Media Ministry: Effective Tip #3: Messages-To-Go
#church #outreach #sermon duplication #disc duplication
TIP #2: MESSAGES-TO-GO
What Are Messages-To-Go? Messages-To-Go are CD, DVD, tape, mp3, and any recorded copies of ministry messages made immediately available after the service or event, before the attendees leave to go home.
Why Have Messages-To-Go? For two major reasons: forgetting and remembering. Traditional church sermons or ministry messages may be anywhere in length from 30 minutes to an hour or more, depending on the church. The pastor may have taken 20 to 30 hours during the week to prepare the sermon. Without Messages-To-Go, hearers within minutes forget over 50%. After one hour, 66% is forgotten, and after six hours, 75% is lost (Ebbinghaus, 1913). So before the end of the day, three-quarters of the message is gone! Conversely, two or three hearings beyond the initial one cause retention rate to increase to about 80%. (Image is Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve. Y Axis = 0-100 items remembered; X Axis = 0-7 hours.)
How Does Messages-To-Go work? Four easy steps create more impact and greater distribution of Gospel messages. (1) Have ready a certain number of discs pre-labeled or ondisc-printed before the service. (2) Stop recording immediately after the “Amen” of the closing prayer. (3) Start duplicating discs. (4) Hand out to people as they exit the church.
Why Immediate Messages-To-Go? Immediate distribution is far superior to duplication a week later at the next service. The sermon is fresh on their minds. Spirits are already open to receiving the Word of God. If they have to wait till the next service, they forget and the spoken word lo
ses much of its impact. More apt to hand out the discs to others outside the church. Immediacy is the secret to this powerful tool. The best analogy is a fresh baked loaf of bread. When does bread have the greatest impact and taste, right when it is pulled out of the oven and eaten warm, or a week later? Scripture is called the Bread of Life.
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Media Ministry — Church Outreach — Messages-To-Go!
What is the Power of a Recorded Message? One preacher in the U.S. received a call from another pastor in Europe asking if he could travel across the ocean to preach his sermon series in Europe. As the story unfolded, the U.S. pastor was very surprised to receive such a call, and asked the European pastor where he got that sermon CD, because he had preached that particular sermon about 10 years ago. When the two pastors tracked down the travels of the CD from each of their departure and arrival points, it turned out that the disc made its way from the States to Mexico, from Mexico to South America, from South America across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, and from Africa across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Just think of all the people’s lives that God’s Word touched across those continents and through various countries in the northern and southern hemispheres—all because the U.S. pastor RECORDED THE SERMON and GAVE IT AWAY!!! Did he ever imagine such a scenario while preaching the sermon 10 years earlier?
Creative Ideas for Messages-To-Go
Recorded Messages are important to the growth of this Wisconsin church as they reach their community!
Great Printed Posters
Media Ministry — Church Outreach — Messages-To-Go!
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Messages-To-Go Benefits? Recorded sermons provide unlimited presentations in unlimited places. In a live setting, a pastor may stand in the pulpit for an hour during a service, and the message is only a singular on that day. But that same sermon recorded can preach over and over, anytime of day or night 24/7. Plus, a recorded sermon is no longer confined to the four walls of the church, but instead the world is its audience. Time and place change from limiting factors to unlimited. A pastor in Memphis was approached by stranger who was holding a recorded message in his hand. The man thanked the pastor for preaching and recording the message he was holding. As a result of hearing the message, he received Christ as his Savior. The man was from two states away. The message was preached 6 years ago.
God Multiples the Messages. It is our God-ordained task to present the Gospel, but it is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict and multiply the impact. As CDs, DVDs, and tapes get handed from person to person, they travel to places where the pastor could never go. A recorded message doesn’t need airfare, nor any passport. Another man had a drinking problem. He was given a message which he stashed in a drawer. One year later he got it out and received Christ as his Savior.
As you can see, the tangible benefit to having a Messages-To-Go Ministry IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!
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