By CTA- Christ to All
Everyone is well aware of the challenges of doing life and ministry during the pandemic. Among the struggles, though, some great opportunities have arisen as well. One of those opportunities for the men’s ministry group at Bible Baptist Church in Kissimmee, FL, is their podcast. They developed the podcast to be able to share a daily devotion in a time when they couldn’t meet as a group or church.
The podcast is a great example of harnessing what they had in order to make sure the men’s group continued to stay connected and in the Word. It’s a nice, creative solution that also helped the entire congregation. But it’s even more interesting because the men’s ministry group was very new. It was launched two years ago and started with a Saturday morning Bible study time with Pastor and the men who came. From there it expanded to alternating between Bible study and performing a service project for either a congregation member or the community each Saturday.
Fast forward to the pandemic and the challenge became to unite the group through technology. Tim Schmidt, who piloted the start of the group, wanted to find a way to bring together a group of guys—of various ages and in all stages of technology adoption—and wasn’t entirely sure how to do it. Then he came across a devotion book (one of CTA’s) the church had given out at Father’s Day the previous year. Looking at these devotions through fresh eyes, he saw short devotions that could become part of a daily podcast.
Tim contacted CTA to obtain permission to use the devotions for this project and then recruited each of the guys in the group to sign up for days they would read. The pastor recorded the common introduction for the series, and the podcast was born. The men’s group regularly had 12–15 men each week, but the numbers of people they were reaching with the podcast were much larger. In a congregation with an average of 300 in worship, they had a high of 52 listening households, and averaged between 30–40 per day. As they continue the program, they’re going to open up the daily readings to the entire congregation, adding in female voices and recruiting the youth group, as well.
Tim noted that over the years they had started many programs at the church, but over time the manpower needed to sustain them wasn’t always possible. He really wanted to create an infrastructure that would be sustainable and connected throughout the congregation. When Tim’s work obligations meant that he had to step back from leadership of the group, three men stepped up to take over the reins. Tim has been recording and editing each of the podcast episodes as a self-educated volunteer, but recently discovered some hidden talent within another congregation member who is professionally trained to do audio recording and editing. So once again, the Lord has provided the people who can come alongside and sustain this men’s ministry group.
“I can’t wait to see where the Lord will lead us in the future. I am very excited for the podcast to grow and touch more people with God’s Word, and perhaps add some different ideas into it as well,” he said.
We would love to talk with you about your men’s ministry program. If you would like to share your group’s activities, please contact editor@ctainc.com.
Editor’s note: Many of us have learned to adapt in our ministries over the last year. Check out this article telling the story of how a men's ministry has stay connected!
