Ravenna – In every community across America there are small hometown churches representing a community of love and support for those in need of God’s word. You put on your Sunday best, shake the preacher’s hand, and take your seat at the pew to hear the morning message. Perhaps you go home and prepare a family dinner, as is a tradition for many families on Sunday afternoon. It is a feel-good time of the week that makes you think you are living in a country song. But what happens when you are not allowed to go to church and make that weekly connection? When you cannot attend and hear the message in person?
Due to the pandemic many churches have been dealing with these types of situations and are trying to figure out to how to connect with their congregations. One local place of worship, Summit Road Baptist Church of Ravenna is getting creative and reaching a new community through Facebook Live streaming.
The church was established August 19, 1958 on State Route 59 in Ravenna and then in 1975 moved to the current location at 3336 Summit St, Ravenna, Ohio 44266. Sharon Combs-Eisenbarth, Secretary and 30-year member of the church discussed the impact the quarantine has had on their outreach initiatives. She grew up in the church and has seen it through the different stages of its development and growth. She wears many hats as a youth director and gives musical performance along with her sister Sandy Bennett, the Music Director.
Before the pandemic, an advertisement had been placed seeking a new, full-time pastor. After months of interviews and substitutes filling in at the pulpit, they landed on the decision of Pastor Bill White Jr. (son of Bill White a local bowling enthusiast and a previous owner of Twin Star Lanes, known for his philanthropy). “He was a perfect fit for us and has history in the area,” Sharon said. “But then the whole world stopped spinning for a while.”
SRBC was unable to open and meet formally with parishioners due to isolation guidelines. Without people coming to church there is no tithing, which equates to no regular financial income. This would pose a huge problem for any place of worship as the funding for a church relies principally on the donations of its attendees. SRBC did find a silver lining, because during the summer months they did not have to pay a high electric bill as they would have in the winter.
They started revamping their Website when they received requests about how to donate if they could not attend church. Now, interested people can give online at https://www.summitroadbaptist.org. “We received gifts we weren’t really expecting,” Sharon expressed with gratitude. “It is a blessing and what we need to keep the church going.”
So how to answer the spiritual needs of followers while staying safe at the same time? Pastor Bill White Jr. was the answer to a prayer Sharon explained. With his uplifting personality and previous online streaming experience at other churches, he was a shoe-in. He earned a Master of Divinity degree in 1997 from the Denver Seminary.
Pastor White started officially with SRBC just this past August and has already made an impact with online growth, an idea that comes from his training is church planting. It goes like this: he explained the first place is home, second place is your work and most people have a third place they are around a lot like a health club, coffee shop or golf course. “If you plant a church in a third place you can reach people that might never go to a traditional church,” he said with excitement at the prospect.
Currently, the place where people are spending most of their time is online; therefore, live Facebook streaming of Sunday morning services is something the SRBC has begun to offer. Although in its infancy they have seen great success through this form of ministry. They have received positive feedback and will continue to provide this service when they reopen.
One interesting challenge you would not normally think of is when they are live, a church must pay for a streaming license to play music protected by copyright laws. Pastor White explained they can perform most of the songs from the hymnal book like “Amazing Grace” or “How Great Thou Art” because they are out of copyright. “The way it works is it goes up to 70 years after the author has died,” he said. Under the streaming license when they play a current song the writer receives a royalty payment.
“We have met a lot of mountains,” Sharon said of recent challenges. They are standing strong in the face of adversity and are excited by the whole new avenue of outreach streaming Live has opened for them to explore.
In-person services will reopen on Sunday, September 6th at 11am and information can be found online and on the SRBC Facebook page. Previous recording for those wanting to get caught up with the current teachings can also be viewed on Facebook.
