HOME | CONTRIBUTE A STORY! | ABOUT MMI | CATEGORIES OF INTEREST | CONTACT ME


image

Pastor Reaching More People Through YouTube Than Than In His Church

Orginally published on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 5:59 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Here's an interesting story about a small church pastor leveraging the internet to reach more people. In fact, he has more people following on YouTube than actually attend his church: Even when the pews are empty, Rev. Jim Hanson is still preaching. Hanson, Pastor at Dunedin Alliance Church, speaks into a small camera attached to the top of his laptop computer. He records videos about the bible and posts them to the website YouTube.com. "We were going to use radio ministry or television commercials, but we thought we'd do it for free," Hanson said. "And that's where YouTube came in."

The article from the Tampa Bay Fox affiliate continues:

Hanson began taping last week. YouTube lets anyone post videos to the site, free of charge.

With fewer than 100 visitors to his page, he’s hardly an internet star. But, Hanson has already reached more people than his entire congregation, which he estimates at about 60.

Hanson hopes to attract a younger audience to the Michigan Blvd. church. He’s changed the roadside sign to include the YouTube web address, a steep departure from the bible passages that had once adorned its illuminated letters. 

“In today’s world, with technology, you really don’t need to be a mega-church,” Hanson said. “All you need is a computer and a camera. And you can reach, literally, the world.”

The videos Hanson has produced are crude compared to slick evangelists on television. His are slightly off-kilter, with muffled sound and an air conditioner vent visible over his shoulder.

More here.

Ironic… I couldn’t find the link on YouTube.  :(

OK… your thoughts?

Todd


This post has been viewed 1841 times so far.


  There are 11 Comments:

  • Posted by Nathan
  • Posted by Todd Rhoades

    Thanks, Nathan… my searching skills must be on vacation.  I thought I looked under everything, including his name.

    Todd

  • Posted by

    Maybe you can define what “reaching” means?

  • Posted by Todd Rhoades

    Don’t read too much into it, John.  I think ‘reaching’ here just means people hearing him.

    I’m still working on the definition of ‘is’.

    Nice email address by the way… .  Wow… how’d you get that?  (and more importantly, what does THAT mean?)

    Todd

  • Posted by Gary Sweeten

    It reminds me of the Sixties and Seventies Jesus Movement when so many people were street preaching and witnessing on campus, etc about the rapture and Jesus. Lots of new people heard these things for the first time and revival occurred. It is not my cup of tea but I have been a Christian for a long time so it is not for me.

  • Posted by

    Great! Maybe this will reach people who otherwise might never hear or believe the Gospel!!!!!!

  • Posted by

    YOUR MESSAGE HAVE BEEN A BLESSING,THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH,,YOU ARE A PATRIOT AND A PASTOR. GODS MESSENGER, KEEP YOUR MESSAGE COMING, AND YOU DONT TICKLE EARS. GOD BLESS THIS MINISTERY...SEMPER FI....

  • Posted by Laptoper

    Keep away your children from You Tube!

  • Posted by Lex

    When I click on the link in the comments it says the account has been closed. ?

  • Posted by Tom

    I agree it can be dangerous…

  • Posted by Ana Backstone

    It seems to be a good idea, although initially a bit contradicotry to churches conservative attitude. I’t encouraging to see that they try to adopt modern ways of spreading the faith.

  • Page 1 of 1 pages

Post Your Comments:

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Live Comment Preview:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below: