For the past several years, worship services of Forest Lake Church in Apopka, Florida, have been streamed via the Internet.2 In recent months, a dramatic expansion of our Web church ministry has led to the appointment of a volunteer Web pastor who oversees our Web church ministry and ministers to our growing Internet congregation. This article is intended to bring inspiration and practical insights to you as you consider how to extend the impact of your preaching ministry through a Web church ministry in your local church.
During the early development of our Web church, we were hampered by limited bandwidth. Only 40 individual connections or “sites” could participate in our Web church at any given time. Through the generous support of a visionary donor and the creative leadership of our Web church team, we have been able to expand our bandwidth. Currently, we have 200 to 300 sites that join us during our four hours of live video streaming each Sabbath. Those sites represent more than 500 individuals within our local community and around the world who have found a spiritual home at Forest Lake Church through our Web church ministry.
One of those sites is a family of six who lives in our local community. When Rosie Finch’s mother had a stroke in December 2004, Rosie; her husband, Delwin; and her two sisters decided to relocate to Orlando and have their parents live with them. Shortly after arriving in the Orlando area, they began looking for a church home that would meet the needs of their homebound parents. They discovered that Forest Lake Church had live video streaming every Sabbath, so they formed a house church where they point their Web browser to www.forestlakechurch.org for all three worship services every Sabbath.
Delwin’s participation with the Forest Lake Web church led to involvement in one of the church’s affinity groups and a meeting with Tim Goff, associate pastor for discipleship. Pastor Goff notified the Forest Lake Church senior pastor, Dr. Derek Morris, who then visited Delwin and his family in their home. When the Forest Lake Church family became aware that Delwin’s inlaws, Miriam and Enos Dalley, were homebound, the quilting ministry decided to give Miriam one of their handcrafted quilts. This proved to be a very meaningful experience for the entire family. When Pastor Morris shared this with the church family one subsequent Sabbath, everyone in attendance, on campus or online, was able to see what kind of impact the Web church can have on those who attend. The Dalley/Finch family is just one of many families that are looking for a church to call home and found it through the Forest Lake Church Web ministry.
Web church: a blessing to those who cannot attend church
Web church is a valuable resource for a variety of individuals who are unable to attend a local church. Barbara sent the following email from Nashville, Tennessee: “I connected to the www.forestlakechurch.org Web site, and have already enjoyed quite a few of the archived sermons there! In fact, I was able to watch your church service live this morning as I was snowed in!! Your church is such a happy, alive one!! May God continue to bless all your efforts!!” Cynthia wrote from New Mexico: “I have been worshiping with your church on-line since Jan. 2005. I live in New Mexico and I join you for worship live at 6:30 AM MST. I am always brought closer to God and the Holy Spirit.” In response to a recent sermon, Aleta sent this email from British Columbia: “What a powerful message! I pray that God will bless this series! Thank you for your Web church. We are living in Northern British Columbia, Canada. We’ve been without a Seventh-day Adventist church family for most of 25 years in the north. God bless you!”
Web church provides resources for those who are actively involved in service for Christ. Because services are archived, people are able to “timeshift” the church service and listen or watch at a different time from when the service actually occurred. Gene wrote from North Carolina: “We attended church through your Webcast today at www.forestlakechurch.organd we were also able to watch the archived sermon from last week. I felt motivated to send a quick email of thanks. The Webcast is a great idea!” Sammy sent this note from Sydney, Australia: “I surfed on the Internet the other day and stumbled onto your Web site. Thank God for people like you. Now I can prepare my sermons easier by looking into your terrific sermon archives. How I wish I was a member of your church and could enjoy listening to your sermons live. I am not just a receiver of this spiritual blessing, but I am an extension of your tongue and voice to reach a group of worshipers who would not have heard the message before. Thank you for this great blessing you have made available to us.” Luiz and Antonieta are active church leaders in Central Brazil. They come home from church each week and log in to www.forestlakechurch.org. They sent this note: “We listen online. Thank you for being a blessing in our lives!”
Participation in Web church can connect people with other resources on your church Web site. Karen wrote from Urbana, Illinois: “I’ve just finished watching the Sabbath sermon and wanted to thank you for presenting the beginning of Daniel’s story both “there” and “here” in Illinois. This isn’t the first time I’ve been grateful for your biblical insights and your willingness to be used of God to share it with others. I found the www.forestlakechurch.org link after reading the article on your Life and Teachings of Jesus class in the Web version of the Southern Tidings. I am looking forward to being a silent part of your classes via the Internet as well as in your Web site audience each week. Thank you again and may God continue to bless you, your family, and your ministry.”
Web church: across denominational and geographic frontiers
Web church reaches across denominational lines. Chantal, a Baptist Christian from Bristol, England, sent this email: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your ministry. It is such a blessing to me, more than you will ever know. God has given me answers to my prayers and questions through your preaching. This afternoon I listened to ‘How to treat lost sheep’ and before you asked people to come forward I was already on my knees in front of my computer in tears. I hope you do not mind but I have told many of my friends and family, Christians and lost sheep, about your church Web site.” Elizabeth, an Episcopalian Christian from Maitland, Florida, sent this response after joining us online as part of our Web church: “I am finding it difficult to locate a church home near to Maitland with a bright, God-filled minister and believing church members. I’ll listen to you at 10:00 AM on the Web this Sabbath. May you be bold and courageous.”
Audio podcasting, with downloadable MP3 files, is opening new doors for ministry. Here is a response from a new participant in our Web church ministry: “I am going to borrow the kids’ iPod and give this a try myself. I am always on the road between Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Orlando, checking on construction projects. This would give me a chance to listen to some sermons. Thanks for sharing!” A pastor from California writes: “I’ve been listening through iTunes and I plan to contact you about use of materials!”
We are currently in the process of adding video podcasting. This allows video files of our church services to be downloaded to video iPods and other handheld audio/video devices. One of our church members has offered to set up the video podcasting at no charge. “I’m so grateful for this Web church ministry! My parents, who live in northern Idaho, download MP3 files every week. Now they will be able to download video files!”
With several hundred sites joining us each week, we are challenged with the task of connecting with our Web church family. In response to this challenge, Forest Lake Church has just appointed a volunteer Web church pastor. When Pastor Morris first visited with Delwin and his family in their home, he learned that Delwin had served as a pastor for 12 years before transitioning to a career as a computer specialist. Now God had connected Delwin’s family to the Forest Lake Web church, and God had also uniquely prepared Delwin to become the first Web church pastor of the Forest Lake Church! Delwin and his family have already been blessed personally by our Web church ministry, so who better to understand the needs of our Web church “congregation”?
Here are some of the ways that Delwin is connecting with our Web church family:
Adding Web-audience–specific content to our Web church services, inviting participants to connect with their Web church pastor and others, share news from Web church attendees, and tie viewers into the larger church family.
Updating the content on the church Web site at www.forestlakechurch.org, making it easier for Web church participants to interact and become actively involved with their extended church family.
Developing a database of Web church members, making it easier to communicate with them via email and telephone.
Developing and distributing an online publication targeting Web church members to supplement the current church newsletter.
We estimate that within the next 12 months we will have identified and established meaningful connections with hundreds of Web church participants. Some of these Web church members will be local residents who are unable to travel to the church campus each week. Others will be visitors from the local community who are looking for a safe way to “check out” the church. Still others will be Adventist Christians around the world who sense the need for additional spiritual nurture and encouragement. Whatever their background and motivation, each one of these Web church participants is precious to God!
One person’s experience
One of our Web church members, Evie Salzmann, recently gave a testimony at Forest Lake Church, telling how the Web church had helped her to come home. Evie was born in Haiti in 1941.
Her parents were Holocaust survivors who had fl ed from Vienna, Austria, in 1938. Evie’s father was Jewish and her mother was Roman Catholic. Her father allowed her to be christened as a baby in the Roman Catholic Church in an attempt to protect her from Hitler’s persecution of the Jews, but Evie grew up in a home that practiced the Jewish faith. Thanks to the witness of Pastor and Mrs. Lebedoff, Seventh-day Adventist missionaries in Haiti, Evie’s parents gave their permission for her to attend Forest Lake Academy (FLA) in Apopka, Florida, for the last three years of high school. While a student at FLA, Evie learned more about Jesus, her Messiah. In her senior year, she confessed her love for Jesus through baptism.
When her father heard about her decision, he strongly opposed her commitment to follow Jesus. He forbade any further contact with Seventh-day Adventist Christians. Evie had hoped to attend Southern Missionary College, but due to her father’s opposition, she ended up at a secular institution. She later married a Jewish man and has practiced the Jewish faith for most of her life. But Evie always knew, deep in her heart, that Jesus was her Messiah.
Some months ago, Evie began attending Forest Lake Church online via its Web church at www.forestlakechurch.org. She usually participates in all three services that are streamed live every Sabbath. While watching a sermon from the series Words of Blessing—A Fresh Look at the Ten Commandments, Evie came under a strong conviction that she needed to honor God with her finances. She wrote to Dr. Derek Morris, senior pastor of the Forest Lake Church, and asked for some tithe envelopes because she wanted to “stop stealing from God.” Evie shared with Pastor Morris that she made some major adjustments in her shopping habits in order to honor God in her finances!
Evie now attends church regularly online every Sabbath as part of the Forest Lake Web church. On Sabbath, May 12, 2007, 48 years after her baptism, Evie asked to become a member of the Forest Lake Church by profession of faith! She traveled more than three hours from south Florida to testify to her new church family that she has always believed that Jesus is her Messiah, and that it was time to come home!
The Prayers and Squares quilting ministry of the Forest Lake Church, under the leadership of JoAnn Roth, presented Evie with a beautiful quilt to commemorate this joyful occasion. Embroidered on the quilt were these words: “Welcome home, Evie!”
We believe that a Web church ministry can help thousands of precious children of God to come home! Why not consider starting a Web church ministry at your local church?3
1 Available at www.ministerialassociation.com or www.preachwithpower.com.
2 Worship services begin at 8:45 A.M., 10:00 A.M., and 11:30 A.M. eastern standard time every Saturday morning. The entire morning is Web-streamed beginning at 8:45 A.M. and continuing until 1:00 P.M. Other services and classes are streamed throughout the week. For a current schedule, see the church Web site at www.forestlakechurch.org.
3 For more information on starting a Web church ministry, contact Pastor Delwin Finch at dfi[email protected].
