Ministry, Majors, Media: NGU student opportunities
Alyssa Waller, Staff Writer and Photographer
Ministry can be divided into three categories: media ministry, youth ministry, and pastoral ministry.
North Greenville University provides several majors that are intended to equip students for their desired ministry careers. Some of the majors include: media ministry, christian studies and intercultural studies.
Media ministry has been around since the early church, which had drawings of its statement of faith in the early temples found around the Dead Sea region.
Media ministry could also be traced back to the Old Testament because God gave instructions on the use of symbols.
In the modern era, the development of sound reinforcement technology was discovered.
Dr. Stevens, associate professor of communication at North Greenville University said, “The message does not change, but the way we get the message across needs to be meeting people where they are.”
Dr. Stevens said media ministry is the use of media technology as a tool for communicating the gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission.
Media ministry provides opportunities because our culture is becoming saturated with media and becoming more media savvy.
Opportunities with media ministry includes any place where people involved in ministry and need media support.
Dr. Stevens said, “Media ministry is not about the tech, media ministry is about the people we are going to minister to and that we are an expression of ministry of God and Christ. The tech is merely a tool that we use, it is not an end of itself. Like any tool tech is a tool that needs to be used creatively, effectively, and with excellence.”
Abby Nix, a junior broadcast media major at NGU, is advancing her skills in media ministry.
Nix has been a ProPresenter at Velocity Church in Taylors, South Carolina, for the past year and a half.
She puts the lyrics to the songs into ProPresenter and puts the lyrics on the screen for the band and the congregation, which she said she learns while on the job.
She said she has learned a lot on the job and wants to learn more.
She said she enjoys being part of the service each week. She said she would advise others to not be afraid to ask questions or change things up since people like different things.
Youth ministry is a pretty densely-packed major, according to Director of Youth Ministry at NGU, Mike Landrum.
Landrum said youth ministry is different than other ministries because of the way it is developed. He said he thinks all the ministries should work together under the umbrella of the church as a whole, not as their own kingdoms.
Landrum quoted an author, “Leadership is taking people where they do not want to go or taking them where they need to go, but they do not know they need to go there yet.”
Dr. Melton, assistant professor of christians studies at NGU, said students entering ministry would typically major in christian studies, youth ministry, or cross-cultural ministry.
Dr. Melton mentors and meets with students. He also arranges about 30 preaching opportunities for student preachers everywhere in and around South Carolina.
He said students gain experience by preaching in churches, which allows the congregation to meet a young preacher from North Greenville University and gives a Sunday break for the pastor.
When it comes to technology, Dr. Melton said the church is largely dependent upon technology in our day.
