November 24, 1999
Would you listen to what the 'hell lady' has to say?
PASTOR SCOTTY JERNIGAN (left) of Belforest Baptist Church in Daphne, Ala., with Associate Pastor Mike Parker led their church to purchase airtime for trendy TV ads aimed at people outside the church. (RNS photo by Bill Starling)
___By Kristen Campbell
___Religion News Service
___MOBILE, Ala. (RNS)--There are Christians, it seems, who fear the church isn't relevant anymore. So irrelevant, in fact, that one Baldwin County (Ala.) congregation is airing a series of television ads hoping people will think about God and eternity--and the possible temperatures in hell.
___While unorthodox, the commercials aren't an anomaly.
___Nationwide, congregations eager to reach unchurched Americans are turning to media-savvy para-church organizations for help.
___"The message hasn't changed. Jesus is still the answer to all people's needs," said Kyle Thompson, a man who markets God for a living. "What is it about us that's keeping them from seeing it?"
___That question and its myriad answers are what keep Thompson in business. As general manager of media outreach at Impact Productions in Tulsa, Okla., Thompson works to create Christian commercials, films and TV programs.
___About a month ago, some of Impact's ads, simultaneously stark in their simplicity and trendy with their jerky, MTV-esque production, started showing up between programs on the A&E, USA, TNT, ESPN and Lifetime networks on Baldwin County cable TV.
___The ads portray unchurched individuals asking questions about the realities of hell, salvation and the world's end.
___Part of the "What if it's true?" campaign, the ads were purchased for about $3,000 by Belforest Baptist Church in Daphne, Ala. According to Belforest's associate pastor, Mike Parker, the congregation raised an additional $5,000 to pay for the air time.
___"Our target is people who are outside of church," Parker said. "All these commercials are definitely from the opposite point of view."
___Take the "hell lady," as Parker describes one commercial's narrator. A young woman stands alone in an empty yellow room and sarcastically says: "And it's really hot. And there's, like, torture going on. And you can't bear the heat. And you can't ever leave. Because you're in hell. All alone in this hot, humid, scorching, hot, burning, hot, fire.
___"I don't think so," she sneers.
___The commercial's signature question, "What if it's true?" then flashes across the screen, followed by Belforest's name, address and phone number.
___The ads, as far as Belforest member Tom Farmer of Fairhope, Ala., is concerned, are "must-do" evangelism.
___"It reaches out to a community at a time when church just seems to be the same old thing," Farmer said. "This seemed like a way to reach people and say, 'God is real, he's not asleep, he never has been, and he cares.'"
___Parker concurs: "We want to go where people are at. We know we have to relate to them. ... They already have these negative impressions of church anyway. We go right up front and address them."
___Still, in congregations' efforts to reach the unchurched, some churchgoers find the methods somewhat off-putting.
___"Most church people don't like 'What if it's true?' It doesn't speak to them, which is fantastic," Thompson said. "It's so not churchy."
___The ad campaign, launched in January, is running in more than 400 markets nationwide, Thompson said. Congregations purchase rights to run at least five of the eight commercials in the campaign and retain market-exclusive privileges for two years.
___During its first several months on the air, Thompson said, the "edgy" campaign, based on a series of sermons delivered by a Tulsa, Okla., pastor, "has really caught the eye." One Oklahoma City congregation noted a 20 percent to 40 percent increase in visitors during the first few weeks of the campaign, he said.
___But the style of such messages, as well as the medium used to transmit them, mark changes from evangelistic methods used decades ago, reports Lyle Schaller, author of "Innovations in Ministry: Models for the Twenty-First Century."
___"There was a day when denominational systems produced a variety of ads ... typically for print, later for radio, and then later for television," Schaller said.
___In today's image-driven generation, however, the rules have changed.
___Many contemporary advertisements are produced by para-church organizations and are broadcast on television and radio. Some ads, Schaller said, "tend to focus on ... the viewer's questions rather than 'Shut up and listen and watch and we'll tell you what we have to offer.'"
___Now, ads begin with "Where do you hurt?" and "We believe we have an answer to the questions you're raising," Schaller said. "You begin with the consumer's agenda; you don't begin with the product you're pushing."
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