Yes, we just celebrated the 45th anniversary of our TV Ministry — now called Media Ministries — and four and a half decades of bringing worship to people beyond our walls. Week in and week out, worshippers can join online us for The Gathering at 9:30 am, Sanctuary Worship at 11:00 am, and eleven;eleven at 11:11 am. And, if they miss a service, want to view it or hear it again, or even to check out what the other service styles are like, people can go to our FUMCFW Media Archives for videos, podcasts, and even playlists of our music performances.
None of that has changed . . . however, this quiet little ministry has suddenly garnered the limelight and has become church for our entire congregation. With a touch of extra explanation from The Mikester, online worshippers have now learned houw to find the service they’re looking for (and even how to download the worship bulleting including a special one for the kids), how to register their attendance, how to make their offering online during worship, how to make a prayer request, and even how to make notes during the service and email them to themselves when its over!
And our church family has responded.
Attendance numbers have soared with sign-ins—and those are the people who actually registered their attendance; many of course did not! Many of these single sign-ins had multiple viewers, and even so, we recorded 1400 total in our online worship services last Sunday. “Both Sundays, Lance and I have just looked at each other and said, ‘this is amazing!’” relates Dr. Tim Bruster, Senior Pastor, “Even though this is new technology for lots of people, our attendance is really strong.”
“The first Sunday after the closure was the first Sunday after the 45th anniversary of our TV ministry,” he adds. “What a way to celebrate that! I’m just so grateful for these volunteers and this ministry, now led by Barry Hudson, that has done so much for our church over the past 45 years.”
