LDS Media Talk

Last week I added a video sidebar widget to my personal WordPress blog called Video Widget. The primary reasons I chose this particular widget are because it:

• 1. Supports videos from over 25 video sources such as YouTube, Flickr, Google Videos, Metacafe, and others.
• 2. Is easy to configure and can run just one video or have a different video appear upon each page refresh.
• 3. Requires no HTML code pasting, just add an ID from each video source.

Videos are a great way to connect with your audience and keep them engaged on your site. In this particular case, I can use this widget to share gospel-oriented videos and other types of videos I think will be of interest to my audience.

Installation and Configuration

Like other WordPress plugins, upload the video-widget folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ folder and then activate the plugin via the Plugins menu.

Video Widget is fairly simple to configure. Just choose the title you want displayed in your blog’s sidebar, plug in the desired width and height of the video, and then add all the video IDs you want to play in the Multiple videos dialogue box.

Or, if you want to have just one video available in your sidebar, delete the preset ID and videos listed in the Multiple videos dialogue box, and then plug in the ID of the video of your choice for a Single video. That way, only that video will be available for viewing.

I installed the widget on both the main post sidebar and on each individual post sidebar of my blog. Each can be configured separately so different sets of videos are available to your visitors.

Share Videos About the Gospel

Although you can share any video or set of videos you want using this widget, one of the reasons I installed it on my blog is to share gospel-oriented videos. Below is an image from the LDS Public Affairs video Are Mormons Christian? on YouTube which is one of the videos available on my site.

There are a number of high-quality videos on the LDS Public Affairs YouTube Channel to choose from (a hidden resource that is slowly growing in popularity). And there are also some great videos being produced by Church members and other organizations. Here’s just a short list of those who are actively adding videos from which I chose to put on my blog:

• lds9999 on YouTube
• SethAdamSmith on YouTube
• fairldsorg on YouTube
• William J. Hamblin (hamblinwj) on YouTube

There are scores of others. Just visit a few video sites, do a search and add the ID to the widget. It’s that simple.

Let us know your favorite gospel video sources.

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Ever want a PG-rated YouTube? Check out the video sharing community ItsAGoodDay.org. All their videos are filtered by a human eye to ensure that the site will be “a place where visitors may come to be uplifted, inspired, motivated and where they will feel comfortable with all the content” contained on the site.

The site also allows you to contribute videos, inspirational stories, quotes, and pictures. You can create family Web sites to share pictures, blogs, journal entries, and videos.

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When you search for “Mormon” on YouTube, the #1 video is now positive–a video clip from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk “My Words . . . Never Cease,” a testimony of continuing revelation, taken from his talk at April 2008 General Conference.

This video on YouTube has been viewed nearly 20,000 times and will continue to gain over 1,000 views per day if it continues at #1. As the first thing that people find when searching for the Church on YouTube, this is a great missionary opportunity. Note the following comment that was posted about the video clip:

“I must say, what Holland is saying here makes incredible sense and something about this video really strikes a cord with me in a way that nothing else ever has. I’ve been to many churches and have heard many sermons, and if they all use the Bible I can’t see how they all come out so different. If this Book of Mormon is indeed an addition to his word, then God sure knows what he’s doing to correct where we’ve been going wrong with Christianity.”

Having positive videos at the top of the search results for “Mormon” is a nice change, since in the past many of the top search results were videos critical of the Church.

This video is also at videos.lds.org, along with a clip from Elder Holland’s related talk “The Only True God and Jesus Christ whom He Hath Sent” from the previous conference.

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We have just released some new video on videos.lds.org

1. Two new video segments from Elder Holland under the Frequently Asked Questions heading regarding what we believe about the Savior and continuing revelation. The segment about the Savior can also be found as a streamed element on jesuschrist.lds.org.
2. All the language video that has been converted and provided to this point.
3. Flash video for download. This is first time we’ve provided Flash for download, which is now possible because of Adobe’s recently-released offline video player called Adobe Media Player, which enables a user to download and view flash video offline.

We realize the video page is rather clunky. It is scheduled to be rebuilt later this year.

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“We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the church teaches,” said Elder M. Russell Ballard in a December 2007 address

Youth in the Las Vegas Nevada Redrock Stake made videos of their testimonies during the stake’s April 2008 youth conference.  They were following Elder Ballard’s initiative to “counterbalance negative things on the Internet with first hand experiences of church members.”

Watch the video on Mormon Times.

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