Broadcasting faith: Area church to air services on cable channel

Worshippers no longer have to leave the house to get a local sermon from a Cape Girardeau church. Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau has begun televising its service on Channel 5, Cape Girardeau's community access channel.

"For years, the church has taken videos of the traditional worship service to those unable to leave their homes," said the Rev. Jeff Long, pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church. "Television now provides an opportunity to see the services and feel part of them as well."

DVD copies will still be taken to people who need or want them, but the congregation sees television as a new evangelism tool to be tapped into.

The worship service being aired is from the previous Sunday. You must be a cable subscriber to access the programs. The church services are televised four times a week -- 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Sunday, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The service runs for one hour. Any prayer requests that were included in the service are edited out, however, to protect the privacy of the individuals.

Centenary's first broadcast was on "Reminiscence Sunday." The message was brought by retired U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Limbaugh Sr. Members were asked to write their memories of Centenary from the time they first began coming to the services. Those memories -- dating back to the 1940s -- were noted on index cards and tacked onto poster boards for easy viewing.

Limbaugh related the near-financial default of the congregation. Centenary United Methodist almost went into foreclosure during the Great Depression. The congregation had to raise $60,000.

"Banks cooperated and parishioners stepped out in faith and the money became available only six hours before the foreclosure deadline," Long said, recalling Limbaugh's story.

Long said a Reminiscence Sunday shouldn't just point eyes toward the past.

"It is a time to look at an event and say 'God was with us then, God is with us now and God will be with us in the future. God got us through this so lean on him in the future,'" he said.

"We watched some of the other churches in town making their worship available on Channel 5 and thought, we can do this, too," Long said.

The congregation donated money to upgrade the equipment so they could air "the best possible telecast."

Long said he is "gratified to be able to see worship services that are made available to everyone because it is all about inclusion. It's all right to watch a video or listen to a tape, but it is even better if you can watch it on television and feel like you are there."

Long said he had a few concerns about airing the sermons.

"I hope that people do not think they don't have to come to church believing that watching it on television is the same as attending in person." He said he believes that worshipping in the community is much better if it's at all possible, but the benefits of reaching more people far outweigh the risks.