Your Local ASI
Can’t Wait to See What’s Next
Calvin Thrash
02/28/2014
ASI Southern Union enjoys a special relationship with ASI National. In fact, ASI was birthed in Southern Union territory.
ASI Southern Union has begun holding regular fall conventions to reach members within the Southern Union. Rotating among various Southern Union regions, we have been able to connect with existing members and to meet potential new members. We have seen our chapter grow through these interactions.
At one of these fall conferences in Birmingham, Alabama, leaders who were attending from Network 7 Media Center saw needs they could satisfy. Microphone stands kept falling over, and the projector screen was crooked, so they stepped in to help.
At the same time, ASI Southern Union leaders recognized that media could be used to reach a new generation of membership. In 2007, we began looking for ways to use the Internet to reach those who could not otherwise attend ASI events. Joy McKee, former vice president for communication, met Luis Jimenez from Network 7, then a new organizational member of ASI. The two compared notes and discovered that Network 7’s passion fit ASI Southern Union’s need.
In the spring of 2008, Network 7 began to broadcast the ASI Southern Union spring meetings, providing cameras and audio and a stream to the Internet. Later, they added graphics, video inserts, lighting, projection, and high definition streaming. Today, Network 7 partners with ASI member 3AngelsTube (a kind of Adventist “YouTube”). 3AngelsTube provides ASI with its own channel for streaming broadcasts.
In November 2012, ASI Southern Union, 3AngelsTube, and Network 7 joined for the first time to present a new ground-breaking Internet event, “Sharing Jesus in the @nline Marketplace.” It was the first fully interactive ASI convention to be broadcast online. Viewers could ask questions, and speakers could provide realtime answers via the online channel at 3AngelsTube. There was also a dual screen chat room where viewers could talk to each other as the broadcast played in the same window. Speakers included Steven Grabiner, John Bradshaw, Derek Morris, and Steve Wohlberg.
“It was one of the most challenging live events we have ever produced,” says Christopher Beason, Network 7’s executive director. “It was more than just an ordinary broadcast. We had to coordinate the speakers’ questions and moderate the chat room, as well as to ensure that it was interesting and uplifting for the viewers. We learned what does and doesn’t work, and have applied what we learned to future events.”
More than 1,000 viewers joined ASI Southern Union for its 2013 fall online conference broadcast from the campus of Southern Adventist University. It featured speakers Luke Heimann and Denzil McNeilus, as well as panel discussions on the subject of business and ministry working together.
We want to encourage other ASI chapters and groups to try the online fall conference concept. Perhaps we could rotate the host site among the various unions. ASI was born in the Southern Union, and now the concept of online interactive conventions has been born here, too! We can’t wait to see what’s next!
