Last month, Kelly and I attended the Renovare Conference in San Antonio, Texas. More than thirty speakers from various countries, denominations and perspectives spoke on “The Jesus Way” based upon the book by Eugene Petersen. The worship times were wonderful. The sessions were inspiring, enlightening, and challenging.

Featured speakers included Richard Foster, newly appointed President Chris Webb, scholar and author Eugene Peterson, philosopher Dallas Willard, and author/pastors Max Lucado and John Ortberg. At the end of the conference, these leaders sat together on stage to answer questions, and they seemed like the “C.S. Lewis’s” of our day.

Renovare: “Becoming Like Jesus" was founded by my friend Richard Foster over 20 years ago. The word renovare means “to be renewed”. Richard is a renowned author of many books, including The Celebration of Discipline, Freedom of Simplicity and Prayer, The Heart’s True Home, considered modern-day classics. The organization seeks to develop a worldwide community that is committed to cultivation a deeper life with God.

The conference profoundly impacted me. “The Jesus Way” to run a business, a ministry, or family asks the question How Would Jesus Do It? instead of the familiar “WWJD”. To me that is a paradigm shift. For instance, one session “Being An Apprentice of Jesus” taught the discipline to pray for the prosperity of your enemies and your competitors. Wow! Believe me I didn’t immediately “jump” on my knees at that one.

When I became President of BMCFerrell, I made a decision that we would operate under the rules of Jesus’ kingdom, as opposed to the world’s way. This conference helped me understand what that really means, and to re-evaluate how well we are doing at this. I encourage you to re-think “how” you do things, and ask yourself the question, is it truly, The Jesus Way?

Renovare challenges Christians to sign a covenant, which I did years ago. "In utter dependence upon Jesus Christ as my ever-living Savior, Teacher, Lord, and Friend, I will seek continual renewal through Spiritual exercises, Spiritual gifts, and Acts of service." I hope you will sign too!

For those called to international ministry, television offers unique opportunities to reach a large number of people. However, the formula for success is not simply finding a "good deal" on airtime.

"This is a great time to look at overseas markets," Taylor says, "but you really need someone in your corner who knows the marketplace."

Taylor and other BMCFerrell associates recently returned from Australia, where BMCF is an officially accredited media agency, and Japan, where they met personally with television station owners and managers.

"Ministries must first discern if and where God is calling them," cautions Taylor. "Then, in order to maximize the opportunity, there are a dozen other factors that directly impact the effectiveness of the outreach."

Taylor cites such concerns as language translation, response mechanisms, and cultural sensitivities.

For translating, some places may welcome subtitles while others prefer voice dubbing. If using subtitles, the literacy rate of the population can be an issue. For voice dubs, accents and dialects come into play. Without researching and understanding the market, the wrong decision can undermine the impact of the program.

Response mechanisms become even more critical overseas. India, for example, ranks number four on the worldwide list of internet users. With approximately 81 million people online, they outrank the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil and Canada. Yet that only represents seven percent of India’s total population, so a website will have limited value to an Indian audience. However, the country is well-wired for telephones and most of them speak English. Plus, major American corporations utilize Indian-based telephone companies, making it a great place to run a phone center.

Cultural issues can be the most difficult to navigate. Ignorance can be costly, prejudices can create barriers, and messages can get lost in translation. A sermon with a war analogy may not be right for a nation recently at war. A message on Christian marriage may land on deaf ears in a culture where marriages are often arranged. The truth of the Gospel is universal, but the messengers should take their audience into account.

BMCFerrell specializes in North American media markets as well as direct overseas contracts. With offices and representatives around the world, BMCF works harder and smarter for their clients, enabling them to be the best stewards of their overseas investments.

"AND WHEN HE WAS COME NEAR, HE BEHELD THE CITY, AND WEPT OVER IT…." Luke 19:41

BMCFerrell recently returned from a trip to Japan in an effort to open up direct media relationships with major independent broadcasters for Christian television. We are very happy to report that all of the broadcasters we met with were in favor of carrying Christian television. We have developed a research brief which is available via request from email at mark.dunn@bmcferrell.com.

Understanding the spiritual environment in Japan is difficult. There are many religions in Japan that have come along with current times but most follow Shinto or Buddhism. Most Japanese people do not identify as exclusively belonging to just one religion, but incorporate features of both religions into their daily lives in a process known as syncretism. Shinto and Buddhism are even taken to as being interwoven in the country. Japanese streets are decorated on Tanabata, Obon and Christmas. Japan grants religious freedom to all sects of religious people, as evidenced by the fact they allow minority religions like Christianity, Islam and Sikhism to be practiced. According to the CIA World Fact Book 84% to 96% adhere to Shinto and Buddhism while 4% to 16% of the demographic population adhere to other religions or non-religious, atheist groups. The majority of Japanese (70-80%) carry on the roles of one or more religious body, but do not consider themselves as believers in any religion.

• Regular TV broadcasting began after World War II in 1951.
  
• Japanese residents must pay an annual license fee used to fund NHK, the Japanese public service broadcaster.
  
• There are approximately 50 million TV HH in Japan, of which over 17 million are HDTV.
  
• There are 6 national television networks and dozens of regional affiliates and local TV stations.
  
• National Japanese networks do not air religious programming, due to their ethics code.
  
• There are 14 commercial, independent stations which are not affiliated with the major Japanese networks.
  
• The independent stations regularly air 24/7 via UHF and are reception fee-free.
  
• The coverage area for independent stations are located in the most urbanized regions of Japan and reach a high percentage of the population.
  
• Independent stations’ programming focus on mainstream, general entertainment and are receptive to air religious shows and other paid programming.

Heading into the 2009-10 television season, Nielsen said the total U.S. TV homes have increased by 400,000 to 114.9 million, a considerably smaller increase than the 1.7 million that came a year ago. The top-10 markets remained the same in rank and all gained TV homes. Though the eighth largest, Boston, saw an increase of just 1,100 homes, with Atlanta set to possibly pass it next year. New York gained the most homes of any of the 210 DMAs: up about 60,000. The highest-ranked DMA to experience a decrease was Detroit at No. 11, which lost nearly 37,000 homes.

Top-50 DMAs showing notable jumps include Denver, which passed Miami and Cleveland, along with Salt Lake City and Harrisburg, Pa. Four years after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans-area population continues to rise, increasing 5% over the past year, according to new Nielsen figures. And the Big Easy jumped over the Buffalo and Providence markets in size, while moving to the cusp of the top-50 markets. The New Orleans DMA — which had the highest percentage increase of any market over the last year — now stands at No. 51. Even before the real-estate crash, many Floridians were leaving the state due to a high cost of living and four DMAs there — Tampa, Miami, Ft. Myers and Tallahassee — saw population losses in the last year. With the exception of Green Bay, Buffalo is now the smallest market with an NFL team with some 633,000 TV homes, though the Bills draw fans and TV audiences from neighboring Toronto. With a roiling real-estate market, Las Vegas still remained the 42nd-largest DMA. The small Waco, Texas market soared five spots with a gain of about 10,000 TV homes. For a detailed report on the new Nielsen Rankings for 2009-10 television season, email mark.dunn@bmcferrell.com.

2009 Hillsong Conference, held in Sydney Australia July 7-11, 2009, was an incredible event. “Unshakeable Kingdom” was the theme and had over 22,000 in attendance from 96 countries. Speakers included Joel Osteen, Victoria Osteen, Jentezen Franklin, Louie Giglio, and Craig Groeschel with music from Hillsong United, Israel Houghton Chris Tomlin.

The conference, shot in full High Definition 1080i with 6 cameras and a host of editorial staff creating highlight spots every day during conference. The event was carried on TV via a one-day delay to God TV with an amazing same-day satellite “backhaul” to their broadcast uplink in Jerusalem.

Check out the Highlight Reel and the 2010 Conference preview.

On a recent trip to Tokyo, BMCFerrell had the great pleasure of catching up with Pastor Rod Plummer (@rodplummer on Twitter and jesuslifehouse.com on the web) for their Wednesday evening services called “Big Wednesday”. An awesome night and great Church with the main campus in Tokyo and new locations in Osaka and Hong Kong. What an incredible ministry in Tokyo reaching out to a city with over 12 million souls where, by and large, most are agnostic.

In August, 2002, a group of Australians with vision and a heart of serving God in Japan started Jesus Lifehouse Church. The name “Lifehouse” reflects the core ideas of our commitment and vision as a body of believers eager to impact Japan for Christ. We are seeing continuous growth and the service which started with a small number of people have now expanded into 3 services held in Akasaka on Sunday (11:30, 1:30 & 4:30), our re:mix Service on Saturday Night (6:30), and Big Wednesday (7:15) on Wednesday Night, which is in Ochanomizu.

“The Gathering” consisted of a small group of pastors, ministry and media leaders from all over the world. Co-hosted by Bayless Conley and Cottonwood church in southern California, the topic, presented by Mal Fletcher, was to discuss the future of media and what’s next for ministry media around the world. Mal Fletcher speaks to many across the globe in leadership conferences and seminars, his unique style combines up-to-the-minute research with a very entertaining edge, often using media he equips and inspires leaders in business, media, community agencies and other organizations around the world to engage positively and proactively with future change. The future of media is changing at a rapid pace, Mal gave us all a peek at where it is going, how we use it is up to us. Knowledge and creativity are just a few of the keys to making an impact in very diverse world. For our guests and BMCFerrell, it was a great time to meet and talk with other leaders who are impacting some of the most unique places in the world. We at BMCFerrell are constantly thinking of how media can be used and improved to spread the gospel. If you want to learn more about “The Gathering” or how you can improve your media imprint, call us at (800)-743-4601 or email us at mark.dunn@bmcferrell.com