| Tampa area churches see results from national media campaign
By Tim Ehrlich
TAMPA — A recent informal survey of Tampa
District churches found many reporting significant increases in
attendance for the Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday worship services
compared to last year. Tampa District Superintendent Rev. Albert
Blomquist attributed the increase in large part to the United
Methodist Church’s Igniting Ministry television commercials that
aired during the 2002 Lenten season.
“The Tampa District had good attendance during
Lent. I received many reports of outstanding results from around the
district,” Blomquist said. “Several of our churches had attendance
over 2,000 on Easter Sunday, and I would say that the Igniting
Ministry campaign contributed greatly. A survey was taken of the
administrative board members at one of our largest churches, and of 27
present, all but one had seen at least one Igniting Ministry
commercial.”
The Florida Conference’s Tampa and St.
Petersburg districts worked with the Igniting Ministry office at
United Methodist Communications (UMCom) in Nashville, Tenn., to air
496 United Methodist television commercials during the weeks of March
20 and 27 throughout the Tampa Bay area. The commercials addressed
reasons for attending church and ended with a narrator reading the
words on the screen, “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors, the
people of the Tampa Bay area United Methodist Churches.”
The Tampa Bay area is the 14th largest
television market area in the United States with 3.5 million viewers,
40 percent or 1.4 million of which are unchurched, according to UMCom’s
Igniting Ministry office. One of the campaign’s goals was to reach
77 percent of the 3.5 million viewers an average of three times each.
Staff members in UMCom’s Igniting Ministry
office say the media campaign is not just intended to put more people
in the pews. Its goals are to raise awareness of the United Methodist
Church’s basic beliefs, foster a positive feeling and willingness to
visit a United Methodist Church among non-members, and renew a sense
of commitment among current members. The four-year media campaign
began September 2001.
The Rev. Rick Cabot of the Tampa District’s
First United Methodist Church, Lutz, says the campaign has succeeded.
Cabot assisted with the survey of Tampa District pastors. “Some
Pastors did not measure an appreciable difference in attendance in
Lent and on Easter, but were still very positive about the media
campaign,” he said.
The Rev. Sue Haupert Johnson, pastor of
Hillsborough United Methodist Church, said, “Our people noticed them
[the commercials], are proud of them, and I believe it bolstered
moral.”
UMCom’s Igniting Ministry office awarded the
Tampa and St. Petersburg districts a matching grant of $17,689 last
February for their cooperative local television advertising campaign.
The districts’ churches matched that sum for a total media buy of
$35,378.
The local campaign ran at the same time as the
nationwide campaign. The Igniting Ministry office bought time on cable
channels, including the Weather Channel, CNN, the History Channel and
TNN. The districts bought time on major networks—Fox, CBS, ABC and
NBC.
“I am looking forward to continuing with the
Igniting Ministry effort in the Tampa District with another set of
commercials in the fall,” Blomquist said. “The General Conference
funded the four-year, $30 million nationwide Igniting Ministry
campaign during their 2000 session. It will run until 2004.
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