Churches, Stop Wasting Your Energy On This

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#ajaytheceo #mediaministry #greatcommission

[greaterzionmedmin]

I TOTALLY agree with all you've said. I believe it's a fear of change and a mindset to return to what's familiar...

[stoni]

Here I am stuck between Egypt and the promise land 😭 I needed this

[luiselugo]

This is so true. Our church is in Puerto Rico and using our live stream we reach brothers and sisters in Pakistan and other countries where we have missionaries.

[lynnslb]

You are such a blessing to the Lords work. What you said here needs to be seen by a lot of pastors and church leaders. Your platform is very relevant to the church today. Thanks for all the work you put into this extremely informational platform. May God Bless You.

[TheTeraflop]

Well said, I have found myself in this position. Come as you are, view as you can.

[busybutbalanced]

I agree with you 100%. But what I think is an unexpressed frustration of some Pastors is the “less interactiveness” of those who worship online. I’ve heard a preacher say it’s hard to teach bible study when you don’t have the one on one interaction with the people. So, it’s not so much that they don’t want the virtual world, it’s just harder for them to make the human connections. Plus if people stay home, it’s less people that are available to serve in the church.

I’m grateful that my Pastor embraces & supports our new virtual reality🙏🏾❤️

[srowley]

To add weight to your excellent argument, we saw 300 people visit our livestream for a service that had 30 people present.

[lynnslb]

I posted before I read all the replies, so I really believe some people may be getting on the defense about what you said in this video. I watch videos on YouTube that are from different venues, and I believe there is benefit to our spiritual growth. God gives discernment to those that ask. You have your heart in the great commission. Thanks again for your ministry.

[BAdams]

Amen Brother, preach it! Change brings about change, whether we embrace it or not. Look at the corporate world. Change or get left behind. Take care.

[garieceneta]

Man, I am also receiving the same argument. Thank you for this!

[indi]

The level of energy and interaction in house is not the same level that is been displayed online.

Also perfect people are more to focus when they are in a set apart location that is actually put in place as house of worship . More then the ones who is surrounded by other distraction and still have livestream on their devices .. Ha.. They won't even spend 15sec on your livestream service because the internet is open to the mind of the livestream please also take note that other livestream services are also happening. Which causes a favoritism. Or division of membership . Which bring about less in-house keeping. . yes . . less in-house keeping if you understand what I am saying or going with this .

[notyourpapa]

Great message. With every new challenge there's opportunity. This gave me so many ideas. Thanks again.

[rayb]

Amen AJ, you hit the nail on the head. We reach people with our live stream who can't be in the building (because she lives in Anchorage Alaska) we have people watching every service that we stream from Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and some from other countries. With our live stream we are able to "go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creacher"

[AJaytheCEO]

Please share your thoughts folks on this topic.

[jamalishmon]

We had a guest speaker come in and start spouting this same rhetoric. Online service has opened up a new world of worship for the sick and shut in, as well as people who may still have some social anxiety due to Covid.

[lawrymccarthy]

I went through this with the Church I support on the internet and via Zoom. Even though the Church is Christian Chinese but in Australia and the Pastor's own family are distributed around the world, he initially wanted to close down Zoom as soon as possible and insist on people coming back to the bricks and mortar Church.
I pointed out that the old and sick were able to attend and be part of the fellowship of the Church via Zoom instead of stuck in isolation. Also members of the Church overseas were tuning in. Yes I was biased too, my wife has an illness and can't physically attend so neither can my son and I.
Our Pastor saw the 'RGB light' and with the help of donations a sophisticated high quality multi-camera streaming system was set up. Much better than the original webcam system that we had first. Now we have typically about 85% physical attendance and 15% on line, a mix of reasons for the net need. It works well.

[moosexing]

Balance is the answer. Bums on seats are important as well, because building church is also about building community, and it is very hard to build community via zoom. Sharing physically enables us to touch one another now Covid is retreating, and also to physically take part in the Eucharist, which is important to people. I can do pastoral visits to some, but not all who join on zoom, as some are many miles away, and some even in other countries. You talk about an 'audience', but as a preacher, it is valuable to know how the word is being received - you cannot 'feel' that on a zoom service. We need both forms of ministry; I agree that wasting energy on castigating those who don't attend is pointless, and we must leave the Word of God to do its own thing.

[marc-andregagne]

Perspective of someone who is in charge of streaming and sound system and an assistant pastor,

I do understand somewhat your point but there is a negative impact also to the streaming. It is a great way for people that are working or far away or can no longer come due to health reasons.

What makes it hard for a pastor is to see local believers that can come, that are available, only 10 minutes drive but instead of coming they do a livstream instead.

Why is it so important to have believers at church? As ministers we want to see how your sheep are doing. When they are in church, you can read someone quickly if they are not doing well so you can go talk to them and help them in their struggles, or if they are unhappy, you see it right away, and can counsel them. Or if a marriage is not doing well to help in their marriage.

Also, having a visible audience, you can see faces, if they understand or not what you are preaching, and if they dont understand, to be with them to answer their questions after church.

For sure, if the sole reason of the pastor is to have more people seating to look better, or to have more people paying their tithes... well they should not be in ministry in the first place.

A little perspective from a different angle.;)

We certainly have seen a great impact with live streaming but also a negative impacts. I think, for most parts, anything can have a positive and negative impact. ;)

Our live stream has been able to reach to so many different countries! Which is a great blessing. But the local sheep are also very important. I think many pastors are struggling with it because they see the negative impacts it has on certain people and they care for them.

Cheers and keep up the good work ;)

[KarlWinegardner]

There are many situations where people can't physically attend. But beyond that, maybe we should ask bigger questions; is the church model we have right now the best way to fellowship? What is the reason to have "church"? If it's to reach the lost, probably online is our best bet, but the format might need to change. If the reason we have church is to fellowship and grow, then we ought to use all the tools and formats we can to connect people to one another *hint* physical meeting is great, but one can be discipled over a video call... */hint*. We also have to be aware that some of our leaders do not like change; so they want the "normal" that will never be on the menu again. So we might have to figure out ways of gently leading them into what is the new normal with grace and humility.

[nigelelliott]

Very good points AJay and our expeirence since we started streaming during the pandemic has been phenominal. We are a parish church streaming from Kingston Jamaica and we are having people watching us as far as Africa and the Philippeans!, see Jamaicas Now these are persons who have expressed their desire to come to Jamaica but due to the pandemic could not do so BUT through our media ministry they were able to get a "taste" of Christian Jamaica. To God be the Glory.