Media Ministry First-Plymouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ 2000 "D" Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68502-1698 Office (402) 476-7565 Fax (402) 476-8402 Photos courtesy of Bob Meier, Bob Meier Photography, Lincoln Nebraska

Radio and Television Ministry

Each week over 20,000 people tune in to First-Plymouth Church on television and radio. First-Plymouth Church has been broadcasting its worship service on KFOR radio in Lincoln for over 50 years. This radio broadcast is currently heard on KFOR (1240AM) at 9:30 a.m. every Sunday morning.

In 1986 First-Plymouth decided to expand its Media Ministry by employing a full-time media director and building a production control room and equipping the church with cameras and television lighting. This equipment was replaced with new during the summer of 2005.  (See below for some pictures of our old equipment.)  Each week an edited version of the worship service titled "Reach Out and Live" is broadcast on three commercial television stations. After broadcasting 13 years on KETV the ABC affiliate in Omaha our church television program switched broadcast channels and times in order to expand our area of coverage. Viewers in Omaha, Lincoln, Fremont, Council Bluffs, Iowa can watch "Reach Out and Live" each Sunday morning at 9:30 on KPTM Fox 42, from Omaha. In Lincoln, if you have cable, that is channel 9. In central Nebraska and northern Kansas "Reach Out and Live" can be seen at 8:00 AM on KTVG-KSNB Fox 4 and 17 in Grand Island and Hastings. Recently, Fox 4 and 17 have been picked up by Lincoln Time Warner Cable so viewers in Lincoln now have several choices.  Fox 4 and 17 can be seen on channel 4 on Lincoln Cable. Viewers in North Platte can tune in at 9:00 a.m. on KNOP-TV Channel 2.

Each week a team of volunteers, led by Emmy Award winning Producer/Director Tammy Alvis videotapes the Sunday worship service. Ms. Alvis has been the full-time Media Director at First-Plymouth Church since the inception of the ministry.  

During the week she videotapes an introduction to the program with the Rev. Dr. Jim Keck. Then the one hour worship service is edited down to 28 minutes and 26 seconds. The television broadcast on the FOX Afflilates is a one-week delay broadcast. The KFOR radio broadcast is fed live, so the sermon heard on the radio is the same one preached in church.

Every Christmas Eve the church's "Festival of Lessons and Carols" is broadcast on FOX 42, Omaha, Lincoln & Council Bluffs and in Central Nebraska and Northern Kansas on FOX 4 & 17 at midnight.  The program features the Plymouth Choir and Plymouth Brass.

Since First-Plymouth Church started to reach out to the public through its media ministry, thousands of people have written to tell how the ministry has touched their lives. The media ministry has had a tremendous impact on those who are unable to attend church in their area. Many of our viewers are shut in, elderly, ill or who are afraid or lonely. Others are looking for ways of understanding the Christian faith other than those programs presently shown on television.

Newsletter

Another avenue of the media ministry is the "Reach Out and Live" quarterly newsletter. The newsletter offers inspirational articles, information on upcoming television programs, articles of interest to viewers plus letters from viewers. Approximately 1300 copies are mailed four times a year and, this too, reaches many people in Nebraska and surrounding states. The newsletter is available to those individuals who financially support the radio and television ministry.

Web Page & Internet

Besides the radio and television ministry, the media ministry has expanded to include the creation of this web page. The web page provides weekly printed copies of the sermons to an unlimited audience. It’s the goal of the media department to always be developing new and exciting ways to spread the good news. On the First-Plymouth Church web page people can also find our weekly church newsletter and monthly listing of singles events.

Also, an exciting and innovative way that our media department reaches out to people is by using electronic messages to specialized groups. For instance the singles group receives a monthly e-mail message of upcoming events. People can simply hit "reply" to RSVP for an event.

Future plans include having live audio of the sermons on the web page. Also we’ll store the audio of the sermons for about a week on the web page so people can hear the sermons as well as read them. Plans are being made to offer sound clips of the new Lied organ and of C.D. recordings of the First-Plymouth Church Choir. So stay tuned to this web page as we continue to expand and find new ways of bringing the good news to you.