In 105th year, Medora church keeps up with the times

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MEDORA

Soundboards weren’t used in the sanctuary. Podcasts and live streaming weren’t in existence. Traveling around the world to spread the Gospel didn’t happen.

In its 105th year, though, all of those things are alive and well at Medora Pentecostal Church.

The church’s leadership has taken the initiative for quite a while now to ensure the church stays relevant and continues to draw in people of all ages, whether its within or beyond the walls.

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Technology is one way the church has kept up with the times.

In 1977, the church had a radio broadcast called “Voice of the Pentecost.” Then in 1986, it had a live call-in radio show called “Light for Living.” Both started under Pastor Muncia Walls’ leadership.

“That was back in the reel-to-reel days,” Walls said, smiling.

He was the church’s pastor for 30 years and was in radio during that time, and he now serves as the bishop.

“He’s still in radio now, so though technology has changed, we have always been a church that is involved in some kind of outreach through radio,” said Pastor Tim Gill, who is Walls’ son-in-law.

Once Gill’s son-in-law, Timothy Gothra, came on board at the church 10 years ago, he helped advance the technology even more.

He set up the online services, including the live streaming of church services, podcasts and Facebook page. He also helps with audio and video needs, plays music at services and serves as the associate pastor and administrative pastor.

“Whatever I can find to put myself to use is what I like to do,” Gothra said.

“He does a fantastic job with taking the resources of a small church with very a limited budget and puts together a great quality of things for our live streaming, our podcasts, our audio/video, those kinds of things,” Gill said.

The services and podcasts are available on the church’s YouTube channel and then shared to the Facebook page. The podcasts also are available on iTunes and Podbean.

“It has been a blessing to our shut-ins,” Gothra said. “We have a lot of elderly people who haven’t been able to make it to services, so they would be able to tune in and watch the services.”

It’s also a good way for people locally and all around the world to see what the church is doing.

“We know a lot of people, before they visit a church, they want to know as much as they can about that church, and so being that we have a live stream, it gives an inside look as to what they can expect when they come,” Gothra said. “What’s neat is being how small we are in the community that we are, these broadcasts, they are worldwide. They have reached people all across the world.”

Gill said they can see where people are viewing or downloading from, and that has included countries in Africa and Europe.

“We probably average somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 downloads a month since we started our podcasts in 2017,” Gill said. “Our podcasts are reaching all over the world.”

Gill recently started a podcast, “Kingdom Link,” with his son, David, who is the student minister. They are working to bridge the gap between the younger and older generations.

“The last three have been about relationship building in leadership,” Gill said. “It usually goes back to either connecting generations or leadership, that kind of thing.”

The plan is to add video to the podcasts, and they are preparing a room in the church to do just that, Gothra said.

“We’ll be creating an online discipleship program with classes that people can go and view. That’s something that we’re developing right now,” he said. “They can do that anywhere or any time, so that’s really exciting.”

The church’s leaders are happy to see technology making an impact.

“Over time, we haven’t seen a decline in our passion for the community or people attending our services or anything like that,” Gothra said. “Instead, there are new people coming in all of the time, new passions being developed.”

The church also makes an impact through Walls, who holds four doctorates, has authored more than 30 books and has been involved in world missions for 52 years. That has taken him to more than 50 countries.

“We have missionaries in these countries, and I just go to check on them,” Walls said.

When he was a director for Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, Walls would be in conference with the missionaries to check on their progress and work.

“These are missionaries which we have sent out as an organization. They are Americans from here who have gone to other countries to spread the Gospel,” he said. “It’s just very humbling to know we are involved with such a tremendous outreach.”

Closer to home, the church has goals of getting more involved in the community. Gothra already is involved at Medora Community Schools as the new robotics coach.

“That has been really cool,” he said. “Just doing whatever I can to be involved in the community is where my headspace is right now.”

Plus, one Sunday each month, the church goes on the road to Hoosier Christian Village in Brownstown. Members go to minister, sing, play music and socialize with the nursing home’s residents.

And a Moms in Touch group connects to the school and provides support in a variety of ways.

“We are blessed for the size of our church to have a wide-range demographic,” Gill said. “We have a house full of babies, and we also have our golden-yeared older people that come, so it helps keep us balanced in our approach.”

In terms of the church’s advancements over the years, Gill said he thinks of a statement once made by former professional ice hockey player and coach Wayne Gretzky when someone asked what makes him great.

“He said, ‘I don’t skate to where the puck is. I skate to where it’s going,'” Gill said. “So we’re trying to say, ‘OK, where’s our culture going, and how can we best get the word out to people that may not come through our doors but we can come through theirs?'”

The different ways the church ministers to people in Medora and beyond is what sets it apart.

“Let’s feed the sheep that is here, but also, we want to reach the sheep that is lost. That’s our passion, whether it’s traveling around the world or traveling next door. We want to do it to the glory of God and be as excellent as we can with what we’ve got,” Gill said.

“I think investing in the people who are here is a big part of our DNA,” Gothra said. “I think that’s a foundational piece to what we do is training up generations.”

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What: 105-year celebratory services

When: 10 a.m and 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Medora Pentecostal Church, 94 N. Elm St., Medora

Who: Nathan Thornton, pastor of Apostolic Restoration Church in West Monroe, Louisiana, will speak; the services are open to the public

Information: facebook.com/medorachurch or search for Medora Pentecostal Church’s YouTube channel

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