Rohn Starling, Content Creator, Transformation Church, Tulsa, Okla.
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What is content creation? Where do you find content? If you ask Rohn Starling, he will tell you it’s everywhere. Starling is one of his pastor’s lead content creators. He works at Transformation Church in Tulsa Oklahoma as content creator for lead pastor Michael Todd. Starling describes Todd as a “content machine.”
"Content is everywhere. Remember we consume content all day, every day, inside, outside, in books, on computers and phones."
—Rohn Starling, Content Creator, Transformation Church, Tulsa, OK
The church’s YouTube channel currently has 1.8 million subscribers and is viewed in 191 out of 195 countries on the planet. Starling also posts a lot of social media. “Instagram is definitely a place where we try to shine or really flex our muscles,” he says, and those muscles are their culture codes, examples of who they are and what they’re about…how they love people and how they love to give. Starling explains, “Over the past couple of years, my church has really been able to make an impact in culture. I think it was just two weekends ago, DJ Khaled reposted part of the sermon. And yes, it was a part of us giving away shoes, but DJ posted Jesus and hundreds of thousands of people got to see that.” People who may not otherwise have seen any church content, saw something about Jesus in a rapper’s post.
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Starling describes Transformation Church's pastor Michael Todd as a "content machine." He continues, "There are different aspects of who our pastor is. He's a father, he's a husband, he's a pastor, he’s also a producer. And then he’s also a leader of an organization. So, there's so many different facets of his life that I get to capture and see and understand and turn it into content.”
Of course, Starling makes content for everything traditional like Christmas programs and sermon series. But he’s also constantly posting everything he can about what goes on in and around the church through the eyes of pastor Todd. “I think everything is content. There are different aspects of who our pastor is. He's a father, he's a husband, he's a pastor, he’s also a producer. And then he’s also a leader of an organization. So, there's so many different facets of his life that I get to capture and see and understand and turn it into content.”
Starling says he’s always looking and listening for posts, tweets, and stories. He sees his job as taking what happens at church one Sunday and keeping it alive with content until the following Sunday. “I think that is beautiful within itself. It's like people experience church, but online people don't get to experience church because we're not broadcasting it the right way. And you don't get to experience it the way that it was experienced a lot,” he says.
Where Do You Find Content?
Starling says content is everywhere. He says to remember we consume content all day every day inside, outside, in books, on computers and phones etc. And he does his job just like individuals posting an ordinary day on their personal social media. “So now I’m just taking that idea and applying it to what I’m doing at church,” he says.
“Your life is interesting, and what you do is interesting, and how your church functions is interesting…But we need to make sure that we hit certain pillars of entertainment to make sure … it can be seen and understood and digested and now valued. And then people can relate to it.”
Starling says his definition of everything can even push boundaries—but always with biblical context. Like the post of his pastor at the gym with his wife. “They were working out and he touched his wife's butt! And I was like, that's so perfect! And now it's just a touch. And if you can figure that out with content, but then also add the biblical context to it, because now we've got culture,” he says. “Now we're bringing the Bible into it—this, in the covenant of marriage, is perfect. Don't overthink it. Now we're teaching people how to be Christian—but then also not make it weird—but it's now interesting in digestible content.”
“Instagram is definitely a place where we try to shine or really flex our muscles.”
Starling says he’s never struggled with inspiration or a creative block as long as he’s thinking within the boundaries of spirit and structure which are like pillars around everything he does. “The more you break it down and make it simple, the less you have to think about being creative. And then you can actually fill those things up by utilizing your system to your advantage. But the cool thing about God is he's gonna bring it to you. It's going to happen. Your life is interesting, and what you do is interesting, and how your church functions is interesting. The culture codes of your church and the mission statement of your church is interesting. But we need to make sure that we hit certain pillars of entertainment to make sure that what I'm doing in church can be seen and understood and digested and now valued. And then people can relate to it.”
"Sit down, brainstorm and make a plan with a theme and a list of what’s needed and then see what God brings."
But, he says, there always has to be that core message. “Imagine if you went to a church called Change Church and the mission of the church is, ‘We want to see your life changed.’ That's so easy! Every week we're going to talk about someone whose life is changing through our church, and that's content! You can get video of that, you can get photos of that, you can make a gif of it. You can just write a story and play it on Sunday, but then also post it throughout the week. But then everything that you post should be about people's lives changing.”
The goal, he says, is to then push the message to the surface on things like YouTube and social media. He says sometimes the creative team is overthinking it. He suggests creatives sit down, brainstorm and make a plan with a theme and a list of what’s needed and then see what God brings. He concludes, “If you put creativity in a funnel, you really can produce powerful things.”
Meet and learn from Rohn Starling in person at Capture Summit '23 in Dallas, Aug. 7-9!
Join Capture Summit session speaker Rohn Starling and dozens of expert presenters, along with hundreds of your fellow creatives for a deep-dive into everything from filmmaking, video editing, lighting, streaming, audio, IMAG, to leveraging social media, building an inspired team, and fueling the creative process—it's all happening at Capture Summit '23 - the 7th Annual Content Creation & Filmmaking Summit hosted at Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas.
#CaptureSummit23 #churchvideo #filmmaking #Dallas #Cottonwoodcreek
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