net 95 - circlecircle.adventist.org/files/icm/nadresearch/net95.pdfnet '95 follow-up survey,...

Office of Information and ResearchReport 11

NET 95Follow-up Survey

of Participating Churches

Seventh-day Adventist Church

North American Division of the General Conference12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904

Monte Sahlin, DirectorOffice of Information and ResearchNorth American Division

Rene Alexenko EvansPublic Information Consultantto the Director

Dan Savino, DirectorChurch Resource CenterPacific Union Conference

Jose Chavanz-Q., Research CoordinatorChurch Resource CenterPacific Union Conference

Research Consultants

Harold LeeSecretaryColumbia Union Conference

Carole KilcherAssistant Professor of CommunicationsAndrews University

Roger DudleyDirector, Institute of Church MinistryAndrews University

Paul RichardsonDirectorBBMRC Research Services

(c) 1995, North American DivisionUnlimited permission is given to copy this material, provided the source is cited as Report 11, Office ofInformation and Research, Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America.

Executive SummaryNet '95 Follow-up Survey of Participating Churches

Nearly 5,000 have been baptized and an equal number are still studying the Bibleteachings of the Adventist Church. Opening night attendance was 66,165 in 676locations, of which 22,601 were not members of the Adventist Church. Attendanceaveraged 40,243 throughout the series. A total of 17 locations closed down during theseries due to lack of attendance, and 10 operated on a delayed schedule with meetingsstill underway at the time of the survey.

Anonymous Evaluation by Participating PastorsIn addition to the telephone interviews with the pastors who participated in the

Net '95 project, an anonymous questionnaire was sent by mail. This resulted in a carefulevaluation of the promotion of the project, support services provided, the evangelisticmeetings and advertising, and suggestions for the future.

Promotion of Net '95By the end of March, 1994, the majority of pastors who actually participated in

Net '95 (56%) had heard of the project. Four out of five (81%) had heard by the end ofJune.

Five out of six pastors (84%) indicate that they recall getting a letter from AlfredC. McClure, the NAD president, in February or March, 1994, announcing Net '95. Threeout of four pastors (75%) indicate that they received a copy of the Net '95 Pastor'sStarter Kit. Four out of five pastors give an A or B "grade" to the letter and the Pastor'sStarter Kit. Virtually no one evaluates these items with a D or F "grade."

Less than a third of the pastors (31%) participated in the first of the Pastor'sConferences provided via satellite in preparation for the public meetings. Three out offour pastors give a positive rating to all three of the Net '95 Pastor's Conferences

Support Services More than two-thirds of the downlink sites used the Adventist Communication

Network (ACN) satellite dish and receiver supplied by the Adventist Media Center. Onein ten purchased equipment from some other supplier.

Three out of four of the pastors (72%) dialed the "help desk" in Chattanoogastaffed by Doug Janssen and a team of volunteers to assist in solving technicalproblems. They give the "help desk" high ratings! Four out of five report that the phonewas answered promptly, that the team was able to solve their problems and give theservice an overall evaluation as "very helpful."

Half to two-thirds of the pastors give an "A" to the services they received from thefour resource centers which provided materials for the project.

The HandbillSeven out of eight participating churches (87%) ordered the official Net '95

"handbill" or direct-mail advertising service provided by Seminars Unlimited. Asked toevaluate the handbill, the majority of the pastors who actually used it (51%) give it's

contents and graphics an "A." Two-thirds (70%) give an "A" to the way the mailingswere handled.

It is important to note that when pastors who did not use the official handbill andthose who gave a rating less than "Grade A" are combined, they constitute a majority ofthe Net '95 pastors. Perhaps focus group research should be used to examine factorsthat would increase the number of pastors who feel very positive about the content andgraphics of the handbill used in future projects.

The majority of downlink sites used two or three methods of advertising for the"Discoveries in Prophecy" evangelistic meetings. Direct mail (82%) and display ads innewspapers (59%) are the two media most widely used. A third of the churches alsouse posters (43%) and radio spots (31%).

Preparation for the MeetingsPersonal and relational methods are more likely to have been used by pastors as

they prepared for the "Discoveries in Prophecy" meetings than are outreach seminarsand training classes. Half of the pastors set up an interest list (60%) and organizedvisits to the prospects on the list (48%). One in four (26%) conducted a class onFriendship Evangelism for their members or organized small groups.

Although only a small segment of the churches participated in the four pre-evangelism activities provided by satellite link, four out of five of the pastors of thesechurches give the events high marks.

The Evangelistic MeetingsTwo out of three pastors give high ratings to every aspect of the "Discoveries in

Prophecy" evangelistic meetings. Three out of four pastors (73%) report that theresponse to Mark Finley's appeals among the people at their downlink site met orexceeded their expectations.

Would people come to church to watch television? This concern was expressedby many during the planning of Net '95. Reality proves this concern to be completelyunfounded!

Participating pastors were asked, "Did you have any non-Adventists whoexpressed to you personally that they were put out by the fact that the sermons wereprojected on a screen instead of Mark Finley being present on site?" Only 7%answered, "yes." These pastors report a total of 105 individuals out of 23,000 non-members who attended at the 676 downlink sites. This is about one-half of one percent.

Does Satellite Evangelism Work?The use of a satellite video link in public evangelism is "excellent" or "a useful

tool" in the opinion of 97% of the pastors who tried it during Net '95. Only a handfulindicate that they will not use it again. Four out of five participating pastors (79%) wantanother 24-night crusade in 1996.

NAD Office of Information & ResearchReport 11June, 1995

Net '95 Follow-up Survey, Page 1

Introduction

The Net '95 Evangelism Initiative represents a major new thrust in soul-winning for theSeventh-day Adventist Church in North America. It utilized satellite technology to extendthe reach of a public crusade by evangelist Mark Finley, and included the participationof the Adventist Media Center, union and local conference project coordinators, and anumber of resource centers to support the effort. A follow-up collection of statistics fromthe project has been completed at the request of the division president and the Net '95Steering Committee.

A total of 676 locations were logged as participating in Net '95. The survey teamattempted to conduct a telephone interview with the pastor or person in charge at eachof these locations.

Six were found to be multiple locations affiliated with one of the participating churches.The data from these sites are included in a single record for each local church that hadmultiple sites. In addition, 17 pastors reported that they had to cancel their meetingsdue to various problems.

A total of 653 local churches actually participated in Net '95, and 606 of these wereinterviewed; 37 could not be reached after numerous attempts over the 40 days of datacollection from April 16 through May 26, 1995. Ten had not completed their meetings bythe time of the survey due to a delayed schedule utilizing video tape.

The information in the first eight pages of this report is based on taking the averageresponse per church for each item from the 606 completed interviews and projecting itto 653 churches. (In other words, the average number of baptisms in the 606 churchesis 6.46, so the total baptisms below is based on 6.46 x 653 plus the 300 inChattanooga.) The reliability of this information is greater than 99%.

Data collection and processing was completed for the NAD Office of Information andResearch by the Pacific Union Church Resource Center under the supervision of JoseChavanz, associate director for research. A team of eleven experienced interviewershad a telephone conversation with each participating pastor and followed a script inasking the questions and recording the data supplied. A copy of the script is included inAppendix A of this report.

These interviews were clearly identified by the name of the pastor and the church, andthe pastors being interviewed knew that tables displaying the responses from eachrespondent might be shared with the planning committee or conference administrators,or double-checked against official baptismal reports at a later date. When the interviewwas completed, each pastor was mailed a questionnaire asking him or her to evaluatemajor aspects of the projects. This questionnaire was returned in a way that protects the


anonymity of the respondents. A copy of the questionnaire is included in Appendix B ofthis report.

The information on pages 9 through 32 of this report is based on the 410 anonymousquestionnaires returned by mail from the 606 pastors interviewed. This represents aresponse rate of 68% which is sufficient to provide reliable data.

The Office of Information and Research provides regular, up-to-date information aboutthe local congregations and members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in NorthAmerica. This information is based on annual opinion polls of church members, churchboard members and pastors, as well as special studies such as this one commissionedby an officer, department or standing committee of the NAD.

This report was prepared for the NAD Officers and Union Presidents and the Net '95Steering Committee. Questions and requests for additional information should beaddressed to the NAD Office of Information and Research at 12501 Old Columbia Pike,Silver Spring, MD 20904, or by Fax at (301) 680-6464, or by Email at 74617,14 onCompuserve or at [email protected] via the Internet.

Monte SahlinJune, 1995


Five out of six (85%) of the localchurches that participated in Net '95 areidentified by their pastor as primarilywhite, Anglo congregations. Another onein ten (11%) are described asmulticultural congregations. There areless than a dozen each of African-American, Hispanic, Asian and otherethnic congregations which participated.

Although two out of three (68%)of the participating local churches aresmall congregations with 150 membersor less, a disproportionate share of thelarge churches with 300 or moremembers joined Net '95. The largestparticipating church has a membership

of 3,200, and 16 of the participatingchurches have memberships over1,000. Large churches may havegreater financial resources to purchasethe satellite downlink equipment, andthey may also be quicker to adopt newapproaches to ministry.

Two out of three (61%) of theparticipating churches are located insmall towns and rural areas. One in four(24%) are urban congregations, and onein six (15%) are suburban churches.


Opening night attendance was63,165 at the downlink sites plus 3,000at the Civic Center in Chattanooga. Thisis a total of 66,165.

The opening-week telephonesurvey with a random sample of 100participating pastors estimated openingnight attendance at 66,000. This kind ofreliability check on the survey methodsused by the NAD Office of Informationand Research provides reassurance formany other studies; surveys which donot provide the same opportunity to

cross-check results against a census ofthe sampled group.

Attendance reports from theparticipating churches ranged from threeto 1,000. The median attendance wasbetween 74 and 75 persons.

Non-member attendance onopening night was 21,601 in thedownlink sites plus 1,000 at the CivicCenter in Chattanooga. This is a total ofnearly 23,000, a greater number thanthe 20,000 estimated by theopening-week telephone survey.


Average attendance throughoutthe entire series was 39,043 at thedownlink sites plus 1,200 at the CivicCenter in Chattanooga, a total of morethan 40,000. This represents above-average effectiveness in holding thecrowd during a series of evangelisticmeetings and is the best evidence thatthe satellite-linkage works as well orbetter than an on-site evangelist.

Average attendance ranged fromtwo people in one location to a high of600 in two locations. The medianaverage attendance was 49 people.

Participating sites in Canada andthe Southwestern, Columbia and Pacificunions are more likely to have hadhigher attendance, as are the relativelysmall number of African-American,"Other" ethnic and multiculturalcongregations involved in Net '95.

There is a strong positivecorrelation between the size of the hostcongregation and average attendance.The same thing is true about the degreeof urbanization in the community; themore urban the neighborhood, the largerthe crowd.


By June 1 a total of 4,218 peoplewere baptized or made a Profession ofFaith at the downlink sites. With the 300in Chattanooga, a total of 4,518 hadjoined the church.

In the telephone interviews whichwere conducted from April 17 to May 26the question was asked, "How manybaptisms and Professions of Faith areyou confident of having as a direct resultof attendance by individuals at the Net'95 meetings by June 1?" Obviouslyadditional baptisms have resulted fromNet '95 after June 1.

The reaping phase continues throughthe summer and fall. It appears thatdecisions take longer in satellite-linkedevangelism, perhaps because theconventional reason for a baptismaldeadline--the evangelist leaving town--isremoved in this approach.

Churches with 50 or fewermembers averaged 3 baptisms.Churches with 51 to 150 membersaveraged 6, while churches of 151members or more averaged 9. The more urbanized the neighborhood, thehigher the number of baptisms.


How many of the total baptismsand Professions of Faith resulting fromthe Net '95 Project are children from thefamilies in the participating churches?The pastors interviewed were asked todifferentiate between children ofmembers and adult converts.

The total of Adventist children is653 or one per downlink site. In otherwords, less than one in six baptisms areAdventist children, and 5.46 per churchare adult converts.

Small congregations haveproportionately fewer children amongtheir baptisms than do largercongregations. The Southwestern,

Pacific and Southern unions, as well asCanada, have higher average numbersof children among the baptisms. TheMid-America, Lake and Columbia unionshave lower average numbers ofchildren. This reflects the demographicrealities in these regions.

"Other" ethnic churches andAfrican American congregationsbaptized an average of twice as manychildren from member families as didAnglo, Hispanic and multiculturalcongregations. Suburban churches havea higher average number of childrenamong their baptisms than do otherchurches.


In the interviews debriefing themon the Net '95 Project, each pastor wasasked, "What is the number of peopleactively involved in Bible studies, smallgroups, Pastors Bible Class or regularchurch attendance who have not yetmade a decision for baptism?" The totalwas 4,597 in the downlink sites; anaverage of seven per church.

An equivalent count from theChattanooga area is not available, but itseems clear that about the samenumber of people as were baptized upthrough June 1 were still studying theBible teachings of the Adventist Church.If one in 10 of those still studying areeventually baptized, the total baptismswould certainly go over 5,000. If one in

five are eventually baptized, the totalbaptisms would approach 6,000. If halfare eventually baptized, the total wouldexceed 7,000.

The Pacific Union Conferencehas a higher than average number ofpersons in Bible studies. The Lake andSouthwestern unions have fewer thanaverage.

The seven congregations of"other" ethnic identity -- not black, white,Hispanic, Asian or multicultural -- havetwice as many as the average numberof non-members enrolled in Biblestudies as a result of Net '95. AfricanAmerican and Hispanic congregationsalso have significantly higher averagenumbers involved in Bible studies.


By the end of March, 1994, themajority of pastors who actuallyparticipated in Net '95 (56%) had heardof the project. Four out of five (81%) hadheard by the end of June. Pastors fromAsian, Hispanic and multiculturalcongregations report that they wereslower to get the word than those inAfrican American and "white" churches.

The decision to actually holdpublic meetings as part of Net '95 wasmade by the end of July in a majority ofthe churches (52%). Four out of five(83%) had made their decision by theend of October. A decision-making gap

of three to four months is consistentthroughout the responses.

The small number of AfricanAmerican churches which participated inNet '95 are more likely to have made anearly decision to join in. Asian, Hispanicand multicultural churches are morelikely to have taken longer than averageto make a decision.

An interesting pattern developsrelative to the age of pastors. Churcheswith pastors from the baby boomgeneration are more likely to take longerto make a decision.


In almost every case (93%) thedecision to participate in Net '95 wasmade by the church board or a churchbusiness meeting. In only a handful ofchurches was the decision made by thepastoral staff, the evangelism committeeor some other group. There is nosignificant variation from this pattern interms of the ethnicity of thecongregation or the age of the pastor.

The two-step decision-makingprocess is key in the promotion of anydenominational strategy or program.First, the pastor must be sold on theconcept, then he or she must beempowered to sell the idea to thechurch board. In small churches thecongregation makes decisions ingeneral church business meetingsinstead of through a board.


Five out of six of the participatingpastors (84%) indicate that they recallgetting a letter from Alfred C. McClure,the NAD president, in February orMarch, 1994, announcing Net '95.Pastors in their 20s were less likely toreport getting the letter, perhapsbecause they recently became adenominational employee and were noton the mailing list.

Three out of four pastors (75%)indicate that they received a copy of theNet '95 Pastor's Starter Kit whichcontained the original manual for theproject, a video designed to introducethe project to the local church, a posterto put up in the church foyer, samples of

video seminar materials from HartResearch Center, and a gift copy of anew book entitled Evangelism 2000 byJohn W. Fowler, published by PacificPress.

Two out of three pastors (66%)report that they received the monthlyNet News on a regular basis. Another29% say that they received only one ortwo issues, while 5% did not get thenewsletter at all. Young pastors weremost likely to report not getting NetNews. It is likely that they never made itonto the mailing list.


Four out of five participatingpastors give an A or B "grade" to theoriginal mailing announcing Net '95 andthe Pastor's Starter Kit. Virtually no oneevaluates these items with a D or F"grade."

Two out of three pastors (63%)rate the monthly Net News as "veryhelpful." One in ten (11%) say that NetNews is "not helpful."

All of the Net '95 promotionalmaterials received a positive evaluation,although clearly a few pastors are lessenthusiastic about Net News. When thepastors are segmented by the ethnicityof the congregations they serve and by

their year of birth, no statisticallysignificant differences appear.

It is possible that small differencein evaluation is simply evidence of howsophisticated Adventist pastors in NorthAmerica have become in theirexpectations regarding denominationalmaterials. The announcement letterfrom division president Alfred C.McClure included a full-color insert andthe starter kit included full-colormaterials, two videos and a book. NetNews was the only item among thethree that used a simpler and lessexpensive two-color design.


Less than a third of the Net '95pastors (31%) participated in the first ofthree Pastor's Conferences provided viasatellite in preparation for the publicmeetings. By January participation hadincreased to 60%. Overall penetration ofthese satellite events was significantlyless than the print promotionalmaterials.

The youngest pastors (those intheir 20s) and the oldest pastors (thoseover 65) were less likely to participate.

Other evidence indicates that thesegroups may include a number of newly-hired pastors who heard about Net '95late in the project due to not being onthe mailing list for the promotionalmaterials, as well as retirees withstipend pastoral assignments who mayalso not be on the regular mailing list ofdenominational employees. Both sectorstogether account for a very small portionof the total pastors in the NAD.


Three out of four pastors give apositive rating to all three of the Net '95Pastor's Conferences provided viasatellite to prepare for the publicmeetings. The percent of positiveratings increased marginally over thecourse of the three events.

Pastors from multicultural andAfrican American congregations aremore likely to give the satellite

conferences a positive rating, as arepastors from the silent generation (born1930-45).

Pastors from Hispaniccongregations and pastors over 65years of age are less likely to give thesatellite conferences a positive rating. Inthe case of Hispanics this may be due tothe lack of Spanish-language translationof the events.


What Satellite Equipment was Used?70% Adventist Communication Network downlink package

10% Downlink package purchased somewhere else

4% Downlink package that was donated

1% Rented facilities with a downlink

5% Taped the sermon from someone's home

6% Taped sermon from a neighboring church

2% Taped the sermon from some other source

1% Someone preached from Mark Finley's outlines

1% Local preacher used his own sermon outlines

More than two-thirds of the Net'95 downlink sites used the AdventistCommunication Network (ACN) packagesupplied by the Adventist Media Center.One in ten purchased equipment fromsome other supplier. One in eight usedvideotape instead of a satellite dish.

African American, Asian andHispanic churches are more likely to usealternative equipment or to find someway to participate in Net '95

without obtaining a satellite dish.Pastors under 30 years of age andthose over 65 are also less likely toinstall the ACN downlink package.

It is may be that minoritycongregations, as well as those servedby interns and retirees, are less able tocome up with the $3,000 necessary topurchase a satellite dish and receiver.That did not keep a significant numberfrom participating in the Net '95evangelism initiative.


Three out of four of the Net '95pastors (72%) dialed the "help desk" inChattanooga staffed by Doug Janssenand a team of volunteers to assist insolving technical problems. Some usedthis support service on a number ofoccasions.

Pastors over 65 years of age andthose with Hispanic congregations were

less likely to use the hotline. Languagefactors may explain this lower response.

In the planning of Net '95 no oneanticipated how important this supportservice proved to be. It is an essentialelement in a satellite-linked event of anykind. Net '95 would have been seriouslydisrupted if it had provided support tothe downlink sites.


Not only did the telephone "helpdesk" prove to be very necessary, it alsoreceives high ratings from the pastorswho made use of it. Four out of fivereport that the phone was answeredpromptly, that Doug Janssen and histeam were able to solve their problemsand give the service an overallevaluation as "very helpful."

Pastors over 65 years of age aresomewhat less likely to say that the"help desk" was able to solve thetechnical problems they faced. Pastorsfrom Hispanic churches are less likely togive an enthusiastic evaluation to the"help desk." This may be the result oflanguage problems.


Seven out of eight participatingchurches (87%) ordered the official Net'95 "handbill" or direct-mail advertisingservice provided by Seminars Unlimited,the Revelation Seminars resourcecenter. Asian, Hispanic and AfricanAmerican churches were somewhat lesslikely to do so.

Asked to evaluate the handbill,the majority of the pastors who actuallyused it (51%) give it's contents andgraphics an "A." Two-thirds (70%) givean "A" to the way the mailings werehandled. Pastors from the baby boomgeneration and those with multicultural

congregations are less likely to give apositive evaluation.

A fact worthy of consideration isthat when respondents who did not usethe official handbill and those who gavea rating less than "Grade A" arecombined, they constitute a majority ofthe Net '95 pastors. Perhaps focusgroup research should be used toexamine factors that would increase thenumber of pastors who feel very positiveabout the content and graphics of thenext handbill used in a division-wideevangelism project.


Almost all of the participatingpastors ordered materials fromSeminars Unlimited, the primaryresource center for Net '95. A significantnumber also ordered key materials fromHART Research Center, while smallernumbers had occasion to get certainmaterials for Net '95 from the NADDistribution Center and CreationEnterprises.

Half to two-thirds of the pastorsgive an "A" to the services they receivedfrom each resource center. Althoughonly a handful report a negativeimpression of one or more resource

centers, there is a need to improve thequality of service being provided. Thesignificant number of "B" and "C" ratingsindicate that pastors have highstandards which may have more to dowith information and support servicesthan the products or the order deskprocedures.

Younger pastors are more likelyto give a negative evaluation of aresource center. It may be that theyhave more experience with non-denominational resource organizationsand therefore more complexexpectations.


The majority of downlink sitesparticipating in Net '95 used two or threemethods of advertising for the"Discoveries in Prophecy" evangelisticmeetings. Direct mail (82%) and displayads in newspapers (59%) are the twomedia most widely used. A third of thechurches also use posters (43%) andradio spots (31%).

Asian and African Americanchurches are less likely to use directmail. African American churches aremore likely than other congregations touse radio spots and television spots.Posters are also more likely to be usedby African American and Hispanicchurches, as well as by youngerpastors.


Personal and relational methodsare more likely to have beenimplemented by participating pastors asthey prepared for the "Discoveries inProphecy" meetings than are outreachseminars and training classes. Half ofthe pastors set up an interest list (60%)and organized visits to the prospects onthe list (48%). One in four (26%)conducted a class on FriendshipEvangelism for their members andorganized small group Bible studies.

African American and Hispanicchurches place more emphasis onpersonal evangelism than do other

segments. These churches are morelikely to report a visitation program anda Friendship Evangelism class formembers.

The events provided by satellitelink had the participation of only a smallpercentage of the churches whichparticipated in the evangelistic meetingslater. Ethnic minority congregationswere even less likely to participate inthese events. Much of this lowparticipation is due to the delays in theinstallation of satellite downlinkequipment.


Although only a small segment ofthe downlink sites participated in thefour pre-evangelism activities providedby satellite link, four out of five of thepastors of these churches give theevents high marks! Consistently, only ahandful of pastors rated any of theevents with a "D" or "F."

Pastors in their 20s were mostlikely to be enthusiastic about theseevents. Pastors with Hispaniccongregations were most likely to givenegative ratings, perhaps because of alack of Spanish translation. There wasan increase in negative ratings among"white" pastors for the last two events.


Three out of four participatingpastors report that the attendance onthe opening night of "Discoveries inProphecy" what they expected or betterthan what they expected. This is true forboth the total attendance and thenumber present who were not membersof the Adventist Church.

Older pastors are more likely tosay that attendance was right at their

level of expectation, and the youngestpastors (those in their 20s) aresomewhat more likely to have beendisappointed. Perhaps experiencemakes it easier to predict attendance.Pastors with Asian congregations weremost likely to report attendance belowtheir level of expectation.


Two out of three participatingpastors give high ratings to every aspectof the "Discoveries in Prophecy"evangelistic meetings. Two in five (39%)did not purchase and distributed theprinted sermons. Except for thesermons by Mark Finley, a smallnumber of pastors report that theyeliminated aspects of the satellitetransmission.

Pastors from congregations thatdo not use English as their primarylanguage are most likely to report that

they did not use various features of themeetings. Pastors from the baby boomgeneration are most likely to reportnegative ratings of all aspects of themeetings, except for Mark Finley'spreaching. Older pastors are somewhatmore likely to give a negative rating tothe sermons.

Overall, Net '95 delivered a"product" about which the participatingpastors are very enthusiastic. The NADhas a large number of satisfied"customers."


Three out of four pastors (73%)report that the response to Mark Finley'sappeals among the people at theirdownlink site met or exceeded theirexpectations. Younger pastors weremore likely to express disappointment.The expectations of less experiencedpastors may well be

more unrealistic than more experiencedpastors.

Pastors in Hispaniccongregations were also more likely toexpress disappointment at the responseto appeal at their location. This mayresult from the cross-cultural elementsinvolved.


Would people come to church towatch television? Considerable concernwas expressed by many during theplanning and preparation phases of Net'95. Reality proves this concern to becompletely unfounded.

Participating pastors were asked,"Did you have any non-Adventists whoexpressed to you personally that theywere put out by the fact that thesermons were projected on a screeninstead of Mark Finley being present onsite?" Only 7% answered, "yes."

The 7% of pastors who answered"yes" were asked how many non-Adventists in attendance expressed

these feelings to them. The pastorsreport a total of 105 individuals out of23,000 non-members who attended atthe 676 downlink sites. This is aboutone-half of one percent.

Did any of these 105 individualswho expressed disappointment quitattending or not make a decision forbaptism due to the fact of the satellitetechnology? Pastors report only 10 suchcases.

A slightly higher number ofAdventist Church members expresseddiscomfort with the technology and quitattending. About 11% of the pastorsreported a total of 605 such cases.


The use of satellite in publicevangelism is "excellent" or "a usefultool" in the opinion of 97% of the pastorswho tried it during Net '95. Only ahandful indicate that they will not use itagain.

These data represent a very highsuccess rate in an experiment with newtechnology. The clear result of Net '95 isthat satellite technology can be usedeffectively in public evangelism byalmost any congregation and pastor.


Two in five participating pastorsindicate that they had at the time theycompleted the questionnaire or wouldlater in the year conduct the "Welcometo the Family" seminar designed toassimilate new members. Pastors in

their 20s and pastors who lead AfricanAmerican and multiculturalcongregations are more likely to do so.Pastors with Asian congregations areless likely to do so.


Four out of five participatingpastors (79%) want another 24-nightcrusade in 1996. Two out of three (67%)are willing to see a full crusade put offuntil 1997. But only a handful areinterested in other options for the future.

Younger pastors are more likelyto say they want another full crusade in1996 or 1997. Pastors with Hispanic orAsian congregations are less likely to beinterested.

Less than one in twenty pastorsexpressed an interest in an evangelisticcrusade with the first weekend on

satellite and the rest of the seriespresented by local preachers, or acrusade in which only the first andclosing weekends are delivered bysatellite. Only 2% or fewer of the pastorsstated that in the future even morelimited use should be made of satellitedelivery systems for public evangelism.

These data again demonstratethat the pastors who participated in Net'95 are convinced of the effectiveness ofsatellite delivery of public evangelism.They are ready to do it again!


Two specific suggestionsdesigned to support on-going, year-round evangelism in the local churchwere tested with pastors. A quarterlytraining event for lay Bible workers wasgreeted enthusiastically by nine out often participating pastors (92%). Threeout of four pastors (77%) would like to

see a weekly Bible class designed fornon-members provided via satellite.

Pastors over 65 years of age andthose with Hispanic congregations areless likely to be interested in thequarterly training events. Older pastorsare also less interested in the weeklyBible class.


The majority of the pastors whoparticipated in Net '95 are part of theBaby Boom generation, now 30 to 49years of age. One in six (16%) areemployees of a Regional Conference.Less than 2% preach in a languageother than English in at least one of theirchurches.

About 6% of the participatingpastors are 65 years of age or older.Only 2% are under 30 years of age. Athird of the pastors (38%) are 50 to 64years of age.


Appendix

A. Telephone Survey Script

B. Anonymous Questionnaire

C. Technical Appendix

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