MEDIA MINISTRY HISTORY

The media ministry happened to start by an accident here at First Baptist. Bro Terrence Hearn had been thinking about starting a media ministry when he joined a local church in Harrisonburg, VA. He first thought of the idea because his mother was a minister in Mississippi and thought about doing it for her congregation. In 200 he moved to Harrisonburg because of a job. His wife and daughter joined First Baptist in Sept of 2005. He and his son Terrence Jr joined in October 2005. Rev Walter Ghant was the Pastor. Bro Hearn was recording a Christmas Program for his wife because she had to work. Rev Ghant approached Bro Hearn and asked if he would be interested in recording the services for the sick and shut in. Bro. Hearn started recording services in March of 2006. Bro. Hearn had ideas that would not stop with just the recordings but also a website and newsletter for First Baptist. 2006 was a very turmoil year for the media ministry. Rev. Ghant left First Baptist. Dr. C. E. Williams became pastor in late 2006. He liked the idea of the media ministry and wanted to expand it. In early 2007 he met with Bro Hearn to see and understand his ideas for the ministry. Bro Hearn was given approval to expand the ministry. Bro Hearn named the ministry Faith is Alive Ministries. FIAM officially became a ministry at First Baptist in 2007. The ministry expanded to a website and newsletter. DVD’s and CDs were produced for members that wanted copies of the services. A Library was started with video and pictures with the ministry. Bro Hearn purchased a camcorder and video and audio software to help with the ministry. The earliest help came from his son Terrence Jr. and Taylor Bailey as video recorders. Bro Marcus Hearn joined the ministry in mid-2007 and begins to take pictures. The ministry begins to move a lot during 2007. In the spring of 2008 Bro Hearn and Bro Michael Williams were watching the same religious program at the same time. Michael called Bro Hearn and realized they were both thinking the same thing about a TV program. After that conversation Bro Hearn contacted Ron Croom, the general manager of WAZT in Woodstock, VA. He met with him and obtained a contract for broadcasting a TV program from the church. Faith Is Alive Ministries TV program begin in June of 2008. His was a turning point in the ministry. The church program was extremely popular in the local area. It reached as far as Hagerstown MD. People would call WAZT and say how they enjoyed the program. Instead of stopping there Bro Hearn initiated a Facebook page for the church and ministry. People were able to leave comments and view YouTube videos from First Baptist. The media ministry during this time has also been handling most of the audio problems in the church which has been a task. Video and D sales were great for the ministry in helping to offset the cost of running the ministry. It has not been budgeted in the church budget. During this time, a Ustream and Google page were created to help run the ministry. The media was vital in creating forms for the start of Kid’s Café. The ministry was trying to create a place where forms to be placed and retrieved when needed. You can now find First Baptist Church on the web in a lot of different formats. The YouTube page has become a favorite of people searching for the church. It has placed video of skits our youth have done that other congregations wanted to perform. Our youth department praise dance groups, which groups, which have been highlighted and have gotten rave reviews for their performances. After the graduations of Terrence Jr. and Taylor Bailey, Cameron Washington started helping record service for the media ministry. The media had a rough time. Pastor Williams became a big supporter of the ministry. The media started expanding to move into the back room of the church. In 2020 Covid hit the world and the church temporarily closed down as many places did. The Media Ministry was able to play older services and eventually started recording services with the minister's' staff to broadcast on Sunday mornings. During this time, we broadcasted to Facebook every Sunday. During this time, the decision was made to turn a room into a media room. We had to get some more electrical installation to make the room had no problem. Bro Hearn did the installation of the equipment needed to have a broadcast media room. From this room it can Livestream to YouTube and Facebook, Record video and audio of any program or service held at the church. During Covid we broadcasted outdoor services until it turned cold. On Easter Sunday 2021 First Baptist Church reopened with Covid protocols in place The ministry now has 2 televisions in the sanctuary. 2 Cameras, Desktop, laptop, ATEM Broadcast module, mixer, and wireless microphones. We are in the process of upgrading the video equipment for the church. Please visit our church on any Sunday or watch the Broadcast on Facebook (First Baptist Church Harrisonburg, VA) or our website firstbaptisthbgva.org on the media page.