AGTV – videos-on-demand at your fingertips
By Kara Chase
In March of this year, the Assemblies of God launched a new venture into the world of digital communications – AGTV, a video-on-demand Web site.
“AGTV is an extensive collection of videos of the ministries and programs of the Assemblies of God,” says Juleen Turnage, director of Communications for the Assemblies of God. “Through several channels, viewers can watch–and in some cases–download videos to play for churches, classes or other outlets.”
The AGTV site was created out of a desire to better connect churches, ministries and individuals across the Fellowship while introducing viewers to the Assemblies of God in a relevant way.
“Video is the language of our culture today and it is an incredible tool for connecting people with the gospel,” says Tim Laffoon, Assemblies of God digital communications coordinator.
One of the goals in creating AGTV was to provide a centralized distribution point for videos produced throughout the Assemblies of God as a whole.
“This site is designed to showcase not only what we do at the national office but also to showcase the videos that our AG churches, colleges, districts and other affiliated AG ministries are producing,” Laffoon explains.
Approximately 20 churches of all sizes have already uploaded their videos to AGTV. These videos range in variety from sermons and personal testimonies to creative promos and highlights of community outreaches.
Laffoon invites other churches to contribute their videos to the site.
“God is doing some amazing things within our Fellowship and we want to share those stories and to connect people with ministries all around the world,” he says.
New content is added to AGTV on a nearly daily basis and all of the videos can be embedded onto other Web sites using a simple share tool located beside the video player. AGTV users can create a personal play list to quickly access their favorite videos.
“This video-on-demand outlet has quickly become one of the most visited sites on ag.org,” Turnage says.
“We have been amazed at the immediate popularity of this effort as literally hundreds of the videos are viewed each week.”
Since the site’s launch in March, through July, more than 16,500 unique visitors have visited AGTV. By the end of July approximately 670 videos had been loaded on AGTV and the total number of videos played was nearing 65,000.
These numbers confirm AGTV’s potential to share the gospel with a growing audience.
“Sharing Christ should always be our number one priority,” Laffon says, “and in this digital culture that we live in today, God has given us some incredible tools that enable us to share His gospel in a
very relational and interactive way.”
Visit AGTV at www.agtv.ag.org.