In May, employees and volunteers from Brunstad TV and BCC’s media department travelled from the head office in Oslo to Sørlandet for an inspirational convention. Concepts and strategies for future years were deliberated with the aim to improve outreach to those who want to hear, learn and practice.
By: Johanne Reiersrud – Photos by BCC
At the moment, BCC’s professional staff for media production and TV transmissions consists of 25 employees, as well as approximately 25 volunteers who contribute via BCC’s youth program. One third of these work with technical and multi-camera production during BCC’s conferences and events, while two thirds work with content and program production.
“We have considerable work ahead of us in the next few years”, says Berit Hustad Nilsen, leader for the media division in BCC.
“BCC intends to spread the Bible’s and the apostles’ teachings to those who want to hear, learn and do. And that requires that those of us working with communication are on the same path as this vision in our everyday work. We now have a unique opportunity to convene and develop new ideas for ways to broadcast this message.
A dynamic publishing house for the Christian message
Brunstad TV has developed gradually over the course of eight years and Hustad Nilsen emphasizes the importance of continual renewal and progress:
“Our vision is to become a dynamic publishing house for communicating Christianity. Ensuring that future generations will be able to hear Jesus’ gospel on the platforms they use is a significant part of our mission. For this reason, we need to develop and organise ourselves in the best manner possible and be consistently creative. Therefore, we arrange regular workshops of this kind.”
Underveis på turen fra Oslo til Kristiansand ble det en stopp med felles lunsj og allmøte. Visjonen og formålet til BCC samler medarbeiderne, og det er inspirerende med informasjon og planer fra alle deler av medievirksomheten.
There was a collective lunch and meeting during a stop on the trip from Oslo to Kristiansand. BCC’s vision and purpose connects the members, and hearing information and plans from all the various media groups inspires everyone.
Glad tidings
It was time for inspiration of the spiritual kind when the entire staff met at Kalvild Gård for a banquet dinner. Bjørn Nilsen had been invited for the occasion and spoke enthusiastically about the glad tidings that the angels sang with joy when Jesus was born.
“We are going to broadcast these glad tidings, which means we need to be gripped of them ourselves, don’t we?” he asked the group.
Referring to the Christmas story from the second chapter in the gospel of Luke, Bjørn Nilsen vividly expressed that only the gospel of Jesus can save us. Jesus descended and solved the problem itself with this attitude: “Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.” He did God’s will in everything.
With this mindset, we can also broadcast these glad tidings with our lives.
Inspiration from the banquet evening carried over to the workshop the next day.
Inspection of well-known convention center and concert hall
“We have looked forward to coming to inspect the two newest and largest conference halls in Kristiansand,” says Stian Solli, leader of the technical and multi-camera production division.
“It’s always inspiring to see how other professionals work, and here we’ll see two stages and halls with different features.”
He explains that the media department’s goal is for conference participants to see and hear the message without interruptions during BCC events. Conferences are translated into approximately 20 languages simultaneously, televised to members throughout the world and produced for both auditorium and TV concurrently.
“This is why we constantly have to work to stay updated and look at which technical equipment we should invest in going forward,” says Solli.
Development of new ideas and programs
Parallel to those inspections, the mission department, program production group and communication division worked in groups to brainstorm new ideas and concepts. The editing department had specifically requested ideas for Christian children’s programs, new ways of distributing content and new communication delivery methods for auditorium events, in which the Christian message will reach young people in new and exciting ways, in terms of technology and delivery.
“We’ve gathered many good ideas and are very satisfied with the results from the group work,” said Berit Hustad Nilsen, when the groups had presented their ideas that afternoon.
“We have really bright and creative employees and volunteer associates who invest wholeheartedly in contributing to fulfill our mission. We have a considerable undertaking ahead of us and these functions are imperative for us in order to further develop this pursuit in accordance with BCC’s objectives.”
