Vision in Action

 Vision in Action

SAVN.TV Newsletter #2

January, 2013

There is much that has been done and much yet to be done. “It’s your world, do something!” is not just a slogan, it is a call to action. The Salvation Army’s reach is global, and sharing a vision of need is not enough. The world needs a vision of hope because where there is no hope, the people perish. The Salvation Army brings hope through action. As it is written, ‘how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!’ The Salvation Army brings hope by lending a hand in being a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows.

                  SAVN.TV presents needs, but also…        SAVN.TV is about Vision in Action!

SAVN.TV seeks to partner with the Christian community, social activists, and other like-minded people that would be inclined to Get Involved with The Salvation Army, but need some visual encouragement.

SAVN.TV provides that visual encouragement to an online world through film and video. It is a place where millions can connect every day. In the first six months, SAVN.tv has had more than 130,000 page views with each visitor averaging 7.5 minutes per visit. These are astounding numbers, especially considering we’ve yet to start any formal marketing campaign.

Did You Know?

Marketing Strategies:

Now that SAVN is officially out of our 'open beta phase' and into Phase II of development, we have launched into an aggressive marketing campaign with the goal of letting people know we're here and reaching the world for Christ (by any means necessary)!  While entering uncharted waters, we have enlisted the aid of social networking professionals, outside marketing firms, and branding contractors to help guide us along.  Our goal has been to use a complimentary mixture of proven marketing tactics and experimental approaches, while thinking outside the box.  Thus far, our efforts have provided a wide variety of quantitative results; some good, some bad, some strange. 

One of the most unexpected results came from a marketing firm who we hired to direct thousands of FaceBook users to our page, which they did... from Turkey!  Initially, we wrote this experiment off as a failure.  That is, until God started working.  Inexplicably (and without our knowledge), one of our FaceBook video promotions turned directly toward our Turkish following.  Before we knew it, our Turkish followers (and all their friends) were responding to our video by the thousands!  This unexpected boon reached over 50,000 people, resulting in thousands of 'actions' (clicks, plays, and likes), and hundreds of new users visiting our website.  Who would have thought we would develop a following in a small country halfway around the world?  Remembering that the first churches were founded in the Turkish region…and let’s not forget ‘Joe the Turk!’ We're not complaining. We'll take them!  God is good!

One Example of Outreach:

In a recent meeting with the Senior Vice President and CFO of Fox Searchlight Pictures (Slumdog Millionaire, Black Swan, etc.), we found an enthusiastic supporter of social causes. In connection with her global charitable work, Jill Gwen has personally helped in cleaning, painting, building, teaching and encouraging those affected by tragedy, poverty, and disaster. SAVN.tv is reaching out to all types of social activists in the hope of building long term relationships.

Departure from Regular Donation Method:

As part of SAVN.tv’s launch to the world, our "99 cents" donation button hopes to bring much needed support from viewers around the world, as well as introducing potentially millions of non-believers to The Salvation Army. Although this is different than other online methods TSA uses, experts tell us that our target audience is more likely to respond with a small gift which our standard method cannot accommodate. The proceeds from all donations go directly to the territory, division, corps or institution that champions the cause, outreach or service for which the donation is given.

New Video

Lost Boy: As a four-year-old child, Peter Adup ran away when soldiers shot his parents in front of him. As a Sudanese refugee, his young friends were killed by wild animals, disease, and the military, but Peter did not give up. He feels safe now that he has joined The Salvation Army whom he refers to as his new “brothers and sisters.” There is still much to do, but you too, can Get Involved with the Salvation Army.

Coming Soon

YouVersion, a free worldwide Bible application with over 76,000,000 installs and counting, will soon feature devotionals produced by SAVN.tv. Some of the Army's most gifted Officers and Soldiers share inspirational thoughts in multiple languages. We hope to cover more languages and speakers as this ministry opportunity blossoms under the Holy Spirit's leading.

www.savn.tv

Our 1st Video Blog!

Our first video blog with SAVN.tv Executive Director, Guy Noland.

Ya'll come back now, hear?

OMNIPRESENT! The SAVN.tv Story (1)

CLICK

OMNIPRESENT

Shrinking Globe, Shrinking Gospel

The SAVN.TV Story

(An eBook in the Making)

(A Work in Progress)

God Incarnate! The omnipotent and omniscient triangulated and shrunk into the form of a vulnerable flesh and blood human being, ten fingers, ten toes, five senses and all - the first Cyberspace transmission of compassion in action. Heretofore, unconditional love was an emotion unknown unto men.

The mind cannot conceive, what the senses cannot perceive.

Jesus embodies compassion in action, his behavior exasperating traditional, legalistic skeptics: "We've never done it this way before!"

Love Triumphs Law

Cynicism Erupts

"Blasphemy!"

Jesus communicates the Gospel visually: compassion in visual action. He understands the power of story, scripting His message into parables (painting verbal pictures) and object lessons, always leaving his audience wanting more:

An Adulteress Protected and Forgiven

Feeding the Hungry Five Thousand

Lepers Touched and Healed

Compassion In Action!

The message is not confined, liturgically, within the temples; it goes viral throughout the land, mouth to ear, ear to mouth, all flocking to hear, see and touch however, whenever and wherever Jesus is.

"In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories" (Matthew 13).

No Microphone

No Internet

No Media

The shoreline: taking the Gospel to wherever people are to be got at.

The water: natural sound wave amplifier.

The boat: innovative use of resources.

Using modern techniques to reach the greatest number of people instantaneously and visually with 'The Story.' Compassion in visual action!

From 12 disciples to 1 million Christians by the end of the 1st Century, an amazing increase in number considering the primitive means of communication and transportation at their disposal. By the time the Industrial Revolution rolls around (early 1800's), the global population has ballooned to 1 billion with an estimated 23% claiming to be Christians (the definition having broadened considerably in scope). Industrial innovation ushers in the beginnings of a modern phenomenon - a rapidly shrinking planet.

One century later (1930) the population doubles to 2 billion with 35% now claiming to be Christians. By 2012 growth more than triples to 7 billion, phenomenally fast by comparison, 33% (2% less) now professing Christianity. This rapidity in growth creates social chaos and upheaval heretofore unimaginable. The traditional "missionary sending" method cannot keep up with it.

In the midst of this population explosion, enter the Informational Revolution. The computer and Internet, et al, gives instant access to the global masses. The resulting culture clash is mind-boggling, leading to a diminishing Christian population, percentage wise (2% = 140 million souls) - a declining trend in the midst of instant, omnipresent access to the Gospel.

The church is slow to adapt

Shrinking Globe, Shrinking Gospel!

No means no

As the old saying goes, "No means no."  In truth, the saying should be rephrased to say, "No means 'I'm afraid to take chances and commit to something at which I (or you) may fail, regardless of the fact that we'll likely succeed'."

On the whole, people trend toward "NO" as a knee jerk response to both simple and complex requests.  Why?  Simple... POWER.  This short, simple, two-letter word carries more power than any other word in the English language (with the exception, of course, of "love").  "NO" possesses the ability to shut down progress, disable hope, cripple change, and side-step risk.  It's a word wielded by bullies and coveted by cowards.  It is a safe word, devoid of risk.  "If we don't take risks, we can't fail! Maintain the status quo!  Bury our talents and wallow in mediocrity!  Let someone else say 'yes.'  THAT'S the safe path!  After all, we may not succeed, but at least we won't fail."

The opposite of success is not failure.  Every successful man in history can attribute his success to the failures that made him stronger.  Failure becomes an inevitable companion to success.  The opposite of success is mediocrity; the failure to even attempt at succeeding.

Michael Eisner, the CEO of Disney, was quoted as saying, "To punish failure is to encourage mediocrity... failure is not a death sentence."   If failure is not a death sentence, what is?  In a word... complacency.

Eisner also said, "If it's not growing, it's going to die." Life dictates movement in one direction or another.  If we don't go forward, we must go back.  Nature does not abide stagnancy. An organism must either age and mature or whither and die.  There is no in between.

And so it goes with an organization. The fear of failure envelopes the Movement and slowly suffocates it into hibernation.  In this stasis, it ceases to grow and invariably withers and dies.

So let us champion risk!  Rally around our leaders and pray for the growth that will stay our demise!  Let us encourage our brothers to dig up their talents, abandon fear, throw caution to the wind and say "YES."

Creativity Takes Courage

Preach it, brother Phil!  Preach it!

http://philcooke.com/real-creativity-takes-courage/

Welcome!

SAVN.tv is thrilled to welcome visitors from all over the globe!  We still officially dwell in the "open beta" phase of our launch as we have yet to concentrate our efforts toward any sort of marketing campaign.  Not to fear... a BIG push looms just over the horizon.

That said, we still boast regular visits from our brothers and sister all over the globe. 6 of the 7 continents have made regular appearances to date (we have yet to hear from Antarctica, but we're keeping our fingers crossed!).  So far our biggest supporters have been Australia, UK, Canada, India, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Sweden.

The list doesn't end there!  We've also had the pleasure of welcoming friends from Central and South America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Chili, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Jamaica), Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Morocco), Middle East (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan), Asia (Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines), Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany, Norway, Portugal, France, Croatia, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Estonia), and Russia.

We're so happy to have you all with us and pray that you continue to support our mission and spread the word!

Blessings.

Remembering 9/11

Let's pause for a moment in the midst of all the political campaign rhetoric.

The eleventh anniversary of 9/11 is almost upon us. In order to keep the memory going, please share this film - http://savn.tv/campaign/view/34 - with those in your social media network and ask them to share it forward without breaking the chain - take it viral. And all donations will go to recent disasters occurring. Click Share. Click Donate.