Would Jesus Use a Nail Gun? by Pastor Dennis Cummins

AVL Expo & Conference from dennis cummins on Vimeo.

While every modern day construction worker carries a hammer in their tool belt, they do most of their work with power tools for speed and proficiency.  If Jesus were walking the face of the earth today doing carpentry work, would he adapt to new technology in the construction industry and use nail guns and power saws or would he have remained a purist sticking with the manual tools of the trade?  If He were to remain in a profitable business today I believe he would use every means possible to adapt to new technology in order to be more effective.  This is the same principle in the church; if we are to remain effective in reaching people for Christ we too must be open to adapting to new technology tools. 

It is amazing that basically two industries have realized the potential of the internet and have adopted video over the internet as a means in building their business; the pornographic industry and the church.  While those promoting pornography were early adopters (now raking in over $1 billion a year in revenues), the church has moved very slowly in adopting this technology in spreading the gospel.  Many churches today seem to be struggling with how to integrate technology in the church.  Some churches have been leaders in pioneering new avenues with technology to spread the gospel while others have wondered where to draw the line or avoided it all together.  While this is a step in the right direction we must realize that today’s culture has higher expectation of churches.  Online social networking sites like Facebook.com (150 million users) and Twitter and viral video sites like Youtube and Vimeo, they are setting the pace and have changed the way people expect to interact on the internet. 

Now our inbox at the church may not be filled with people crying out for video and social networking from our church website, but they are saying it by their absence of being on our church website and spending their time on social networking sites.  To show this current online trend, Broadcast Engineering reported that “Nearly 72 percent of online households log on for entertainment purposes on a daily basis…among online TV viewers, almost 9 in 10 watch online broadcasts at home.” Just like the advent of the voice mail and cell phone we have to realize that social networking and video integration is a part of today’s culture today.

If people were given a choice, when looking for a church, to either see a phone book add or a website integrated with social and video components, what do you think they would choose?  When churches provide video and live streaming it suddenly opens the doors of their church into the homes of their community.  I personally believe the yellow pages are a relic compared to the potential of using the internet to reach people.  We used to spend $300-$400 a month on large ads in the yellow pages which was impossible to track the effectiveness and it only met one purpose; trying to connect with church folk looking for a church.  We have since cancelled our ads and moved those budgeted dollars into the internet and media.  This gave us immediate and measurable power to track activity and to see what was working and what was not.

Now this is where some pastors start to hit the brakes because they see the cliff of despair up ahead.  This is where they tell me, “This is a great concept and everything but we are not equipped to capture video and audio for our services and to do so would be cost prohibitive.”  This is what I call the Mega Church Abyss.  Have you ever attended a church expo or conference and felt overwhelmed as they paraded you by their million dollar audio, video or lighting solutions?  It seems that most Mega Churches have erased their past of how they started with nothing and grew to what they are today.  Or technology has changed so drastically that it really wouldn’t translate into helpful solutions for most churches.

This abyss instills much hopelessness in many and this is why most churches have antiquated audio systems.  Why?  I believe that it is simply because they are living in the unknown.  The unknown can be very intimidating for pastors, but without the vision for media integration from the pastor and its church leadership you will get what you’ve always had. 

I myself was struggling with these same issues seven years ago. I would attend church equipment shows and conferences and would walk away feeling like It was cost prohibitive. But through prayer, research and trial and error we found a solution that will take us well into the future at a cost only dreamed of a few years ago. With today’s advancements now some churches are able to do their entire media budget for what one camera used to cost five years ago. This now opens the door for many more churches to incorporate media in the ministry model.

Stewardship isn’t how much money we saved but how much money we didn’t waste.  This is where each church has to find their own way of integrating these tools; based on the vision, size, budget, and skill level.  It is wise to learn from other churches successes and challenges that they faced in developing their A.V.L. departments.  This can help avoid overspending as well as the inherent frustrations that accompany new endeavors.  Lastly, audio, video and lighting are mere tools that can be used to spread the gospel and without being in the hands of a craftsman – they build nothing.

AVL Expo & Conference – November 6-7, 2009 – Puyallup, Washington

Last year, the Lord laid on my heart to start a grass-roots technology conference that focused on helping churches find technology solutions.  God opened the door for us to partner with Advanced Broadcasting Solutions, so we could offer AVL Expo & Conference for free.  We would like to invite you to come and be a part of our next conference on November 6th and 7th.  Some would ask, “What is in it for our church?”  It’s simple – I am more concerned about getting “The Message” out – than “My Message.”  We want to inspire hope and vision into the hearts of Pastors and team leaders across the country.  We hope to challenge stereotypes concerning media and its potential in churches today.  We certainly don’t have all the answers nor have we arrived, but we have partnered with an incredible integrator to help get the right answers. 

This is a free conference and not a sales presentation; no equipment can be purchased at this event.  This is simply an opportunity to talk with the manufactures, hear panel discussions and industry leaders about Audio, Video, Lighting and social networking; plus get your hands on equipment and see it used in a real world environment. 

Sincerely,

Pastor Dennis Cummins
Puyallup, Washington
www.Experience Church.tv 
www.AVLExpo.com