What Baptism Is – with Pastor Alan

A video, thumbnail and motion stinger created for First Naples Church. Together they explain what baptism is for people who are curious, new to faith or getting ready to take the step themselves.

category

First Naples Church

Role

Video Designer

type

Video Creation

Deliverable

Video, Thumbnail & Motion Stinger
Blurred building with columns and central structure
Blurred building with columns and central structure

The goal was a video that makes a big topic feel simple, warm and welcoming. It combines a clear, conversational message from Pastor Alan with real baptism footage and a branded design system, so the finished piece feels personal and not like a lecture.

Content Strategy and Visual Flow

The video runs about four and a half minutes, so the pacing and structure carry the message. Pastor Alan speaks directly to the camera in a bright, friendly setting. I built the edit around his delivery, keeping the energy of his gestures and expressions and trimming for clarity so every point lands.

Billboard

When the message moves from explaining baptism to showing it, the edit cuts to real moments from the church. These include a celebration at the baptism tank in the auditorium and a joyful moment in the ocean. Each cutaway supports what Alan is saying, so viewers see what baptism looks like as well as hearing about it. A clean lower third introduces him as Pastor Alan, Lead Pastor, at the start. It matches the church’s look and stays out of the way of the footage.

Billboard

Vision Statement Stinger

I designed a 12-second animated stinger, “Our Vision,” to bring the church’s mission into the video. It reads: “First Naples glorifies God by being a multigenerational, multiethnic, multiplying church, raising up the next generation of disciple makers, church planters, missionaries, and world changers, to reach our Neighbors to the Nations.”

Card
Card

The Thumbnail

A thumbnail has to work at a glance in a crowded feed, so I kept it bold and simple. “WHAT BAPTISM IS” is set in heavy condensed type, with “BAPTISM” in the church’s teal so the topic stands out first. The photo is a high-contrast black-and-white image with a teal duotone and film grain. I cut out the two subjects and gave them a teal outline so they pop off the background, and their laughing, mid-baptism expression shows the joy of the moment. The church logo sits in the corner for branding.


iPad in hand