Church Search:  Personal Experiences  ( unedited - 1st edition )

1960)  Saved at age 12, worshiped and served at Fellowship Baptist Church in Ettrick until married.
1974)  Quickly joined Faith Baptist Church in the city before realizing it did not meet my new family needs.
1976)  Worshipped and served at Calvary Baptist Church in Chester for twenty four years.

1999) Upon the completion of the "God is Able" building program, members were divided on entering
           another building  campaign so soon.  God lead me to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. Upon 
           discovering the only Pastor of 32 years was retiring, the church carried a four million dollar debt
           while running a twelve percent below operating budget, yet offered room for growth, all appealed to me.

2000)  Realizing the time and effort involved in changing churches, and discovering one of the best kept
           secrets in the area ( MP had all that I was praying for ), I set out to let others know what MP had
           to offer.  I took the initial training in F.A.I.T.H.  and began on the ground floor to get up a web site.

2001) As Web Team Leader, my desire was  to let the world know what was going at MP ( well kept secret).
          God opened so many doors of learning and leading, I found myself washed in new technologies realizing
          my formal background training was in vacuum tubes, telegraph, and teletype.

2002) After one year of experimenting, the church web site offered video clips, downloadable on a dial-up connection.

2003) Improvements came in computers, cameras, internet browsers, and software, video was leading the way 
           in communicating to the masses.

2004) VCR video was being replaced with DVD media and offered several advantages, web site video was replaced for DVD video. 

2005) Distribution of video on DVD media, while cheap, was not very widespread.  Video was focused back to the
           web site.  Once Apple Corp. released the video iPod in late Dec.2005,  everything changed.

2006)  Mount Pleasant has now doubled in attendance, doubled in support, has successfully started the "Empowered
            by His Promise" growth campaign, and now has in place a pool of talented technical staff  and  volunteers, I am
             asking God to lead me where I can now best serve Him.

Goal:  Reduce the time it takes for someone to find a place to worship, based on their needs.
          Assist those NOT looking for salvation, find HIM. 
          ( Ask about the message delivered to the PBA minister's conference 
             "How the church finds the lost who is searching for everything but a church" )
Prospects:
1)  Project another local area church into the digital arena.  This takes time, but not as much time as in the past.
2)  Project all the area Baptist churches into the digital arena by way of  the Petersburg Baptist Association one web site.
3)  Start up one of the first Virtual Baptist Churches in the country online.
      a)  use top studio quality audio not possible in an open assembly environment.
      b) employ only "right-to-copy and distribute" material for widespread distribution.
          ( music, study material, scripture: public domain only )
      c) total upfront support provided, requiring no listener/viewer support at all.
      d) provide online two-way communication for teaching, guidance, prayer, etc.  Employ local churches as points of contact.
      e) offer hardcopy ( video media ) of all web casting upon request.
      f) Advantages: Worship on Demand - where and when you can, daily, every house to house.
                              Reduce travel cost, threats such as the bird flu, massive storms, and still be able to worship