Articles for tag: Livestreaming

SPOTLIGHT: Alvadore Christian Church (Junction City, OR)

Exactly What This Very Small Church Needed Advancing their technology has never been a top priority at Alvadore Christian Church, a congregation of about 65 people in the small, rural town of Junction City, Oregon. It’s not that senior pastor Marcus Omdahl is old-fashioned. Omdahl is a sharp young leader with a wife and school-age daughter. But until recently, he understood that livestreaming was not something the congregation or the community was likely to embrace. Of course, that all changed with the spread of COVID-19 early in 2020. Immediately, Alvadore Christian, like so many other churches, suspended in-person worship services

‘Best Christian Workplaces’ Selected (Plus News Briefs)

The Best Christian Workplace Institute has honored 157 faith-based organizations as “2020’s Certified Best Christian Workplaces.” Among those churches, mission organizations, and parachurch ministries honored: • 2|42 Community Church, Brighton, Mich. • Canyon Ridge Christian Church, Las Vegas, Nev. • Christ’s Church of the Valley, Peoria, Ariz. • Compass Christian Church, Chandler, Ariz. • Kingsway Christian Church, Avon, Ind. • Northridge Christian Church, Milledgeville, Ga. • Southeast Christian Church, Parker, Colo. • StoneBridge Christian Church, Omaha, Neb. • Summit Christian Church, Sparks, Nev. • Traders Point Christian Church, Indianapolis • CDF Capital, Irvine, Calif. • Christian Children’s Home of Ohio, Wooster,

Opportunity and Open Doors

When the Pandemic Hit, Our Leaders Went to Work to Discover the Best Ways for Us to Serve Our Community . . . One of our pastors, while addressing the coaching staff at a local college last year, described Ekklesia Christian Church as opportunists. Any time God cracks open a door, even slightly, and we see a target that aligns with our core values and seems beneficial for the kingdom, we run at it. In our six years as a church, God has opened doors that have brought about immeasurably more than all we asked or imagined. Perhaps that’s why Saturday, March 14,

Different Environments, Different Approaches (Ministering in the Midst of COVID-19)

Urban, Suburban, and Rural Church Leaders Share Their Experiences of Leading Through a Pandemic By Chris Moon No two churches are the same, even in how they have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, the virus has left a mark on Restoration Movement congregations and pastors across the country. For some churches and pastors, especially in rural, conservative areas of the country, the pandemic seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. The major difficulty was figuring out how to get the internet to cooperate during a brief closure. “There’s a lot of things you face like that

Southeast Assists Smaller Churches with Their Online Worship Services (Plus Other "Wins")

By Jim Nieman When Southeast Christian Church in Parker, Colo., learned that a nearby church was making its technical and production equipment and expertise available to some churches displaced because of COVID-19 outbreak, they realized they should do the same. In fact, “We were embarrassed we didn’t think of it first,” said Tom Fitzgerald, executive pastor with Southeast. Staff at Southeast were aware of a couple of churches meeting in school buildings that have been closed because of the outbreak. Those churches weren’t able to gather to worship or to effectively produce their worship services to share via the Internet.

Communion in a Socially Distant World

By Michael C. Mack If you were to look up the word communion in a dictionary, you’d see it defined as “intimate fellowship or rapport.” It comes from the same word as community or communication or communal. Under normal circumstances, this is a communal experience. So, how do we accomplish this aspect of Communion in a time of social distancing? First, we should remember that social distancing does not mean social isolation. For now, we are wise not to get together in large gatherings, but we can still find ways to love one another, carry each other’s burdens, encourage one

Technology and the Church

By Jerry Harris Modern technology is an incredible thing, and it’s especially impressive to someone my age. When I was a child, I used to wonder at the people I knew who were around before airplanes, mass-production of cars, and the discovery of antibiotics. With technology developing at light speed, I have become one of those people today that young people look at quizzically. I grew up when cars had painted steel dashboards, pointy control knobs, and a shelf beneath the back window for kids to sleep on during drives. The only “airbag” in our car was my mother’s arm

SPOTLIGHT: Hazelwood Christian Church, Pittsburgh, Pa.

By Michael C. Mack A 212 percent attendance growth rate over one year gets your attention. Hazelwood Christian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew from 32 to 100 in 2018, and it turns out technology is a significant reason for that growth. Hazelwood’s building sits in an older, heavily Catholic neighborhood of urban Pittsburgh, an area that is on the rebound in business and population growth. Senior minister Ed Gratton came to the church in 2016 after they had gone through a split that dropped attendance to 15. “On a good Sunday we had 20,” said Gratton with a chuckle. But

March Madness Ideas

By Michael C. Mack It”s March, baby! Don”t miss all the “trifectas” and “dipsy-doo dunk-a-roos” during all those “NCAA knee-knockers”! Here are two prime-time ideas for your ministry this month: March Madness for Missions. Horizon Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colorado (www.horizoncrc.org), offers a bracket challenge for a cause. When participants pay their sign-up fees, they write in the name of a local ministry outside of Horizon. They then fill out the designated Internet NCAA bracket in the church”s group. When the winner is announced, the local ministry selected by the bracket-challenge winner receives all the winnings as a charitable

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