What would happen if there were a healthy, vibrant, multiplying Adventist church in every city, in every county, in every state in the North American Division?
What if there was one healthy, vibrant, & multiplying Adventist church for every 10,000 individuals in the North American Division?
There would be a lot of churches!
In fact if we had one healthy, vibrant, & multipling Adventist church for every 10,000 individuals there would be 35,000 churches throughout the United States and Canada.
Some one may ask: “Why would we want that many churches?”
The simple answer would be, “Because we are called to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ & His soon coming in the context of the Three Angels Messages with all 350,000,000 persons in our Division (and beyond) Matt. 28:18-20.”
You may ask, “why 1 for every 10k?” I would encourage you to read my blog post by just said title: 1 For Every 10k, but to answer quickly and succintly studies have found that a church of 200 individuals can realisitically only have an impact on 10,000 persons.
So how are we doing with this goal, this need of 35,000 churches?
Well we are a little behind? We currenly have 5326 churches.
But wait at the top we said we are in need of 35,000 healthy, vibrant, multiplying Adventist churches in the North American Division.
Dr. Joseph Kidder in his excellent book, “The Big Four” points out that in Adventism 80% of all churches in North America are Plateauing or in decline. That means that out of the 5326 churches that we already have in existence only 1,066 of those are healthy, vibrant, multiplying churches, while 4,260 churches have stopped growing and are whithering.
Which is why we Jason Lombard–a marketing, web design, creative type–& myself–a pastor, talks a lot type–started Speiro Media Ministries.
To plant new churches & re-plant the churches that have lost their health, their vibrancy, & their ability to multiply.
Speiro Media Ministries is a ministry with a deep commitment to seeing local churches change lives for eternity, a deep belief that God will still do the impossible (even plant 30,000 Adventist churches and revive 4,260 others), and the deep conviction that as believers in Christ we have no other option than to give our lives for the salvation of others!
So how will Speiro work?
The best way to understand how Speiro will work is simply to take you through our intended process & to do that I will use a local town that has been on our radar ever since this conviction and dream began to formulate in our hearts.
Kingsburg, CA.
In Kingsburg, CA a city of 11,537 persons there is currently no Seventh-day Adventist Church. We believe this must change, so what do we do about it?
- We establish connections in Kingsburg through media content. How? Through direct mailing, google ads, Facebook ads, hard print ads, and various other marketing techniques. All of these things would direct people to our website. On this site people would be able to hear messages, full length & devotional length. They would be able to read blogs, sign-up for interactive Bible studies, and receive prayer support. In many ways your typical media ministry website content in a new & updated package.
- When, through the analysis of data, we see that we have a decent following within Kingsburg we will then advertise & hold a series of meetings, aka public evangelism, though with a twist.
- The twist to these meetings is that almost simultaneously we will begin, through media provided to meeting attenders, & through short training sessions held in conjunction with the meetings train people for what it means to be part of a church. The meetings will not just be evangelistic or doctrinal, but they will be practical as well.
- One of the key differences with Speiro is that at the end of the meetings, rather than just baptizing and leaving, we will seek to establish a “permanent work” a church plant in the city of Kingsburg. (This of course will be done in accordance and in conjunction with the local Seventh-day Adventist Conference).
- Speiro to unburden the conference will initially provide resources to the local body for a Bible worker to help oversee the church as a local elder.
- The evangelist, right now that is me:), will continue to preach to the local body on a weekly basis. How? Through a satellite feed from the Visalia Seventh-day Adventist & or The Ark Seventh-day Adventist Church.
- Continued training will continue to take place in the new church plant, and a continued proactive media presence will remain in Kingsburg to support the new believers as they take on the responsibility of reaching their family, friends, coworkers, & neighbors to grow their church.
- End result: A healthy, vibrant, multiplying Adventist church.
Ellen White wrote:
“In every city that is entered, a solid foundation is to be laid for permanent work.” –Testimonies for the Church, p. 38.
We want to be faithful to that counsel! Our media ministry will not be the typical big coverage, TV, expansive meetings, famous speakers. It will follow more in the steps of the greatest church planter ever, Paul. Ours will be a missionary journey to go from city to city through modern technology seeking to establish churches that the good news of Jesus & His soon coming will be more widely spread through.
One of the other components of Speiro is helping to revitalize plateaued or dying churches. What is our intended plan to accomplish this agenda?
Well it is three fold:
- Quality Content–For churches that are plateaued and dead without a consistent pastor, there is often a lack of consistent, cohesive, & quality preaching. This prevents growth in the local church, because the #1 reason given by people, even in this post-modern world, for why they choose to attend a church is the Preaching! (90%). Speiro through satellite will provide a consistent, cohesive message that was written with the knowledge of that specific church in mind. Some people ask, will people really come to see a preacher on a screen, the overwhelming answer is YES! Hundreds if not thousands of churches are utilizing this method of providing quality preaching, and sometimes even quality worship to other venues.
- Experienced Training–Our team will take the things we have learned in turning a plateaued church into a growing church, combine them with the things we have learned through our church plant and provide training for these churches. Simple things that won’t cost money, just a love for reaching people, and a desire to grow. The reason this training is so important is because although preaching will get people to choose your church, if we want to keep them in the church we must love them, care for them, and get them involved! If not they will eventually go out the back door.
- Evangelistic Support–Speiro will, like with the church plants flood the area with content, seeking to make connections, and leading them to their local church. We will also in time provide a live evangelistic series, and help offset the costs of Bible Worker that will assist with continued evangelistic growth.
In time we believe that Speiro will provide many levels of content for all people, but these two objectives will remain the consistent focus of Speiro. We are not trying to be big, we are trying to be faithful missionaries, journeying from town to town, leaving a lasting legacy in each town the Three Angels’ Messages are preached!
This missionary journey is already underway in many steps of faith, but to move forward even further we need your support! Speiro is in need of $10,000 seed money. This money will help provide the quality camera for filming and producing content (our one video thus far was filmed on an iphone:)) and the beginnings of the equipment we will need to establish a quality live stream to the churches that are already wanting to join us in this endeavor. Would you prayerfully ask God what He may desire you to give to this ministry. Please we ask that you not give us your tithe, that should go to your local conference, through your local church, but if God is calling you to give a gift above and beyond your monthly 10% we would greatly appreciate the support.
You can give at our website Speiro, & in advance I thank you for your generosity!
(Speiro is a non-profit 501c3 and all gifts are tax-deductible).