Utilizing Technology in Multichurch Districts

This last Sabbath I tried something new: we used a web came while I was preaching in my one church of about 250 members to broadcast the sermon, live, to my much smaller congregation of about 15 members 60 miles away. Since I am a pastor in western Colorado my larger church is in Montrose, at the base of the Rocky Mountains, but my smaller congregation is a small college town actually in the mountains. During the winter time (December through March) the roads can be treacherous. Typically I go up once-a-month and can find retired pastors and other individuals to lead out in worship, but during these winter months it is extremely difficult to find speakers and the congregation tires of watching DVDs and other programs through Hope Channel and other means of satellite television.

So we decided to try something different. It isn’t perfect and there are still some refinements, but last Sabbath was our first time to broadcast my sermon, utilizing the internet, and to literally preach to both of my churches simultaneously!

At least initially the feedback has been positive because as the pastor I can include both of my congregations in my message. Although I can not be present at both locations, the message preached is far more personal and the smaller congregation at least gets a sermon, which they might forego altogether otherwise.

I think the application has a lot of potential for several reasons. Recently I attended pastor’s meetings in our conference. One of our Seminary graduates, as his first district, is taking on 8 churches in Wyoming. Wow! My hat is off to him. His church members will only get to see him once every two months at best. Imagine if he could be in all 8 of his churches every Sabbath although he could still continue to rotate in person to different congregations? The internet now makes it possible for that to happen. And thanks to streaming video using free services such as Skype the cost is minimal. I think conferences ought to be interested in this because the cost of the internet will be far cheaper than the mileage it costs. And, like my district, many congregations already have internet anyway.

So, as you start your new year, and if you happen to be a pastor or a member of a church in a multichurch district consider utilizing technology, specifically the Internet, to personalize and increase the quality of sermons in your local church by doing something like this.