On January 2nd Lighthouse will be launching a new channel with Vimeo, a video hosting company.  This is the result of hours of work in advancing our online presence.  I’ve partnered with some volunteers in the church, including Marty Robey who has put in countless time and resources, to expand our reach into the virtual world.  But why?  Why is Lighthouse spending time, energy, and money on an internet ministry?

When Jesus invented the church, He told its founding members to go where the people were and to share the Gospel.  Today, people are online.  The internet is where people go to connect, study, work, shop, be entertained, and learn.  Social media is now ubiquitous from twelve year olds to retirees.  Phone books have gone the way of eight tracks, vinyl, and VCRs.   If current trends continue, in less than five years more people will connect to the internet with their phone or other portable device (anyone want to get me an IPad for Christmas?) than with a traditional computer.  People are online, and people need to meet Jesus and grow closer to Him, so Lighthouse is online.

Lighthouse already has an active Facebook page, website, and blog.  We have experimented with streaming our 9:00 service live.  In January, we will add an easy to use video archive of past sermons and we will have weekly, quality live streaming.  This is the next step in our web development, and it is a big one.  Members of our church will be able to catch up on sermons they missed, or watch them again.  They will be able to share those videos through email, facebook, and a number of other ways.  People who are checking out our church online will be able to see a service live, or peruse old sermon series.  In the future look for us to add a Twitter feed, and the ability to chat online with other people watching the live streaming service.  As we develop this ministry it is our goal to put the Gospel where the people are, and that is why we are growing our online ministry.

-Mike

P.S. To get a ‘sneak peak’ of the video archive we are developing, go to http://vimeo.com/channels/lighthouse