GROUNDWIRE, an outreach program of Champion Ministries, in an innovative media campaign has begun targeting the average teen through paid commercials in MTV and VH1.
The ministry is meeting the needs of the teens in America by leveraging secular media and technology for the Gospel.
Sean Dunn, founder of Groundwire, began to be challenged by the Great Commission about eight years ago. That’s when he realized that while the Bible said, “Go,” he never actually went anywhere with the Gospel. He admitted that he had only invited kids to come to where he was, as a full-time youth and college ministry member.
When he realized that while many ministries existed for people who sought after God, none accommodated those who weren’t seeking he asked himself: “How do we reach the ones who don’t want to be reached?”
His call to ministry was strengthened when he came across a piece of data. According to that statistic, 97 percent of teenagers listened to the radio at least five times a week.
“When I saw that, I thought ‘I can’t get 97 percent of people to come to church.’ If they’re loyal to their media, we have to find ways to leverage media and technology.”
That’s how Groundwire decided to go right into the heart of the stations that were captivating the attention of teens everywhere.
Recently, the ministry began buying 30 or 60-second commercials in between programs in popular channels. Instead of programs of lust, hopelessness and blatant Godlessness that the channels were airing, the ministry decided to offer messages of hope and encouragement in Jesus Christ.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Dunn said: “We’re able to take Christ right into that darkness that is in many ways destroying morality and stealing spiritual drive. Our strategy is really to interrupt somebody’s life. They’re looking for something else and we want to suggest Christ in the middle of that.”
According to him, thousands of young people who are lost and lonely are presented with an opportunity to meet Christ, right where they are, and witness God’s unconditional love.
Instead of primetime programming, Groundwire places its commercials in two targeted time slots: 10 pm to 6 am, and 3 pm to 6 pm.
On groundwire.net a live spiritual coach is available 24 hours a day. There is also a collection of helpful resources such as podcasts and daily devotionals.
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