Truth: Videos and pictures are entertaining. The sheer number of views on cat and music videos posted to Youtube testify to that. It’s proven that adding a picture to social media posts will get it more likes. We all know it.
Also truth: Lessons in church are always more impactful when you can pull up the talk and show it to your class instead of reading the quote yourself. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is full of really talented public speakers, and when you want to give the ending point of your lesson that special emphasis, you pull up the video.
Truth #3: Almost every impactful video and picture moment must be preceded with at least five minutes of “I had it pulled up, and I don’t know why it’s not working!” and “It needs to buffer, so we’ll just sit for a bit.”
Actually, it doesn’t.
The Church just launched a new app specifically to make showing videos and pictures from the Church’s media library easier. It’s the LDS Media Library app (search it just like that), and it’s actually pretty amazing.
For example: Want to pull up Elder Russel M. Nelson’s April 2016 conference talk? Just search for it in the app and it will appear, ready for playback. No more buffering or wondering if you have to connect to the building’s Wifi, because the content automatically downloads to your device.
Handy right? But what makes it different from the Gospel Library app?
You can also edit and cut content down so you only show the pieces that are important for your lesson in app. It cuts out the need to memorize where your desired quote starts, and gives you control over how many verses you sing for that special musical number.
Organizing your videos and adding presenter notes is also easy, and cuts down on the large pile of notes most of my lessons tend to have. Finally, there’s no need to crowd around your tiny phone. The new app can cast your videos, music and pictures to a larger screen.
All in all, it’s a useful companion to the Gospel Library app. I’ve certainly enjoyed it so far.
The LDS Media Library app is available for download in the iOS and Android app stores.
