Radio has two stakeholders. The audience and the sponsors, or donors in the noncommercial radio world.

Each of the stakeholder’s needs must be met, in both the analogue and the digital space, for the radio business model to thrive again.

Christian teaching and talk radio has a third stakeholder. The content provider.

The content provider — pastor, teacher, leader, church, ministry and organization — is the most important stakeholder in the Christian teaching brand.

Why?

No content provider. No gospel radio.

Creative programmers can dream up all sorts of content ideas.

However, without the teaching and preaching of the gospel, and the conversations and community that surround it, the Christian teaching and talk radio format will cease to exist as we know it. Over the air or online.

Some Christian media experts have argued that the age of distributing sermons in realtime throughout the week via electronic media (vs. podcast, archive, etc.) has ended.

The most common reasons? The almost limitless supply of religious content online. People are seeking individualized and customized media experiences. Technology is producing shorter attention spans and a marked reduction in our ability to think abstractly.

Perhaps some of these things are true. The Internet is changing everything. Neuroscientists are looking earnestly at the way technology is changing behavior.

Internet is not changing these five things about Christian media

However, the Internet is not changing at least these five things about Christian media (technology).

1. Communicators will sense a call to “preach” the gospel throughout the world via media every day, until the coming of that last day. (1 Corinthians 9:16)

2. There are millions of Americans and billions worldwide that are lost and many will only hear about the hope and love of Christ through media. (Matthew 24:14, John 12:48)

3. Specialists will be needed to help communicators with the best practices and to share in the risks of distributing the gospel using all types of media. (Romans 16:3-4)

4. There will always be a need for innovative thinking and creative ways to use media for advancing the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:22)

5. There is no more important area for content curation (the highly proactive and selective approach to finding, collecting, presenting and displaying digital content around predefined sets of criteria and subject matter) than the gospel. (Romans 10:14)

Creating community and distributing regionalized content are in this mix too. Ideas are being developed.

Key to successful partnership with ministry stakeholders

The key to a successful partnership between Christian broadcasters and ministry stakeholders has not been the station transmitter and tower (technology). It won’t be about transcoding or encoding data, mobile platforms or digital convergence either.

Success has been and will continue to be based on how effective media specialists are in doing two things: connecting content providers with the people God has called them to reach; and, creating a quality experience around those relationships to advance the gospel.

Technology facilitates the spread of the gospel.

That hit home to me again during a recent evening of stimulating discussion about ministry and technology with church consultant Will Mancini and church planters Russell Cravens and Andrew Minchew from Neartown Church.

How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!

God has placed two distinct but complementary visions for spreading the gospel in the hearts of these men. They see people groups in Houston and around the country that no one else is reaching. There was no mistaking that God has put a sense of purpose in their hearts for connecting specifically identified people with Christ and the gospel.

The need, the call, and the vision were intact. There was clarity about the mission. And while they were a little less clear on how digital technology could facilitate their visions, they believed it could. We explored the possibilities.

Technology is no longer the main challenge

All the technology is in place to build the next generation of Christian broadcasting. It is no longer a technology problem.

Helping Christian radio’s current and future content stakeholders leverage technology assets for accomplishing their God-given missions is, as it has always been, a priority.

Listening to their needs and then responding with innovative solutions has to be a part of every Christian broadcasters survival kit.