“Love as Christ loved.” That’s what we strive to do for everyone who walks through the doors of Daytona Beach Seventh-day Adventist Church. And through this pandemic, that desire has extended to our online ministry as well. Whether in-person, on Facebook Live, on YouTube Live, or on Zoom, reaching our community through a “love first” mentality—and leading as many as possible into a relationship with Jesus—has been the ultimate goal of every event we plan.
A few weeks ago, we were trying to figure out what to do next to reach people in our community in the midst of all this chaos. We considered many options. But most of the digital options currently available don’t address our desire to connect broadly with our community. We want this effort to make a clear, significant difference in people’s lives.
Other options will require us to put in a lot of work ourselves, to develop and implement the program. For instance, recently we reached out to SALT (Service and Love Together) to begin exploring a partnership with them, and we’re continuing to move forward with them. But that will take time and considerable effort. We’ll also continue developing our digital evangelistic resources through Adventology which we’ve been doing since even before the pandemic began. But frankly, at this point we’re tired. I’m tired. My leaders are tired. We need something simpler.
Then, out of the blue, the answer I was looking for came straight to my email inbox. I was invited to a 1-hour webinar where it became clear what our church would be involved with this spring.
We decided to host Indestructible this April.
Indestructible is an all-new series from Faith for Today and SermonView Evangelism Marketing that promises to deliver compelling content without the hassle. Indestructible is like a modern version of a NET meeting, which was designed to use the technology of the day to present some of our strongest speakers, in a way that connected people with the local church. Indestructible is similar but with content more relatable to our climate.
Here are our top 3 reasons why we decided to host Indestructible:
1. It will reach a lot more people.
How many events do you know that have a nationwide following? Let’s face it, community outreach is challenging during non-Covid times, but it’s been twice as challenging during the pandemic. As pastors, we’ve had to learn, and relearn, the best ways to engage new audiences from behind a screen, and, so far, we haven’t had a lot of resources to do so.
Indestructible promises to be different. Faith for Today is the oldest continuous religious broadcast in the world, with over 4 million viewers weekly, making Pastor Roy Ice an internationally acclaimed speaker. His energy and charisma will work great for an online broadcast.
Unlike trying to reach a cold audience, people will be hearing from someone they already trust andhave a relationship with. Plus, there’s a national ad budget being tossed into the mix. That’s a powerful combination! Given its scope, this event promises to reach a different demographic—one that we wouldn’t be able to reach without hosting an event like this.
2. The subject matter is compelling.
Right now, people in our community are looking for an anchor in the middle of all this chaos. We’re always looking for ways to bridge our church with the community. We have enjoyed a great relationship with AdventHealth and their outreach program, Creation Health, over the years, targeting people’s felt needs in ministry partnership. That’s exactly what I believe Indestructible will do with powerfully up-to-date material.
Pastor Ice will present current, relational topics that touch on his AWARE principles from Lifestyle Magazine: Attitude, Wellness, Activities, Relationship, Existence. During each nightly episode he’ll show interviews with celebrities from his program and deliver real-world tactics for helping people in your communities grow in their relationships and start living a life of purpose, all from a biblical perspective.
3. We get to be at the center of all the excitement.
Viewers across the country will be invited to access this program exclusively through a local church portal, putting our church front and center. That’s really exciting! This isn’t a media ministry sending us leads weeks or months later. The guests in our community will be in our portal, start to finish, so we get to build the relationships immediately. This event will spark relationships as we gather online with friends and neighbors to hear a timely message of hope and wholeness.
Hosting any evangelistic event is a big undertaking, and it’s hard to know how to move forward in this pandemic. But it’s also something we can’t afford not to do. The lifeblood of the church is connection, and this type of relevant event will build connections and improve our reputation. Over time, we’ll have the opportunity to invite the curious to attend our Sabbath services and ultimately grow members. I believe Indestructible has the potential for all that, and then some.
We’re really excited to be part of this nationwide event and to reach new people in our community who are hungry for hope and a message of healing from God’s Word. That’s why we’ve decided to host this Indestructible this April.
Pastor Travis Walker, MDiv has been serving as pastor of the Daytona Beach Seventh-day Adventist church for 5 years. He finds real joy in proclaiming the Everlasting Gospel and helping seeking individuals to develop a deeper relationship with Christ. He is also the creator, host and editor of Adventology, a podcast and YouTube Channel that focuses on asking the big questions of life concerning God, faith, truth, and eternity from a Seventh-day Adventist perspective.