Connecting through Technology (from Leading Adults, Spring 2004)

by Brett Selby

How does the Southern Baptist church with the fastest growing intermediate-sized Sunday School/small group ministry in Georgia communicate with its first-time guests? According to Stan Patterson, senior pastor of Lakeside Church, Greensboro, Georgia, one effective method is through a “Living Brochure,” a mini-disc CD-ROM that shares promotional information about the church. Through it, guests learn about the church’s history, vision, staff, roster of small groups and classes, and more.

This high-tech, video-driven approach to assimilation of newcomers is appropriate in any ministry area, including a rural community such as Lakeside’s. It is estimated that 73 percent of all American homes will have CD-ROM capability by the year 2005.1 Not only is this approach appropriate, it is also effective.

·        Response to video can be up to 600 percent higher than to print brochures

·        Recall and retention of information is 50 percent greater through video than through print

·        Of those individuals who receive a CD-ROM, 80 percent view it within three days2

Lakeside emphasizes small group discipleship classes and may run as many as 10-15 groups at a time. The video portion of the CD-ROM promotes these groups and connects viewers to the church’s Web site. Lakeside can also edit the CD-ROM to keep the information up-to-date.

LifeWay Christian Stores provides churches with the means to create their own personalized CD-ROM through ReachingFAITHTM, a Christian multimedia company that creates products designed to dramatically enhance the outreach ministry of any church. For more information, call toll free 1.888.858.2371 or contact online at www.lifewaystore.com/reachingfaith.

Like Lakeside, your church might choose to work through a local company or even in-house. The process toward creating an interactive outreach tool might go as follows.

·        Look within your congregation for members who can design and produce the CD-ROM. One church that used this approach to welcoming guests hired a technology specialist from their congregation who was between jobs.

·        Be open to God’s provision of the funding for this project through special means. While it may need to be a budgeted item, don’t discount the eagerness of some church members to be involved financially in such a project.

·        Distribute the completed product at appropriate times. Prime distribution times include follow-up to VBS, children’s activities, and Christmas and Easter services. Finally, be sure that outreach teams have copies of the CD-ROM to distribute when they visit.

1Statistics were accessed in July, 2002, from New Media Worx, www.newmediaworx.com.

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