Why are you changing things? I hate change! (We do too...sometimes)

Electronic Media Ministry

Change? Why are we changing? What changes are coming?

Well, you know, the old saying is “change is inevitable.” That holds true in most every case in our daily lives; however we need to remember that God’s Word never changes! Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8). Not so much in the world of television and Media….

We were notified earlier this year that we would be losing our network portal of AngelOne on Dish Network. That caused a frenzy at our offices in the fact that we would be using about 10 million potential households. We had to change! Whether we wanted to or not, change was coming. After weeks of negotiations, discussions, seeking additional funding, we thought we had the replacement in place. We found out just this week that the network that had offered a slot decided that we were not a good fit for them. This notification caused us to begin the wheels rolling all over again…and unfortunately, we do not have a broadcast time set for February at this time for Dish Network. We will work diligently to secure a new portal there as quickly as we can.

In the meantime, we were able to make a few tweaks and changes to some of our other broadcast portals and we will have some exciting announcements coming soon for those as well.

Satan may have hindered us just a bit, but God will always prevail! Change sometimes is uncomfortable, but, when we realize that there is always opportunity in change, this broadens our hopes to reach many more people in the years to come!

With this said, we also have been measuring different tools in close relation. We have noticed a huge trend across the country of those that are now “cutting the cord” to their cable bills and are now streaming much more than ever. Allow us to take this time to remind our viewers and supporters that we are currently streaming and on-demand on ALL streaming devices (Roku, AppleTV, FireTV, iOS, Android and more). Our apps program has been a huge success since it’s launch and we are very excited about the future of internet style media. Why? Multiple reasons excite us! First off, you can watch on YOUR schedule, uninterrupted, and be able to pause, rewind, and watch the episode many times. Secondly, the reach is far greater than we could ever afford on network or broadcast television. Not every household can have cable or satellite, but if you have the internet, you can purchase a streaming device for as little as $25 and in a matter of minutes be watching The Gospel of Christ! One of the biggest aspects that we have benefitted from already is the demand for online content decreases the demand for physical content. This means a great reduction in the costs of production and shipping of our Free Media platform. We are still sending out a lot of DVDs as you can see in those stats; however, Digital Downloads and app views are greatly increasing. This cost savings can then be applied to other areas in which we would like to press forward such as search engine keyword search promotion, etc. Here is an example of that. In January, we tested a very small budget through Google Search. In about three weeks time, with less than $100, over 10,000 people saw our website, of which 296 of those clicked forward to the website. 240 of those did a simple Google search for “the gospel.” Can you imagine if we were able to expand this portal over the next several months? Those stats aren’t really a good representation of how many we can reach either. When you set a daily budget such as we have in testing, once you reach your budget, the ads turn off until the following day. So, we may be seen all day long some days, but others, we may be seen up until 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning and that is it! Our team is constantly monitoring ideas and programs such as this to ensure that we are reaching the potential that we can, as effectively, and efficiently as possible. After all, how much is a soul worth? A few dollars spent to establish a Bible study, or to enhance a discussion between Christians is money well spent!

Field Rep Program

We are getting ready for one of our biggest weeks of the year! One of the great attributes in the Field Rep program is the ability and opportunity that we have to visit congregations, but, that usually means we are limited to meeting just a few people every month. Not this next week! We will be setting up a meet & greet booth at the Freed-Hardeman Lectureship in Henderson, Tennessee from Sunday to Thursday (Feb 3-7). This is a chance for us to meet many of you that interact with our program, as well as establish new relationships. If you are attending, please stop by the booth. If we are not there, pick up a card and send an email or text message. We would love to visit with you!

After this week, we are back to the roads to visit many congregations. Our schedules are starting to be pretty booked over the next month or so, but we would still like to schedule more. With that said, we are also seeking men that could potentially work in our Field Rep program. If you know of a part-time, retired, or non-located preacher that might be a possible fit to the Field Rep program, please have them reach out to us by email or phone! We would love to find out more about them and their desire to spread the gospel message to any and all that they can!

Until the winds of March breeze on in….our prayers of thanksgiving for you and your family.

~Joey

Field Rep Coordinator/Evangelist
Electronic Media Minister