Two Holston churches receive
grants for TV advertisements
by Annette Bender
Two Holston churches are among 37 in the denomination receiving grants for television advertising during the upcoming Lenten season.
Boones Creek United Methodist Church, in Johnson City District, and Colonial Heights UMC, in Kingsport District, each will receive about $2,000 for local TV ads shown for a two-week period before and after Easter. The congregations will match the grants for a total of about $4,000 each for TV advertising.
The congregations applied for grants as part of the United Methodist Church's ongoing Igniting Ministry media campaign. Jackie Vaughan, an Igniting Ministry staff member based in Nashville, said that all 37 local churches applying for grants were rewarded with funds.
"Many conferences, like Holston Conference, haven't had the money to participate in the matching grant program like they did in previous years," Vaughan said. "Because we didn't pay out millions to the conferences this year, we had more money for local churches."
The Rev. Katherine Hale, associate pastor at Colonial Heights, said her church applied for a matching grant after the success of an Igniting Ministry door-hanger campaign during the 2003 back-to-school season. The congregation ordered 3,000 door hangers from the Igniting Ministry website for $400. (Door hangers are invitational flyers with church info, designed for easy placement on frontdoor handles.) Then they sent out 45 teams to distribute door hangers in the community.
Within two weeks, Colonial Heights had 15 prospective church members who came because of the door hangers, compared with 30 newcomers over an eight-month period who came because of home visitation. "The door hangers told us we were going in the right direction," Hale said, so church leaders decided to pursue TV advertising.
Boones Creek was inspired to apply for an Igniting Ministry grant after a non-denominational preacher in the community publicly criticized female clergy, saying they violated the Bible's teachings. Concerned about how the negative comments might affect his new pastor, Witness Team Chair Jim McClain approached the Rev. Jane Taylor about advertising their church in a positive way.
"He was on fire," Taylor said, smiling as she remembered McClain's enthusiasm. At the time, Taylor told McClain about an Igniting Ministry mailing she had received. "It wouldn't cost us anything to apply," she said then.
When the commercials air in April, they'll be like the Igniting Ministry commercials viewers have seen on national TV, with local information about Colonial Heights or Boones Creek at the end. Colonial Heights commercials will show on Fox, the Weather Channel and Discovery. Boones Creek commercials will show on Charter cable stations.
Both Colonial Heights and Boones Creek have developed follow-up strategies for the visitors they hope will be attracted to their churches. Boones Creek, for example, has a new "mugging program," Taylor said. After the first visit, one of 10 visitation teams will take a church-personalized coffee mug to the guest's home. After newcomers visit the church for the second time, the pastor will visit them.
Before the advertisements air, Colonial Heights hopes to become a certified Igniting Ministry "welcoming congregation," Hale said. Congregations may receive certification after meeting several requirements to become a visitor-friendly church. Only one other Holston church, First Broad Street UMC in Kingsport District, has received certification so far. In addition, only one other Holston church has received an Igniting Ministry media grant: Munsey Memorial UMC in Johnson City District, during Lent 2001.
Church leaders don't expect TV advertising to be the end of their guest-seeking efforts, however.
"Advertising can be helpful, but it's not a cure-all," Hale said. "When you're working with individuals, inviting them to church, it's a perpetual thing. You have to keep working at it throughout the year and throughout the years."
Vaughan reminds local churches that the Igniting Ministry office will seek the last grant applications of the quadrennium May 1 through June 1. Grants will later be awarded for the 2004 back-to-school season. For more information about grants, welcoming certification or other Igniting Ministry offerings, call (877) 281-6535 or visit www.ignitingministry.org.
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