bored? I have a suggestion for you.
Find another camera angle.
To do this, some people use what they call the prism method. If you hold a prism up to a light you get a wide variety of colors. And the color patterns change as you move the prism. The same prism…the same light…different patterns of colors. If you use this idea as you consider the story you are telling and how you are telling it, you may be able to find a different angle to an old story. And you may be able to freshen up your presentation.
If your ministry helps the poor and the homeless, how do you communicate that? Do you tell about the number of coats and blankets you provide in winter? Do you list how many were given out? How many were helped? These are very normal ways to detail a ministry story.
Think about telling the story from the “angle” of someone who has been poor and homeless all their life. Describe a typical day for someone who has virtually nothing. Then share the wonder of someone…a stranger…arriving to bring needed items. Clothes. Food. Necessities. Simply saying, “We love you…and God loves you. You are valuable to Him.”
I learned the power of finding a new angle some 25 years ago. Our Christian radio station began helping orphan kids in Russia not too many years after Communism fell. We learned that a key need at each orphanage we visited was for shoes. As I made phone reports from Russia to our Dallas station, I told stories. I would detail the existence of a single child, what they had been through in their young life, and their obvious deep need for joy. One small thing that would bring them such joy would be a pair of shoes for the cold Russian winters. The story of one child. Told in about two minutes at most. A different angle.
When I returned home, I learned of men who said they had to pull over to the side of the road because they were weeping. Some recounted my stories almost word for word. And when it came time to ask listeners to donate shoes, we didn’t get the 500 or 600 we were hoping for. We received well over five thousand pairs of winter shoes and boots for children in Russia. The power of a story from a different angle.
I was recently reading some of Jesus’ parables. Sometimes He would explain something, like the kingdom of God, and would use several parables to do so. He was using a “different camera angle” to help the listener better grasp the story. At one point, Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. You are probably ahead of me on that story. The smallest of seeds. Grows into one of the largest of the garden bushes. Birds nest in its branches.
Then Jesus tries another angle.
He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” Luke 13:20-21 NLT
Being creative is often hard work. But it is worth the effort. Look at the story you are telling, then look at it from another angle. How can you make it so people want to hear what you are telling and showing them? What will intrigue them? Keep them listening?
Move that “camera” over this way a bit and see if you don’t have a new way of communicating a timeless truth. It will be worth the effort.
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