I am the Production Manager at Kingdom FM, 91.5 FM, Fort Myers Florida and have a weekday air shift from 9:00 AM until Noon.
Kingdom FM can be heard online at www.kingdom.fm.
There is a temptation in Christian radio to think that if we do something special on air for one person, one business or a small group of people we are ministering.
Such is not the case.
There is a reason why radio is called BROADcasting.
Christian radio is best designed to attempt with every element (spots, programs, music, and other ministry) to reach the largest number of people 24 HOURS PER DAY.
While it is true that, in general, drive times have the largest number of people listening at a given time, it is not necessarily the largest audience.
The largest audience is actually found in non-drive time, when considered as a whole.
Let's say you have 100,000 listeners.
From 7:00 AM until 9:00 AM (Morning Drive), let's say you have 20,000 listeners and from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM (Afternoon Drive) you have 23,000 listeners.
These would be distributed over 4 hours of broadcasting, or about 10,750 listeners per hour.
The rest of your listeners are distributed (rather unevenly) among Midnight to 7:00 AM, Noon until 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM until Midnight. This, using the above figures, would total 57,000 listeners.
These would be distributed over the other 20 hours of broadcasting, or about 2,800 listeners per hour.
While the total number of listeners in any drive time hour is higher than any given non-drive time hour, by far the greatest number of total listeners is in non-drive time.
Add in the Saturday and Sunday hours, and the differences between drive time and non-drive time become even greater.
It would behoove a Christian radio station, then, to make every effort to minister to the non-drive time hours at least as well as it does to drive time.
Now radio listeners are dynamic, not static. That means that the audience is constantly changing.
A person gets in the car, listens to the radio until reaching the destination and then does not listen while shopping, working or whatever else might be taking place.
This is important to take into account when planning programs, spots, music and other ministry elements.
Additionally, it is a waste of valuable ministry time to engage in programming that does not target the largest possible number of people in any given day part.
Programming a particular church's baptismal service, for instance, makes little sense.
First of all, baptism is a visual event and not suited for radio.
Secondly, a particular church's baptismal service is of only minor interest to members of other churches or denominations.
So the wise Program Manager seeks to constantly air the type of programming that appeals to the greatest number of people at any given moment of broadcasting.
One final programming thought.
Radio, especially Christian radio, is very personal to the listener.
Listeners come to feel as though they know the announcers ministering at a given day part.
They also love to know the artists to whom they are listening and the songs they are hearing.
Each of the Bible study personalities has a style to which listeners become accustomed.
The personal nature of Christian radio should encourage a station to exercise an extra measure of integrity and dependability when planning programs.
Constant change irritates listeners.
The inability of listeners to know what they are listening to frustrates them.
Irritated and frustrated listeners are less likely to feel that they are being ministered to and are therefore less likely to support Christian radio.
Increase your ministry AND your contributions by being steady, stable and wise in your programming decisions.
Remember, it is all about ministering to the listener in the name of Jesus.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
A HIGHER CALLING
As you know, I work at Kingdom fm, WJYO, 91.5 FM in Fort Myers, Florida and online at www.kingdom.fm.
It is an honor, a privilege and a responsibility to minister to a community in the name of Jesus through Christian radio.
To think that we have the pleasure of being ministers of His through this medium is awesome.
However, with that pleasure must come the realization that we are held to a very high standard.
It is a travesty that we sometimes forget that standard (or simply ignore it).
For instance, one prominent leader in a Christian radio ministry asked to have a CD made of some of the music being aired.
"A simple and harmless request," you may think.
Think again.
For starters, the music radio stations air is copyrighted for the protection of the artists who wrote, produced, played, sang and distributed the product.
To simply copy it without permission in order to avoid the bother and expense of purchasing it, is to keep those artists from making money on the product from which they make their living.
In short, it is stealing, and thus a violation of the Commandment, "Thou shalt not steal."
Another area in which Christian radio stations are held to a high standard is the area of consideration.
Consideration is being paid in exchange for the on-air promotion of a for-profit business or other entity.
Many Christian radio stations air "donor acknowledgements," for businesses who contribute to the ministry.
Some stations tend to think, "Donor acknowledgements are really just commercials by another name," and tend to wink at the FCC rules governing such acknowledgements.
NOT SO!!
The Federal Communications Commission, to which all broadcast stations must answer, has very strict guidelines regarding the differences between commercials and donor acknowledgements.
A donor acknowledgement is an announcement that identifies a for-profit business that supports the station with one or more contributions.
It cannot be made for consideration; that is: a noncommercial, religious 501C3 station may not "charge" a for-profit business for air time.
The concept that a noncommercial Christian station may charge, say, $10.00 per insertion for a donor acknowledgement is a clear violation of FCC rules.
What is supposed to happen is that a business decides to support the Christian radio station and the station decides to acknowledge that support...period.
The donor acknowledgement may not call on the listener to act on the announcement, may not announce an inducement for the listener to visit the business or to purchase anything from it, may not ask the listener to rent or lease from the business, may not announce information about the price of goods or services and may not announce any descriptive information about the businesses products or services.
For instance, "Goober Ford sells quality Ford products," would be descriptive of the products Goober Ford sells through the use of the word "quality."
"Goober Ford sells Ford products" is fine, because it is not descriptive, just factual.
"Monty's half-price sale lasts until Saturday," would be illegal, because it implies both a price and an inducement to buy.
Fines for violations can be stiff (see below) and may result in the revocation of the Christian radio station's license to broadcast.
The following is taken from the FCC web site relating to the operation of noncommercial radio stations, including educational, religious and 501C3 stations.
FCC GUIDELINES FOR NONCOMMERCIAL UNDERWRITER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Guidelines covering announcements for the sale of program-related services and materials by for-profit entities were not changed by our 1982 Order.
Thus, such announcements are permitted so long as the licensee (1) receives no consideration [consideration is defined as money’s received or charged in exchange for services or announcements offered] for the announcement; and (2) the materials are offered on the basis of public interest considerations and not the private economic interests of the offeror; or (3) the price of the materials offered is only nominal. Second Report and Order, 86 FCC 2d at 152. As noted above, the nominal price requirement does not apply to offerings sponsored by nonprofit entities.
Advertisements are defined by the Act as program material broadcast "in exchange for any remuneration" and intended to "promote any service, facility, or product" of for-profit entities.
Thus, and underwriter announcement that violates the noncommercial rules is considered an advertisement.
In the Matter of CHRISTIAN VOICE OF CENTRAL OHIO, INC. Licensee of Formerly Noncommercial Educational Station WCVZ(FM), South Zanesville, Ohio, The FCC enforced a $20,000.00 fine and recommended the revocation of their license.
Section 399B of the Act, as implemented by Section 73.503 of the Commission's Rules, prohibits public radio and television stations from broadcasting advertisements. Advertisements are defined by the Act as program material broadcast "in exchange for any remuneration" and intended to "promote any service, facility, or product" of for-profit entities. 47 U.S.C. _ 399B.
Although contributors of funds to a noncommercial station may receive on-air acknowledgements, the Commission has unequivocally stated that such acknowledgements may be made for identification purposes only and should not promote the contributor's products, services, or business.
Specifically, such announcements may not contain comparative or qualitative descriptions, price information, calls to action, or inducements to buy, sell, rent or lease. See Public Notice, "In the Matter of the Commission Policy Concerning the Noncommercial Nature of Educational Broadcasting Stations."
As representatives of our Lord, we have a spiritual and a secular responsibility to conduct our ministry in a way that is entirely above board and that would bring only honor and glory to Him.
Christian radio is held to a HIGHER CALLING.
It is an honor, a privilege and a responsibility to minister to a community in the name of Jesus through Christian radio.
To think that we have the pleasure of being ministers of His through this medium is awesome.
However, with that pleasure must come the realization that we are held to a very high standard.
It is a travesty that we sometimes forget that standard (or simply ignore it).
For instance, one prominent leader in a Christian radio ministry asked to have a CD made of some of the music being aired.
"A simple and harmless request," you may think.
Think again.
For starters, the music radio stations air is copyrighted for the protection of the artists who wrote, produced, played, sang and distributed the product.
To simply copy it without permission in order to avoid the bother and expense of purchasing it, is to keep those artists from making money on the product from which they make their living.
In short, it is stealing, and thus a violation of the Commandment, "Thou shalt not steal."
Another area in which Christian radio stations are held to a high standard is the area of consideration.
Consideration is being paid in exchange for the on-air promotion of a for-profit business or other entity.
Many Christian radio stations air "donor acknowledgements," for businesses who contribute to the ministry.
Some stations tend to think, "Donor acknowledgements are really just commercials by another name," and tend to wink at the FCC rules governing such acknowledgements.
NOT SO!!
The Federal Communications Commission, to which all broadcast stations must answer, has very strict guidelines regarding the differences between commercials and donor acknowledgements.
A donor acknowledgement is an announcement that identifies a for-profit business that supports the station with one or more contributions.
It cannot be made for consideration; that is: a noncommercial, religious 501C3 station may not "charge" a for-profit business for air time.
The concept that a noncommercial Christian station may charge, say, $10.00 per insertion for a donor acknowledgement is a clear violation of FCC rules.
What is supposed to happen is that a business decides to support the Christian radio station and the station decides to acknowledge that support...period.
The donor acknowledgement may not call on the listener to act on the announcement, may not announce an inducement for the listener to visit the business or to purchase anything from it, may not ask the listener to rent or lease from the business, may not announce information about the price of goods or services and may not announce any descriptive information about the businesses products or services.
For instance, "Goober Ford sells quality Ford products," would be descriptive of the products Goober Ford sells through the use of the word "quality."
"Goober Ford sells Ford products" is fine, because it is not descriptive, just factual.
"Monty's half-price sale lasts until Saturday," would be illegal, because it implies both a price and an inducement to buy.
Fines for violations can be stiff (see below) and may result in the revocation of the Christian radio station's license to broadcast.
The following is taken from the FCC web site relating to the operation of noncommercial radio stations, including educational, religious and 501C3 stations.
FCC GUIDELINES FOR NONCOMMERCIAL UNDERWRITER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Guidelines covering announcements for the sale of program-related services and materials by for-profit entities were not changed by our 1982 Order.
Thus, such announcements are permitted so long as the licensee (1) receives no consideration [consideration is defined as money’s received or charged in exchange for services or announcements offered] for the announcement; and (2) the materials are offered on the basis of public interest considerations and not the private economic interests of the offeror; or (3) the price of the materials offered is only nominal. Second Report and Order, 86 FCC 2d at 152. As noted above, the nominal price requirement does not apply to offerings sponsored by nonprofit entities.
Advertisements are defined by the Act as program material broadcast "in exchange for any remuneration" and intended to "promote any service, facility, or product" of for-profit entities.
Thus, and underwriter announcement that violates the noncommercial rules is considered an advertisement.
In the Matter of CHRISTIAN VOICE OF CENTRAL OHIO, INC. Licensee of Formerly Noncommercial Educational Station WCVZ(FM), South Zanesville, Ohio, The FCC enforced a $20,000.00 fine and recommended the revocation of their license.
Section 399B of the Act, as implemented by Section 73.503 of the Commission's Rules, prohibits public radio and television stations from broadcasting advertisements. Advertisements are defined by the Act as program material broadcast "in exchange for any remuneration" and intended to "promote any service, facility, or product" of for-profit entities. 47 U.S.C. _ 399B.
Although contributors of funds to a noncommercial station may receive on-air acknowledgements, the Commission has unequivocally stated that such acknowledgements may be made for identification purposes only and should not promote the contributor's products, services, or business.
Specifically, such announcements may not contain comparative or qualitative descriptions, price information, calls to action, or inducements to buy, sell, rent or lease. See Public Notice, "In the Matter of the Commission Policy Concerning the Noncommercial Nature of Educational Broadcasting Stations."
As representatives of our Lord, we have a spiritual and a secular responsibility to conduct our ministry in a way that is entirely above board and that would bring only honor and glory to Him.
Christian radio is held to a HIGHER CALLING.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
This One's Been Around But I Love It
Gumperson's Law
Gumperson's Law, as explained below, accounts for the fact that you can throw a burned match out the window of your car and start a forest fire, while you can use two boxes of matches and a whole edition of the Sunday paper without being able to start a fire under the dry logs in your fireplace.
The law, stated simply, is:
Readers familiar with these matters will perhaps recognize another version of the Law: The Outcome of a Given Desired Probability will be Inverse to the Degree of Desirability.
Dr. R.F. Gumperson, internationally famous physicist, began serious work in 1938 on a phenomenon long known to scientists, but up until then considered as a mere curiosity. This was the fact that the forecasting record of the Weather Bureau, despite its use of the most advanced equipment and highly trained personnel, was not as good as that of the Farmers' Almanac.
After four years of research, Dr. Gumperson enunciated his now famous law and was able to make a series of predictions later confirmed by other workers in the field. Some of the better known of these include the following:
(1) That after a raise in pay you will have less money at the end of the month than you had before.
(2) That the girl at the race track who bets according to the color of the jockey's shirt will pick more winners than the man who studied the past performance of every horse on the program.
(3) That children have more energy after a hard day of play than they do after a good night's sleep.
(4) That the person who buys the most raffle tickets has the least chance of winning the raffle.
(5) That a child can be exposed to mumps for weeks without catching them, but can catch them without exposure the day before the family vacation.
(6) That the dishwasher will break down the evening you give dinner for ten.
(7) That the parking spaces are always on the other side of the street.
Dr. Gumperson served as a consultant to the armed services during World War II and evolved the procedure whereby the more a recruit knew about a given subject, the better chance he had of receiving an assignment elsewhere.
There is no knowing to what further glittering heights Dr. Gumperson's genius could have led him had it not been for his untimely death in 1947.
Strolling along the highway one evening, he was obeying the pedestrian rules of walking to the left, wearing light clothing, and facing traffic.
He was struck down from behind by a Hillman-Minx, driven by an English visitor hugging the left side of the road.
Gumperson's Law, as explained below, accounts for the fact that you can throw a burned match out the window of your car and start a forest fire, while you can use two boxes of matches and a whole edition of the Sunday paper without being able to start a fire under the dry logs in your fireplace.
The law, stated simply, is:
"THE CONTRADICTORY OF A WELCOME PROBABILITY WILL ASSERT ITSELF WHENEVER SUCH AN EVENT IS LIKELY TO BE MOST FRUSTRATING."
Readers familiar with these matters will perhaps recognize another version of the Law: The Outcome of a Given Desired Probability will be Inverse to the Degree of Desirability.
Dr. R.F. Gumperson, internationally famous physicist, began serious work in 1938 on a phenomenon long known to scientists, but up until then considered as a mere curiosity. This was the fact that the forecasting record of the Weather Bureau, despite its use of the most advanced equipment and highly trained personnel, was not as good as that of the Farmers' Almanac.
After four years of research, Dr. Gumperson enunciated his now famous law and was able to make a series of predictions later confirmed by other workers in the field. Some of the better known of these include the following:
(1) That after a raise in pay you will have less money at the end of the month than you had before.
(2) That the girl at the race track who bets according to the color of the jockey's shirt will pick more winners than the man who studied the past performance of every horse on the program.
(3) That children have more energy after a hard day of play than they do after a good night's sleep.
(4) That the person who buys the most raffle tickets has the least chance of winning the raffle.
(5) That a child can be exposed to mumps for weeks without catching them, but can catch them without exposure the day before the family vacation.
(6) That the dishwasher will break down the evening you give dinner for ten.
(7) That the parking spaces are always on the other side of the street.
Dr. Gumperson served as a consultant to the armed services during World War II and evolved the procedure whereby the more a recruit knew about a given subject, the better chance he had of receiving an assignment elsewhere.
There is no knowing to what further glittering heights Dr. Gumperson's genius could have led him had it not been for his untimely death in 1947.
Strolling along the highway one evening, he was obeying the pedestrian rules of walking to the left, wearing light clothing, and facing traffic.
He was struck down from behind by a Hillman-Minx, driven by an English visitor hugging the left side of the road.
Monday, July 23, 2007
QOD
Here is the
Why in the world would someone imagine that God had led him/her to be the leader of a ministry but not call him/her to be a minister?
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Why in the world would someone imagine that God had led him/her to be the leader of a ministry but not call him/her to be a minister?
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Ponderosa
Pro-Verbs 1:1-13
1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
2. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
3. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
4. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
5. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
6. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
7. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone wouldbe stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog.
8. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.
9. The things that come to those who wait will be the things left over by those who got there first.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day getting a sunburn.
11. Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.
12. The shinbone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
13. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
2. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
3. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
4. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
5. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
6. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
7. If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone wouldbe stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog.
8. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.
9. The things that come to those who wait will be the things left over by those who got there first.
10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day getting a sunburn.
11. Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.
12. The shinbone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
13. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Parabola
Once there was a man who wanted more than anything else to own a water-works plant.
He had used water all his life.
He cooked with water, drank water, cleaned with water and made all sorts of good things like coffee, tea and milk.
OK, not milk...maybe powdered soft drinks.
In fact, his own body was made of water...more water than all the other elements combined.
He really, really loved water.
One day a water plant became available that served not one, but two municipalities. And at a price he could afford!
Or so he thought.
So, he bought it.
Problem.
Although he knew a lot about water and had used it all of his life, he knew nothing about the operations of a water plant.
He did not know the laws governing water plants.
He did not know how to run a water plant.
He did not know water-plant terminology.
He did not know who-all used the water from the plant.
He did not know what all the funny dials at the water plant meant.
He did not understand the levers.
He did not know what chemicals needed to be added to the water to make it appropriate for the users.
He did not know how much of which chemicals to use.
Not to worry!
There were people at the plant who had been operating water plants for many years.
He would show them how he wanted the plant to operate.
When he got to the plant the first day, he began making drastic changes to the methods and policies that were considered accepted practice by water plants all over the country.
"Water produced at this plant is too sedate for most of our customers."
"How do you know that?" asked one of the long-time professional water plant operators.
"I have been led by this gut instinct I have that I take to be leading from God, since He let me think of it." he answered.
"Well," said the employee, "I can't argue with God."
"Now let's get started!" cried the new water-plant owner, as he swayed back and forth where he stood.
"Add more chemicals!" he shouted, "We have to give the customers a little 'kick' for their water dollar.
"But sir!" started the employee...
"Who do you think you are?" shouted the new owner. "You need to know your place! I'm the boss here. You do what I say the first time I say it, when I say it!"
His face got redder and redder.
Now he was vibrating all over and there was sweat showing on his forehead.
"This is MY water plant! I bought it!
"And by-the-way. That time yesterday when the Internet went down and you didn't send the email I told you to...that's why we're losing customers!
"I asked you what happened and you immediately started to tell me what happened.
"And you didn't even apologize...why, you don't even know HOW to apologize! You should have STARTED with an apology. Never mind that I asked you what happened...you should have started WITH AN APOLOGY!!!!!!!
"You are a stinking, rotten person and I should fire your butt!
"Don't think you're important to this place! This place will continue functioning with or without you!"
He finally stopped screaming...maybe he ran out of words.
The employee felt the stress knot in his abdomen tighten...it was the same stress that had brought on his liver failure a few months earlier.
"Oh no," he thought, "I'm going to end up right back in the hospital again. I might even die this time...I certainly feel worse than last time."
"Oh, please, sir, I am so sorry I did not send your email while the Internet was down. It was all my fault. Oh, sorrow...oh pain."
"You have to know that our receivables are down from last year!" The new owner was getting red again. "It's all because you didn't send the email when the Internet was down! We can't have this kind of thing happening! Now get out of here!"
The employee went back to work, trying to apply his years of experience to keep from killing off the customers with all the "extra" chemicals and stuff, while still adding the chemicals that the new owner wanted to add.
Customers, meanwhile, did not like the water they were getting. More and more of them began buying bottled water. Fewer and fewer used water from the plant.
"What we need to do," said the owner to the employees, "is to hire someone to go sell water to the many businesses in the area. The businesses will surely want to buy water from us. They will make up for the many regular customers we are losing."
Other water plants in the country were flourishing, having decided that giving the customers what they really needed was the best way to increase the number of customers they had.
What the new owner did not realize, or was too proud or insecure to admit, was that he had in his presence the very people upon whose experience he could draw that would have turned things around for the water plant.
His own ego, though, never even allowed such an idea to occur to him.
And so, the water plant continued to lose customers and to lose customers.
Its flow to the community slowed and slowed until it became just one big drip.
And God looked down and said, "I gave him the desire of his heart and he did everything he could to destroy it with outlandish ideas and an unwillingness to learn from those whose experience had taught them so much.
"And to think, if he had just asked, they would have fallen all over themselves to help him, because they are very committed to water plants."
And while the owner thought God was very pleased, the truth is, God was very sad.
He had used water all his life.
He cooked with water, drank water, cleaned with water and made all sorts of good things like coffee, tea and milk.
OK, not milk...maybe powdered soft drinks.
In fact, his own body was made of water...more water than all the other elements combined.
He really, really loved water.
One day a water plant became available that served not one, but two municipalities. And at a price he could afford!
Or so he thought.
So, he bought it.
Problem.
Although he knew a lot about water and had used it all of his life, he knew nothing about the operations of a water plant.
He did not know the laws governing water plants.
He did not know how to run a water plant.
He did not know water-plant terminology.
He did not know who-all used the water from the plant.
He did not know what all the funny dials at the water plant meant.
He did not understand the levers.
He did not know what chemicals needed to be added to the water to make it appropriate for the users.
He did not know how much of which chemicals to use.
Not to worry!
There were people at the plant who had been operating water plants for many years.
He would show them how he wanted the plant to operate.
When he got to the plant the first day, he began making drastic changes to the methods and policies that were considered accepted practice by water plants all over the country.
"Water produced at this plant is too sedate for most of our customers."
"How do you know that?" asked one of the long-time professional water plant operators.
"I have been led by this gut instinct I have that I take to be leading from God, since He let me think of it." he answered.
"Well," said the employee, "I can't argue with God."
"Now let's get started!" cried the new water-plant owner, as he swayed back and forth where he stood.
"Add more chemicals!" he shouted, "We have to give the customers a little 'kick' for their water dollar.
"But sir!" started the employee...
"Who do you think you are?" shouted the new owner. "You need to know your place! I'm the boss here. You do what I say the first time I say it, when I say it!"
His face got redder and redder.
Now he was vibrating all over and there was sweat showing on his forehead.
"This is MY water plant! I bought it!
"And by-the-way. That time yesterday when the Internet went down and you didn't send the email I told you to...that's why we're losing customers!
"I asked you what happened and you immediately started to tell me what happened.
"And you didn't even apologize...why, you don't even know HOW to apologize! You should have STARTED with an apology. Never mind that I asked you what happened...you should have started WITH AN APOLOGY!!!!!!!
"You are a stinking, rotten person and I should fire your butt!
"Don't think you're important to this place! This place will continue functioning with or without you!"
He finally stopped screaming...maybe he ran out of words.
The employee felt the stress knot in his abdomen tighten...it was the same stress that had brought on his liver failure a few months earlier.
"Oh no," he thought, "I'm going to end up right back in the hospital again. I might even die this time...I certainly feel worse than last time."
"Oh, please, sir, I am so sorry I did not send your email while the Internet was down. It was all my fault. Oh, sorrow...oh pain."
"You have to know that our receivables are down from last year!" The new owner was getting red again. "It's all because you didn't send the email when the Internet was down! We can't have this kind of thing happening! Now get out of here!"
The employee went back to work, trying to apply his years of experience to keep from killing off the customers with all the "extra" chemicals and stuff, while still adding the chemicals that the new owner wanted to add.
Customers, meanwhile, did not like the water they were getting. More and more of them began buying bottled water. Fewer and fewer used water from the plant.
"What we need to do," said the owner to the employees, "is to hire someone to go sell water to the many businesses in the area. The businesses will surely want to buy water from us. They will make up for the many regular customers we are losing."
Other water plants in the country were flourishing, having decided that giving the customers what they really needed was the best way to increase the number of customers they had.
What the new owner did not realize, or was too proud or insecure to admit, was that he had in his presence the very people upon whose experience he could draw that would have turned things around for the water plant.
His own ego, though, never even allowed such an idea to occur to him.
And so, the water plant continued to lose customers and to lose customers.
Its flow to the community slowed and slowed until it became just one big drip.
And God looked down and said, "I gave him the desire of his heart and he did everything he could to destroy it with outlandish ideas and an unwillingness to learn from those whose experience had taught them so much.
"And to think, if he had just asked, they would have fallen all over themselves to help him, because they are very committed to water plants."
And while the owner thought God was very pleased, the truth is, God was very sad.
Monday, July 16, 2007
How to Teach Adult Sunday School Part 1
Since 1968, I have served as a Minister of Education, Minister of Youth and/or Minister of Music in churches in Georgia and Florida.
In my duties as Minister of Education, I have tried to disciple and train teachers of adults in Sunday School.
Here is a set of questions to which would like to require an answer from every Sunday School teacher of adults:
1. What is the textbook you should use in your Sunday School class?
a. The denominational literature
b. The Bible
c. "a" and "b" above
d. None of the above
2. What is the Bible?
a. The Bible is God's book that shows us how to behave in such a way as to please Him.
b. The Bible is God's revelation of His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption.
c. The Bible is a history book about God's involvement in the world.
d. The Bible is a rule-book for life.
3. The Bible's purpose is to reveal to us:
a. How God created the world.
b. Everything you need to know about God.
c. How we should treat poor people.
d. All there is to know about interpersonal relationships.
4. The most important book of the Bible is:
a. The Gospel of John, because it contains the plan of salvation.
b. They are all equally important because they are each a part of the whole.
c. Job, because it teaches us to be patient with God.
d. Revelations because they give us so many mystical pictures of so many things.
5. The Jews became God's chosen people because:
a. They were a fine, outstanding group of God-fearing people.
b. God is God, and He gets to choose.
c. God knew that the Jews would never stray from obedience to Him.
d. Jesus had to be a Jew, or He couldn't be the Messiah.
6. The focus of the Bible, from Genesis to The Book of the Revelation, is:
a. Mankind
b. Jesus
c. History
d. Spirituality
7. Each verse of the Bible:
a. Stands alone in meaning and interpretation.
b. Points to Jesus.
c. Must be taken in immediate context.
d. Is a lot like a proverb.
8. The Bible is all about
a. Answering my questions about life.
b. Jesus
c. Me and my needs
d. Learning to do all things mystical, metaphysical and pseudo-spiritual
There are more questions I would pose, but I'll save them for another time.
By the way, the answer to every question is "b."
Some of the others may seem right, but they are not.
Do you teach Sunday School?
In my duties as Minister of Education, I have tried to disciple and train teachers of adults in Sunday School.
Here is a set of questions to which would like to require an answer from every Sunday School teacher of adults:
1. What is the textbook you should use in your Sunday School class?
a. The denominational literature
b. The Bible
c. "a" and "b" above
d. None of the above
2. What is the Bible?
a. The Bible is God's book that shows us how to behave in such a way as to please Him.
b. The Bible is God's revelation of His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption.
c. The Bible is a history book about God's involvement in the world.
d. The Bible is a rule-book for life.
3. The Bible's purpose is to reveal to us:
a. How God created the world.
b. Everything you need to know about God.
c. How we should treat poor people.
d. All there is to know about interpersonal relationships.
4. The most important book of the Bible is:
a. The Gospel of John, because it contains the plan of salvation.
b. They are all equally important because they are each a part of the whole.
c. Job, because it teaches us to be patient with God.
d. Revelations because they give us so many mystical pictures of so many things.
5. The Jews became God's chosen people because:
a. They were a fine, outstanding group of God-fearing people.
b. God is God, and He gets to choose.
c. God knew that the Jews would never stray from obedience to Him.
d. Jesus had to be a Jew, or He couldn't be the Messiah.
6. The focus of the Bible, from Genesis to The Book of the Revelation, is:
a. Mankind
b. Jesus
c. History
d. Spirituality
7. Each verse of the Bible:
a. Stands alone in meaning and interpretation.
b. Points to Jesus.
c. Must be taken in immediate context.
d. Is a lot like a proverb.
8. The Bible is all about
a. Answering my questions about life.
b. Jesus
c. Me and my needs
d. Learning to do all things mystical, metaphysical and pseudo-spiritual
There are more questions I would pose, but I'll save them for another time.
By the way, the answer to every question is "b."
Some of the others may seem right, but they are not.
Do you teach Sunday School?
Thursday, July 05, 2007
KNOWING YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC
As you know, I work for Christian radio, 91.3 Kingdom FM, in Fort Myers, Florida. You can listen online at www.kingdom.fm.
One of the most important aspects of Christian radio (any radio, for that matter) is to know who your audience is.
As a middle-of-the-road, conservative, Inspirational and Soft Praise and Worship station, we don't have any appeal to the wild-and-woolly side of Christian radio...you know...songs where the drummer somehow thinks he(or she) carries the melody.
At the same time, we don't have much appeal to the staid, formal, stodgy side of Christianity either.
The majority of our listeners come from those with a bent toward Baptist, lite Pentecostal and Calvary Chapel styles of worship.
In my little town of Lehigh Acres, we have more Baptists than all of the rest of denominations combined.
We have seven Baptist churches in town: First Baptist; Richmond Avenue Baptist; Lee Boulevard Baptist; Trinity Baptist; Gunnery Road Baptist; Olga Baptist; Crossroads Baptist (which is technically in East Fort Myers, but many of whose members are from Lehigh Acres); and Temple Baptist Church (in North Fort Myers, but again with a large contingent from Lehigh Acres).
While there are some "mega-churches" in the area, most are average in membership.
Statistically, the average Baptist church has something close to 300 members.
That means that there are at least 2100 Baptists in the Lehigh Acres area. Add to that the churches that are above average, and there are between 3,000 and 3,500 self-professed Baptists in church every Sunday in the Lehigh Acres area.
The only large church in Lehigh Acres is New Life Assembly of God.
There are a couple of Church of God churches, one United Methodist church, a Presbyterian church, five non-denominational churches and an assortment of less conservative and/or non-mainstream churches.
It is safe to say that the major group that would listen to Kingdom FM in my town are Baptists, Christian (the denomination, not the "way"), Christian and Missionary Alliance, other mainstream Protestants and Pentecostals.
In the Fort Myers/Cape Coral/Naples area, the bulk of our listening area, there are 130 Baptist churches, including one "mega-church" (McGregor Baptist Church), First Baptist Church Naples and two other large churches (Cape Coral Baptist Church and Riverside Baptist Church).
Take those latter four out of the mix, and you are left with 127 Baptist churches. Using the 300 average, that means that there are almost 31,000 Baptists in the smaller churches and about 10,000 in the other three, for a total of 48,000 Baptists, three-fourths of whom do NOT go to large or "mega-" churches.
First Assembly Ministries operates five campuses, totally somewhere near 9,000 members. There are a few AOG churches not directly affiliated with First Assembly. Let's give them a total of 12,000 people, give-or-take.
There are some "mainline" Methodist, Lutheran, Christian, Christian and Missionary Alliance and Presbyterian churches in Southwest Florida, as well as a small representation of Calvary Chapel types.
Well...the point is, there are 75,000+ people in Southwest Florida who would be considered prime potential listeners to our station.
One thing we keep being reminded of is that 50 to 60 thousand of them DON'T EVEN KNOW WE EXIST!
What can Christian radio stations do to reach more of their potential?
One thing is certain: statistics have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that direct-mail DOES NOT RENDER A HIGH RESPONSE RATE...LESS THAN 2%.
The most effective means is word-of-mouth, but that has to have a starting place.
It has been shown that where Christian radio stations are DIRECTLY involved in the community with a presence at ministry events and at community targeted church events and services, the word-of-mouth ball gets rolling.
This holds true even when the Christian radio station is NOT located in the community.
Offering churches air time to promote their events open to the entire Christian community will certainly help, however, nothing, but nothing, takes the place of personal involvement with the people you want to listen.
Christian radio Managers, Promotions Directors and Leaders, get involved!
It is not enough to put great programming on the air and expect people to flock to you. You must go to events, speak up at events and let people know you are there.
Remember: Giving follows ministry. If the potential listener perceives that he or she is being ministered to, he/she will tune in and listen, and will give.
If not...oh well.
One of the most important aspects of Christian radio (any radio, for that matter) is to know who your audience is.
As a middle-of-the-road, conservative, Inspirational and Soft Praise and Worship station, we don't have any appeal to the wild-and-woolly side of Christian radio...you know...songs where the drummer somehow thinks he(or she) carries the melody.
At the same time, we don't have much appeal to the staid, formal, stodgy side of Christianity either.
The majority of our listeners come from those with a bent toward Baptist, lite Pentecostal and Calvary Chapel styles of worship.
In my little town of Lehigh Acres, we have more Baptists than all of the rest of denominations combined.
We have seven Baptist churches in town: First Baptist; Richmond Avenue Baptist; Lee Boulevard Baptist; Trinity Baptist; Gunnery Road Baptist; Olga Baptist; Crossroads Baptist (which is technically in East Fort Myers, but many of whose members are from Lehigh Acres); and Temple Baptist Church (in North Fort Myers, but again with a large contingent from Lehigh Acres).
While there are some "mega-churches" in the area, most are average in membership.
Statistically, the average Baptist church has something close to 300 members.
That means that there are at least 2100 Baptists in the Lehigh Acres area. Add to that the churches that are above average, and there are between 3,000 and 3,500 self-professed Baptists in church every Sunday in the Lehigh Acres area.
The only large church in Lehigh Acres is New Life Assembly of God.
There are a couple of Church of God churches, one United Methodist church, a Presbyterian church, five non-denominational churches and an assortment of less conservative and/or non-mainstream churches.
It is safe to say that the major group that would listen to Kingdom FM in my town are Baptists, Christian (the denomination, not the "way"), Christian and Missionary Alliance, other mainstream Protestants and Pentecostals.
In the Fort Myers/Cape Coral/Naples area, the bulk of our listening area, there are 130 Baptist churches, including one "mega-church" (McGregor Baptist Church), First Baptist Church Naples and two other large churches (Cape Coral Baptist Church and Riverside Baptist Church).
Take those latter four out of the mix, and you are left with 127 Baptist churches. Using the 300 average, that means that there are almost 31,000 Baptists in the smaller churches and about 10,000 in the other three, for a total of 48,000 Baptists, three-fourths of whom do NOT go to large or "mega-" churches.
First Assembly Ministries operates five campuses, totally somewhere near 9,000 members. There are a few AOG churches not directly affiliated with First Assembly. Let's give them a total of 12,000 people, give-or-take.
There are some "mainline" Methodist, Lutheran, Christian, Christian and Missionary Alliance and Presbyterian churches in Southwest Florida, as well as a small representation of Calvary Chapel types.
Well...the point is, there are 75,000+ people in Southwest Florida who would be considered prime potential listeners to our station.
One thing we keep being reminded of is that 50 to 60 thousand of them DON'T EVEN KNOW WE EXIST!
What can Christian radio stations do to reach more of their potential?
One thing is certain: statistics have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that direct-mail DOES NOT RENDER A HIGH RESPONSE RATE...LESS THAN 2%.
The most effective means is word-of-mouth, but that has to have a starting place.
It has been shown that where Christian radio stations are DIRECTLY involved in the community with a presence at ministry events and at community targeted church events and services, the word-of-mouth ball gets rolling.
This holds true even when the Christian radio station is NOT located in the community.
Offering churches air time to promote their events open to the entire Christian community will certainly help, however, nothing, but nothing, takes the place of personal involvement with the people you want to listen.
Christian radio Managers, Promotions Directors and Leaders, get involved!
It is not enough to put great programming on the air and expect people to flock to you. You must go to events, speak up at events and let people know you are there.
Remember: Giving follows ministry. If the potential listener perceives that he or she is being ministered to, he/she will tune in and listen, and will give.
If not...oh well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
