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Kings Way Baptist uses podcasting for outreach
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Published: October 11, 2008
Following a growing trend among churches nationwide, Kings Way Baptist Church in Concord is using technology to reach from the pulpit to the people.
The church offers podcasts, an online system for tithing and blogs on its Web site to keep young parishioners up to date on its missions. The church also uses green screens to record backgrounds for its weekly video announcements.
"Most of our demographic is about 35 years old," said Randy Price, the church's director of creative arts and business administrator. "They're a pretty tech savvy group anyway."
Price said another reason technology has become a central part of Kings Way Baptist's daily activities is the staff and its goals.
"We do a lot of demographic studies," Price said. "Just because it may be something we grew up doing, it may not communicate or it may not be relevant today. We try to stay current."
Podcasting grew out of Kings Way Baptist's goals for the future. The church plans to either broadcast its weekly services online or on a local television network in the future. For now, though, the church digitally records each of its three weekend services and creates DVDs out of each one. The staff also produces podcasts to train for online broadcasting.
The benefit to podcasts and online broadcasts is twofold, Price said. It allows the church to reach those who cannot get to church because of illness or other reasons. And it also allows the church to market itself to potential new members.
"We found that a lot of people like to investigate churches anonymously," Price said. "They kind of like to see it from a distance. We're a down to earth eclectic congregation so we like to get that out there for people to sample."
Marketing is key for a church that is relatively young and trying to expand around the globe.
Kings Way Baptist will celebrate its 10th anniversary in November. The church has had its own building at 7550 Ruben Linker Road in Concord for about three years. It now has about 850 members and has an even larger turnout at its services.
The church has been expanding to other locations in the area and in other countries.
"Technology, for us, is just another tool in terms of our communication," Price said. "Our ministry is global. We have started over 50 churches in places around the world. One reason we focus a lot on technology is so we can package our ministry and send it around the planet."
Kings Way Baptist has a goal to establish 1,000 churches in 10 years. So far, it has established churches in Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. It also started a Spanish congregation in Charlotte that now has about 700 members and operates a free medical clinic.
Kings Way has researched other churches' efforts to use technology before starting its own programs.
"We haven't come across anyone in Cabarrus County doing what we're doing," Price said. "We looked at one church — Elevation Church — in Charlotte and have also visited some in California and Atlanta. We'd like to learn from other people's trial and error as opposed to our own as much as we can."
Kings Way Baptist has also modernized its tithing system by using an online payment service called Click and Pledge that allows the church to collect donations and sell tickets to church events online.
"We've been doing it for about two years and it has increased donations," said Price, who oversees the program.
Click and Pledge, a seven year old company based in Blacksburg, Va., works with about 8,000 nonprofit organizations, which include churches, in 45 countries. The set up fee for its program is $50 and then the company charges about 4.5 percent per transaction, said Jim Barney, vice president of marketing for Click and Pledge.
Barney said an increasing number of organizations are using online donation companies to raise money. In addition to churches and nonprofits, political campaigns also are using Click and Pledge's services.
Lately, churches have been calling to ask for kiosks where their parishioners can swipe a card to make a contribution or tithe. Barney said there are security concerns with that idea, but it's a possibility for the future.
While the online payment system is a convenience, Price said the church still prefers that parishioners set up online payments through their own banks and make large donations directly to the church to avoid the 4.5 percent fee.
Want to see what Kings Way Baptist is doing? Visit the church Web site at www.kwbc.net.
• If you have a story idea about your church, please contact Karen Cimino Wilson at cimino.karen@gmail.com.
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