Making Media Work for the Local Church
Russ Reid
January 1, 1984
Bored? Buy a Mustang! Need romance? Ultrabrite toothpaste will bring it your way! Or, perhaps, it's power you want? Then get yourself a Diner's Club card. And, if you're still missing something-say a feeling of machismo-Marlboro cigarettes will make you master of all you survey. All nonsense, of course, except that millions of people respond to such appeals to their basic needs. We may deplore the deception used in so much contemporary advertising and the "bromides" that are offered as solutions to genuine problems, but we have to admit one thing-Madison Avenue knows where it hurts. In spite of such misuse of the media-or perhaps because of it-many of us long to put the media to work effectively, and for good cause, in the local church. Haven't you ever wished you had the budget of the television preachers? Or wondered if you were confined forever to listing your sermon topics in the Saturday church page? Aren't there any low-cost, effective ways you can use these God-given tools that dominate our everyday world? Actually you can use mass media to attract people to Jesus Christ as well as to his church. You might not make as much noise as McDonald's, Gillette, or General Mills, but if you understand a little about the process and dynamics of communication, then print and electronic media can help you. Begin with people, not equipment
Jesus had no Saturday edition in which to buy a half-page ad, but he did know where and how to start communicating. He knew that the real need of his audience was to be reconciled to God. But he didn't start there. He began with what we call "felt needs"-those deep-down hurting places that we keep covered from public view. Contrast Jesus' message with the sermon topics in a recent issue of the Los Angeles ...
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