Radio
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Earline Parsons on -
I presently have a 30min. program running on a secular Radio Station twice monthly entitled "Your Family Matters". I think it is a very powerful media and reaches allot of persons seeking truth.
Earline
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Permalink Reply by Tom Vogel on -
Thanks for responding, Earline. I see you are in Trinidad, and I don't have much of a grasp of how different your culture is from the one I am in. I could ask all kinds of questions, as the dream I have is for something very different from what you are doing. How did you wind up doing this? From the program's title, are you a helping field professional that was invited to do the program, or on the opposite end, do you and/or other believers you are associated with buy time for this? You said that it "reaches a lot of persons seeking truth"--this clearly indicates that your target audience is not other believers, but is your program overtly evangelistic, or more geared to helping advice, or in some other way what some here in the U.S. call pre-evangelistic, or what some in simple church might consider just helping and let whatever the Spirit does happen?
I have no idea how strong or weak the principles of simple church have affected the population of believers where you are. As I listen and watch Christian media in my area, I would not know anything other than traditional churches (with an occassional hint about parachurch organizations) existed. My heart is to present the teachings connected to simple church in a one to five minute format. Part of that is that, where I live, there are (I think) six am stations doing one 15 to 60 minute monologue program all day and night, which few listen to, many of which are done with less than excellent sound quality. Not knowing exactly what you are doing, could you tell me/us more about what you are doing, and why with regard to how you see the needs of your culture?
Tom
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Permalink Reply by Earline Parsons on
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Grace and Peace Tom,
The program is actually sponsored by another believer who feels that what we broadcast can make a difference in the listeners' life and is in essence evangelistic in content. I also emphasize the concept of Simple Church, it's benefits and Scriptural basis. In my culture as in yours many persons have become disenchanted with Church because of the basic lack of evidence of the Love of God. My hope is that through the program opportunities would be opened up to plant new churches and to help bring people back to relationship and intimacy with God.
The Legacy church here generally looks upon Simple Church as a position of error, while some of the larger ministries practice Cell Group meetings they still advocate the mass meeting on a Sunday and the bureaucratic structure where the Pastor is the main authority and "covering" of the people.
I encourage you to launch out because what you have to share is relevant and necessary to a significant population of radio listeners. I would love to hear what the content of what you have in mind to use sounds like. It is my experience here in Trinidad as in the US that people really are interested in getting into relationship with God and are looking for the Simple Church answer to their desire, what people don't want is the rituals and hype that church has degenerated into. My brother, all the signs say the second coming of Christ is closer now than when we first believed and there are so many, as in the time of His first coming who want Him and His message, so go brave! If I could be of any help, I am available.
Blessings!
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Permalink Reply by Tom Vogel on
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As of yet, I haven't scraped up funds to broadcast, but I have recorded 65 two minute commentaries. I have written 100 two minute scripts, and posted them on my blog, tevyebird.blogspot.com, all appearing in the December, 2010 section. I originally wrote one for each of the 61 points listed by Barna & Viola on pages 271 to 275, but a few of these I set aside to the side from my opinion that some of the points, such as why there are two candlesticks on a communion table, would come across as incomprehensively trivial in a two minute time frame. From there, I added Simson's 15 Theses, and a few other ideas from here and there which I believe fit both the time frame and the audience. In my head, I am picturing the Christian radio audience, 15 to 34 demographic, although all but a couple would fit any other. In the form written, they would be aimed at a Christian audience; where I am, there is way too much done and claimed to be evangelistic which either is not or is placed in a location where it isn't. As you said about your program, you are aiming it as evangelistic, and you have it on a secular station. To put a truly evangelistic program on Christian radio generally doesn't make any sense. As two minutes is not a particularly good period of time, in the intervening months I have a few scripts for shortening the program to one minute or lengthening it to five minutes. To address the other point of your last comment, my feeling is that simple church in my area is sufficiently small that I believe that most traditional churches either do not know it exists, or are not making any comment. Also, many of the leaders in my area are former missionaries who have been drawn here due to the proximity of a Christian graduate school, and are still connected to missionary organizations, which is different than the situation described in Cole's Organic Church, where the simple churches were spreading rapidly among the poor and/or young.
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Permalink Reply by Earline Parsons on
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Really good stuff. I quite like your writing style, may I use any of your material? Talk more later.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Vogel on
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You certainly may. I'm sorry about taking so long to get back to you.
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Permalink Reply by Art & Deb Mealer on -
Hi Tom,
Have you recorded any of these?
As I read through some of your scripts, I wondered who was your intended audience?
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Permalink Reply by Tom Vogel on
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Originally, the intended audience in my mind was Christian radio directed at the 15-29 demographic. This in part shows in the one commentary on what to do if you don't know the answer to a question. This is straight from a speech I heard about 12 years ago made by Glen Davis, AG campus pastor at Stanford University. Also, originally, as the blog shows by order, the time frame was two minutes. Bluntly, that station wouldn't do two minutes. Then, I rewrote these as five minute commentaries. These, I have recorded in my computer via audacity. I am currently working on how to get these out of the computer and onto cd. I would record these, initially, as mp3 as, in cda form, it would take 3 discs. I wrote much of this over the last 3 years, thinking that I could finance at least once through from my own pocket, but in the last month, I finally landed a job, but had to leave after only a couple of days due to pain. In the short term, if I cannot get these on radio, at least I can get them on cd to either give to college age leaders in campus Christian communities and anyone else who could find these of use. To that end, I recently rewrote the endings to have www.hrscn.org, the website for the simple church association here in Hampton Roads, at the end, so that can be easily amputated if someone in another area wished to use them.
Part of the reason for emphasizing the college age audience is that, in my opinion, the last few centuries have shown that an very powerful influence upon believers in the next generation are those persons who will be leaders in the next generation who are in college now. Particularly in secular colleges, those person who are truly following Jesus will draw together and influence each other where whatever is organizationally traditional has minimal influence. Whether one goes back to the Holy Club in the late 1600's to today, the general depravity of the secular college campus helps those believers there get more serious about their faith and living it out. Also, it is a situation where many who come to campus with a faith that is no more than appeazing their parents either (more normally) let it slide, because it isn't true faith or (occassionally, happily) some, facing the situation, come to take following Jesus more seriously.
Lastly, as I have come to discover over the years, one lives to honor Jesus, and in doing so, the Spirit works through that in ways one can never anticipate, as that isn't our job, anyway.
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