Waynesburg, KY - When Andy Woods moved to Waynesburg, KY, something he never expected took place down the road: a lawnmower pull. However, in a town of less than 5,000 people, a lawnmower pull brings people together into the wee hours of the morning. Andy embraced the rural setting and all the challenges and blessings it brought when God called him to be the youth minister at Pleasant View Baptist Church.
Our natural inclination might be to assume that life might be radically different in a town that has just one caution light. In some ways, it is. Andy has to send out postcards as reminders because while his students have email, a number of them don’t bother to check it every day. Most of his students didn’t bother using Facebook until Andy told them about it. But for Andy’s ministry, one simple fact does not change: His students are still inundated with media influences and big budget productions.
Unfortunately, Andy’s church simply does not have the means to develop much of their own materials. For the start of the fall 2008 school year, Pleasant View’s youth group will use their $3,500 technology budget to invest in a lighting rig. To Andy’s knowledge, no other youth group in their county will have the ability to control the color of their stage.
Amidst his excitement for this purchase, however, Andy is clear on the key to rural ministries—if there isn’t real relationship, then the technology and media do not matter. According to Andy, “It’s all about relationships; the technology should be a springboard to conversation and getting close with the people you’re called to, not to take the place of having relationships. In a rural community, relationship is absolutely everything. Technology is just a nice add-on.”
Large, metropolitan churches have a great opportunity to help their rural siblings through the donation of media and other resources. Being in a town whose retail industry consists of a flea market, gas stations that double as grocery stores, and a singular Dollar General, Pleasant View Baptist utilizes a great deal of media produced by larger churches. Andy pulls graphics, videos and themes from churches that use their large budgets and design teams to create and share their media resources with other ministries. He relies regularly on free materials from places like LifeChurch.tv and MyNorthside.com. These free creative media materials help Andy immeasurably. As Andy says, “A church’s sphere of influence grows by offering things for free, even if they don’t get the credit for it.”
The key for Andy is that he’s able to leverage the graphics and media elements, but he gets rid of 90 percent or more of the actual sermon material. Andy has found that while his students still expect excellent visuals and media, his message needs to be targeted to his students’ particular needs and lifestyle. The media can be the same, but the content needs to be tailored. The goal is to use technology to tell the Gospel stories in ways that relate to his students. Regardless of the church’s setting, every audience deserves to have the message told in a way that’s relevant to them.
Pleasant View, TN - Chris Royalty, his wife Erin, and their friend Joey Boykin found themselves called to plant a rural church in Pleasant View, TN.
Averaging 350 people a week, Chris Royalty’s church, 24Church, is one of the largest in the area. However, as a still-growing church plant, 24Church is not a big-money church nor is it in a big-money area. When Chris explored the idea of planting the church in 2005, many people suggested it would not work. People asked Chris why he would bother planting a rural church at all when there were so many rich, growing locations around the Nashville area. But Chris was called to Pleasant View, and he simply had to go.
To Chris, the divide between rural culture and big city life is not so wide. He says, “We are all looking at the same stuff on TV. We may not go to clubs as much, but we’ve got a clue.” 24Church benefits greatly from the talents of its congregation. Their worship pastor’s full-time job is at a music equipment store. Their lead video producer is an Emmy winner who works for one of Nashville’s news stations and uses this knowledge to produce 24Church’s own in-house videos.
In planning the church plant, Chris wanted to be sure that they were streamlined—he preferred to do just a few things well rather than do many mediocre things. As part of that, the leadership team does its best to make their budget reflect their ministry needs. 24Church’s most important ministry is their Sunday morning service. As such, they try to budget as much as they can for their technology needs. Most of the time, however, they don’t get to spend that money as they hoped—electrical bills and small salaries have to be paid first.
24Church uses metal folding chairs that were donated from larger area churches that moved on to more comfortable seating. Their sound system is a patchwork of speakers and amps. Their projector is average, at best. Their driving desire for better equipment is simply so they know it will last into the future.
Chris tries his best to ensure that their church’s technology and media is the highest quality they can produce and afford. For both Chris and Andy, the reason for using technology is to make impactful messages. For Chris, it’s simple: “Using media to tell the story is the same thing that Jesus did all the time. Teaching off of a boat or drawing lines in the sand to make things memorable. Did he have to feed the 5,000? No, but he did. We try to do things that are creative and illustrative. We use media and technology to make the gospel more memorable.”
Whether joining a rural church in progress or heading to the country to plant with new hopes and ideas, ministers face unique challenges and wonderful opportunities to share the gospel in ways that may be new to their communities. A rural church may seem quieter or simpler, but the needs for relationship, excellence, and an awareness of culture are the same. Rural communities still need to hear the gospel in a media-driven and technology-laden context.
Aaron Linne is a Digital Media Producer for LifeWay Christian Resources. He and his wife are small group leaders at their church, Mosaic Nashville. Aaron writes regularly on his blog at www.aaronlinne.com.