When Tiffany Amber tweeted she was overcome with depression, Granger Community Church was quick to offer support and replied to her tweet with a link to an upcoming sermon on dealing with debilitating depression.
“I am so there,” Amber replied. “I need this. This message will be really good for me.”
The Granger, Ind.-based megachurch has harnessed technology to create personal touches and offer support and advice to its large online community. It has set up several Twitter geocodes via TweetDeck and SproutSocial and receives instant notifications whenever someone asks for prayer in its community, which consists of a 42-mile radius around the Granger campus.
The church also has geocodes for topics related to upcoming series. For example, for its Monsters Under the Bed series, it set up alerts using keywords such as depression, anxiety and fear. It also sets up alerts for special events or topics like marriage or relationships.
“With every alert, we have the opportunity to reach out to a person with a simple and caring touch from the church—we see you, we hear you, we’re praying for you,” says Kem Meyer, communications director. “It’s humbling to see the responses from people who didn’t know anyone was watching or that anyone cared.”
GRANGER COMMUNITY CHURCH Granger, Ind.
Website: GCCWired.com
Lead Pastor: Mark Beeson
Founded: 1985
Affiliation: United Methodist
Locations: 3
Attendance: 5,500
