Aided by a podcasting service called PraiseCast, Pastor Elizabeth Talbot hopes to extend the reach of her pastorate at the Alhambra Adventist Church, designated as “The Grace Place.”
Talbot said, “The name reflects my personal philosophy of lifting up Christ and letting Him fulfill His promise of drawing all people to Himself.”
The pastor’s podcast ministry began the week of Sept. 1 and is on-going. “I record the file for a 10-minute ‘Jesus 101’ sermon each week in my computer,” she noted. “With the excellent microphone provided, retakes are not necessary, so recording is very quick. Then I upload the file to PraiseCast. That’s it!"
“PraiseCast’s podcasting services help me use the latest in communication technology to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. It also provides a peace of mind, since the company takes full responsibility for all aspects of podcasting, leaving me free to focus on the quality of the ‘Jesus 101’ podcast programs,” added Talbot. “Subscribers can download the list of files and choose a podcast, much as they do when watching DVDs. If a subscriber is linked, downloading is automatic. I think it is an interesting concept.”
In addition, the company circulated a release about the new series and listed Talbot’s programs on several global directories. According to PraiseCast owner Vince Imani, “In the first 10 days of the program, this brought 149 visitors, 223 computers listening in and 125 iPods or mp3 players automatically downloading the program.”
A recent NewsWeek article (Aug. 1, 2005) reported, “Podcasting is home to a lot of adult content for which the medium does not have filtering capability... The next wave of podcasts is religious programming, known as ‘godcasting.’”
Talbot continued, “As a pastor interested in global evangelism, I hope enough people tune in. When they do this each week, the potential is there for listeners to become a permanent audience.” Readers can access “Jesus 101” podcasts by visiting
www.thegraceplace.ws.
The Alhambra church schedules seeker-friendly services with particular appeal for young adult parents and singles and a range of activities including socials, game nights, parenting classes, etc. Sermons will soon be available on video files as well.
For information about The Grace Place, call 626-289-6137. To learn more about PraiseCast, call 805-688-3441.
