Media Outreach

Check out my interview with Pastor Jim Langlois at The Master’s House.

1. Can you give me some background about the church and how long have you been there?

After serving in full-time ministry for over thirty years, as Associate Pastor and Children’s minister of a 4000-member non-denominational church, the Lord led me to start a church. In 2004 The Master’s House (TMH) began in Ashland, Virginia, a college town and suburb of metropolitan Richmond, Virginia. Our mission is “Building the family of God, through worship, relationship and service.” At TMH, we offer more than a warm handshake and a rockin’ house band (by the way – I’m the drummer)! We want people to know we care, we’re here to pray, and to reach out with tangible support to our members and community. Our TMH website is central to all our marketing and communication efforts.

2. How are you using your website to increase member involvement?

For our members, the website hosts an event calendar, a “members only” online directory, with a member-sensitive password, a running notice of volunteer opportunities and an interactive “Prayer and Share” feature to connect with the needs of the people. It also serves a blog host for me and my staff, and links to my personal blog, “Doc in the House,” interfacing with my Facebook and Twitter accounts. Our members are encouraged to repost Facebook communications and blogs, so that ultimately we are preaching the gospel to the whole world.

3. How has the use of technology changed the way you do church?

Currently we are ramping up for a huge community project called “LifeGroups;” workshops and classes offering real help for everyday real life problems.  We have launched a multi-media campaign to drive traffic to our website asking the question, “How’s Life?” The workshops, which will run in 12-week cycles, will be hosted in public venues and private neighborhoods, and will feature everything from relationship building, biblical finances, parenting, fitness, and prayer support, to end time prophecy.

4. How has your experience with faithHighway benefited the church?

We’re grateful to the hands-on staff of faithHighway for their creative and technical support, as well as spiritual encouragement throughout the ongoing development of our website and extension services.

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Check out my interview with Bob Odle at Church of Christ at Three Chopt Road.

1.  Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there?

Well, the church has been in Richmond for a long time.  I like to tell the story because it was actually started during the Restoration Movement when a confederate soldier, T.B. Larimore, came to Richmond in August of 1923 and preached the gospel at the YMCA.  That’s our claim to fame that we’ve been in Richmond since the 1920s.  I’ve personally been here since 2007, so I’m coming up on five years.  And, I also still work very closely with the minister who was here before me, Eddie Hendrix, who works as our associate pastor now.

2. How are you using your website to increase member involvement as well as reach out to your community?

Well, we have several ways we communicate both inward to our members and outward to our community, but our primary focus for the website is outward.  We have The Heartbeat, which are our pew notes that get sent out to our members on Thursdays, and that same day, I also send out what I call an exhortation, which has my scripture reference for the week.  So, we have a lot of things we use to communicate with the congregation, which means our primary focus for the website is for the community.

Our Meeting & Greeting Team has found that the overwhelming majority of our visitors’ first contact with us is the web page.  I don’t know the specific percentage, but I would say three out of every four people say the first thing they do is look us up on our web page.  Because of this, we want to really give people an opportunity to see who we are, what we believe, and what we’re about.  We want to set it up so that it has every piece of information they need – service times, life group info, directions, and info regarding our Little People’s School.  The rotating flash feature on the home page is perfect because we can highlight our current sermon series, one or two big events, our life groups, etc., and it’s just perfect and exactly what we wanted it to be.

3. How has the use of technology changed the way you do church?  How has it helped your ministry change lives?

Well, it has actually changed my preaching a little bit because I’ve been able to see through the web page that we get a lot of hits and downloads on the messages, and I also get a significant amount of e-mail requests for my sermon handouts.  We can preach to edify the local church, but it’s having a farther outreach than that.  For example, the series I’m on right now is called Christianity 101, and I told my members it’s really about who we are and what we believe, so it’s really more outward focused.  Especially with the ability for our members now to share those messages on Twitter and Facebook through SermonFlow Social, I’m really encouraging our members to utilize those new tools and spread the word beyond our four walls.  According to our stats, hundreds and hundreds of people are listening to the messages and downloading them.  I even have a missionary friend in eastern Europe who wanted to teach the book of Galatians, and he subscribed to the podcast and used my Galatians sermons and translated them to reach out to the people in eastern Europe.

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Check out my interview with Bob Odle at Church of Christ at Three Chopt Road.

1.  Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there?

Well, the church has been in Richmond for a long time.  I like to tell the story because it was actually started during the Restoration Movement when a confederate soldier, T.B. Larimore, came to Richmond in August of 1923 and preached the gospel at the YMCA.  That’s our claim to fame that we’ve been in Richmond since the 1920s.  I’ve personally been here since 2007, so I’m coming up on five years.  And, I also still work very closely with the minister who was here before me, Eddie Hendrix, who works as our associate pastor now.

2. How are you using your website to increase member involvement as well as reach out to your community?

Well, we have several ways we communicate both inward to our members and outward to our community, but our primary focus for the website is outward.  We have The Heartbeat, which are our pew notes that get sent out to our members on Thursdays, and that same day, I also send out what I call an exhortation, which has my scripture reference for the week.  So, we have a lot of things we use to communicate with the congregation, which means our primary focus for the website is for the community.

Our Meeting & Greeting Team has found that the overwhelming majority of our visitors’ first contact with us is the web page.  I don’t know the specific percentage, but I would say three out of every four people say the first thing they do is look us up on our web page.  Because of this, we want to really give people an opportunity to see who we are, what we believe, and what we’re about.  We want to set it up so that it has every piece of information they need – service times, life group info, directions, and info regarding our Little People’s School.  The rotating flash feature on the home page is perfect because we can highlight our current sermon series, one or two big events, our life groups, etc., and it’s just perfect and exactly what we wanted it to be.

3. How has the use of technology changed the way you do church?  How has it helped your ministry change lives?

Well, it has actually changed my preaching a little bit because I’ve been able to see through the web page that we get a lot of hits and downloads on the messages, and I also get a significant amount of e-mail requests for my sermon handouts.  We can preach to edify the local church, but it’s having a farther outreach than that.  For example, the series I’m on right now is called Christianity 101, and I told my members it’s really about who we are and what we believe, so it’s really more outward focused.  Especially with the ability for our members now to share those messages on Twitter and Facebook through SermonFlow Social, I’m really encouraging our members to utilize those new tools and spread the word beyond our four walls.  According to our stats, hundreds and hundreds of people are listening to the messages and downloading them.  I even have a missionary friend in eastern Europe who wanted to teach the book of Galatians, and he subscribed to the podcast and used my Galatians sermons and translated them to reach out to the people in eastern Europe.

Continue Reading

Check out my interview with Pastor Ray Parascando at Crossroads Church – Staten Island.

1. Can you give me some background about the ministry and how long have you been there?

We are an evangelical church in a Catholic community. We have a hard time reaching people who are tied to tradition. Crossroads “Community” Church was founded on September 29, 2002.

2. How are you using your website to increase member involvement?

Our website makes it easy to communicate within the church. We use the calendar regularly and email too. We also post sermons online which gives members who cannot attend services a chance to tune in and get the message.

3. How has the use of technology changed the way you do ministry?

When people come to our site, it is very Staten Island. It is true to our community– and it is personal. Having an awesome site makes us relevant to our community. Also, people can connect with us online before they come to services through Sermon Flow.

4. How has the use of technology helped your ministry change lives?

We are able to reach people who never would have stepped in our doors. When they are curious, they look online. Sometimes, the change of heart happens there, and we see them on Sunday.

5. How has your experience with faithHighway benefited the ministry?

Everytime I call faithHighway, I am helped right away. faithHighway has saved time and energy for Crossroads, and I know that we have made ourselves known in our community with the help of our website.

Learn more about Crossroads Church.

Continue Reading

Check out my interview with Pastor Ray Parascando at Crossroads Church – Staten Island.

1. Can you give me some background about the ministry and how long have you been there?

We are an evangelical church in a Catholic community. We have a hard time reaching people who are tied to tradition. Crossroads “Community” Church was founded on September 29, 2002.

2. How are you using your website to increase member involvement?

Our website makes it easy to communicate within the church. We use the calendar regularly and email too. We also post sermons online which gives members who cannot attend services a chance to tune in and get the message.

3. How has the use of technology changed the way you do ministry?

When people come to our site, it is very Staten Island. It is true to our community– and it is personal. Having an awesome site makes us relevant to our community. Also, people can connect with us online before they come to services through Sermon Flow.

4. How has the use of technology helped your ministry change lives?

We are able to reach people who never would have stepped in our doors. When they are curious, they look online. Sometimes, the change of heart happens there, and we see them on Sunday.

5. How has your experience with faithHighway benefited the ministry?

Everytime I call faithHighway, I am helped right away. faithHighway has saved time and energy for Crossroads, and I know that we have made ourselves known in our community with the help of our website.

Learn more about Crossroads Church.

Continue Reading