If part one made you curious, this is where things get practical. Because talking about why At the Movies works is the easy part. The real tension shows up the moment you ask, “Alright… but how do we actually run this without turning our church into a cineplex?”

Here’s the good news: the churches doing this well aren’t winging it or compromising their convictions. They’re simply treating At the Movies like a serious piece of evangelism infrastructure—the same way you treat Easter, Mother’s Day and Christmas as important Sundays.

The truth is, your church already executes complex, high-stakes ministry events every single year. You manage volunteers. You coordinate productions. You build things. You solve logistics that are beyond tricky to nail.

This means that the challenge ahead isn’t conviction, it’s strategy.
The question isn’t “Should we care about invite culture?” It’s “Are we willing to build the kind of experiences that make inviting easy, intuitive, and actually effective?”

So, consider this section your roadmap. If you want an At the Movies series that boosts attendance, strengthens invite habits, and keeps your theology intact, here’s how to build it from the ground up, and build it well.

Okay, How Do We Do This Without Losing Our Soul?

Stop handwringing, start designing

If your church can coordinate 200 volunteers to hide 10,000 Easter eggs but “can’t figure out” how to use movie clips legally and theologically, you don’t have a conviction problem; you have an execution problem.

Let’s fix that.

Commit to a three-year franchise, not a one-off stunt

Franchise series like this gain momentum around year 3–4. You know this from big days and annual outreaches.

The data shows most churches that see strong results from At the Movies have made it an annual commitment: Life.Church, Highlands, Union, Sun Valley, Christ Fellowship, etc.

So, if you’re going to do this, don’t dabble. Decide:

“We’re going to run an At the Movies–style series every [June / September / November] for at least three consecutive years, and we’re going to measure invite culture around it.”

This alone changes how you invest, plan, and train people.

Put it where your invite needs are highest

Follow Jess, Scot, and Evan’s lead:

• June (Scot) – Turn your worst month into your best.
• September (Evan) – Ride the “back to school, back to routines” wave.
• November (Jess) – Use it as a runway into Advent and Christmas.

Overlay your attendance data and ask: Where does our invite culture go cold? Drop the movie series right there.

Design sermons as Scripture-first, film-supported

Scot’s warning is spot-on: the lazy way is clip, mini-devotional, clip, mini-devotional. That turns the movie into the preacher and the Bible into a footnote.

Better pattern:

1. Choose one clear spiritual theme per week (identity, forgiveness, justice, fear, etc.).
2. Build a robust biblical sermon around that theme first.
3. Use 2–3 surgical clips or the trailer to emotionally anchor the point.

Choose films people already care about (and that echo the gospel)

You don’t need obscure arthouse films. Pick recognizable cultural stories that quietly preach your message for you:

• Superman: Legacy – Mercy over vengeance, costly restraint, bearing others’ burdens.
• The Peasants – Justice for the oppressed; how Jesus sides with those crushed by systems.
• Elio – Identity and belonging; what it means to be named and known by Christ when the universe mislabels you.

Add in proven crowd-pleasers from the last decade: Pixar, Marvel, sports, and family dramas, anything where sacrificial love, forgiveness, courage, or hope are in the DNA. The research shows animated and superhero films are the workhorses of these series for exactly that reason.

Make the whole thing about invite culture, not just creativity

Teaching + big days + online + community service + volunteer experience all need to pull together.

For At the Movies, this means:

• Message promotion rhythm – Use the series promotion checklist and do everything on the list: heads-up announcements, trailers, invite cards, Thursday “invite-to-invite” emails, Saturday reminder emails, behind-the-scenes content.
• Clear next steps – Don’t just count butts in seats. Use the series to onboard people into groups, Alpha, or your “Next Steps” class. Fast-growing churches pair attractive events with obvious on-ramps; that’s where long-term growth comes from.
• Volunteer experience – Treat the series as a volunteer recruitment accelerator. Movie sets, lobby experiences, kids’ superhero day – all of that requires teams. Increasing volunteer engagement is a leading indicator of future attendance growth. Engaged people invite, so get your people more engaged in making a huge series.

Do it legally or don’t do it at all

This is the boring part. It’s also where churches get themselves torched.

Key legal realities from the US/Canada guide:

Legally Using Movie Clips in Church

• You must have a Church Video License (CVLI) or equivalent to show movie clips in an in-person service. Being a church does not exempt you from copyright.
• That license does not cover streaming to the public. If you put the clips into your YouTube or Facebook stream, you’re unlicensed and infringing.
• Typical practice in prevailing churches:
  • Show clips in the room only.
  • For online, cut to a holding slide or alternate content and describe the scene instead of streaming it. Life.Church literally does not archive or release it’s At the Movies messages because of this.
• You can’t charge admission for the showing, and you shouldn’t publicly advertise exact titles/characters in some jurisdictions without additional permission.
• Penalties for willful infringement can go up to US$150,000 per work in the US and C$200,000 per work in Canada, not counting the reputational damage of the local paper running “Church Sued Over Pirated Movies.”

Copyright isn’t “red tape,” it’s stewardship. You can’t preach integrity while stealing intellectual property.

Start Planning Now (Your Future Self Will Want to High-Five You)

The churches that dominate At the Movies don’t wing it.
They don’t wake up in July and say, “Hey, let’s build a movie set and find a clip from Inside Out 2.”

They treat it like a product launch because that’s what it is.

Here’s the real countdown if you’re aiming for June, September, or November 2026:

6 Months Out // Lock It In

• Decide YES, you’re doing the series.
• Pick the month.
• Commit to doing it three years in a row (momentum builds annually).
• Start a lightweight project plan so it doesn’t become the church version of building Ikea furniture without the instructions.

4 Months Out // Build the Skeleton

• Choose your films, themes, and anchor Scriptures.
• Confirm (or purchase) your CVLI or equivalent licensing.
• Sketch your teaching arc for all four weeks.
• Assign leaders for:
  • Teaching
  • Production
  • Lobby/experience
  • Kids
  • Follow-up

This is your architectural phase. Don’t rush it.

90 Days Out // Create the World

• Start all production work:
  • Editing clips/trailers
  • Designing sets or lobby elements
  • Planning photo ops/kids’ tie-ins
  • Beginning graphics, bumpers, and series branding
• Begin volunteer recruiting. Assume twice the people you think you need.

This is where the series becomes real.

60 Days Out // Build the Growth Machine

• Finalize all message outlines.
• Design your promotion rhythm (Thurs invite emails, Saturday reminders, short-form video, etc.).
• Build the follow-up plan (email sequences, next steps, kids follow-up, etc.).
• Get production deadlines locked so you don’t end up printing lobby signage at 2am (again).

30 Days Out // Flip the Invite Switch

• Move into full “invite season” mode.
• Announce weekly.
• Distribute invitation cards.
• Drop the teaser.
• Equip your people with 2–3 dead-simple invite prompts (“We’re doing a movie series. Want to come with us?”).
• Ensure kids and lobby experiences are fully staffed and trained.

This is your runway. Don’t coast.

Launch Week // Showtime

• Overstaff hospitality.
• Run your follow-up system relentlessly.
• Take photos and videos (you’ll need them for next year).
• Debrief weekly with your team, adjust fast.

Is this a lot of work? Absolutely

So is building a playground.
Or running VBS.
Or launching Easter at a new venue with 10,000 plastic eggs and zero margin for error.

The point? You already do complex things when you believe the payoff is worth it.

At the Movies is one of the few church initiatives with a proven attendance spike, a repeatable invite bump, and documented salvations and next steps across multiple churches and multiple years.

So yes, it’s a lift.

But it’s a lift that pays dividends every single year you run it.

So… Should You Do It?

Here’s my argument, stripped down:

• The culture is already obsessed with redemptive stories.
• The fastest-growing churches are not screaming at that reality; they’re harnessing it.
• Invite culture rises when teaching is shareable, big days are eventful, and people are given simple, repeatable invite habits.
• A well-executed At the Movies series does all three; repeatedly, predictably, and measurably.

If you’re allergic to the idea even after that, fine. You don’t have to do it.

But if you’re serious about reaching unchurched people in 2026 and beyond, you owe it to your future self and to the people your church hasn’t met yet to at least consider it, not caricature it.

One simple next step

Before you commit to a full build:

1. Pick your likely series month for 2026.
2. Draft a rough four-week lineup (films + themes + anchor Scriptures).
3. Share Scot’s, Jess’s, and Evan’s stories with your team and ask one pointed question:

“If running this series meant 20–30% more people hearing the gospel and dozens of first-time decisions next year, would we still say no?”

If the honest answer is “yes, we’d still say no,” then you’ve just learned something important about your actual invite culture.

If the answer is “no, we’d be crazy to walk away from that,” then you’ve just taken the first step toward planning your 2026 blockbuster.

Either way, don’t hide the light under a basket. Tell better stories. Point them to the Best One.