With 350–400 congregants, Boulevard Baptist Church, in Anderson, South Carolina is part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. About 60% of its members are 50 and older, and 30% are younger families. The tech-savvy church was live-streaming its worship services every week—even before COVID-19.
Problem
When the new pastor started at Boulevard Baptist Church, older members of the congregation began complaining that
they couldn’t hear. Church officials turned up the sound system, thinking that would solve the problem, but it didn’t. That’s
because the pastor uses voice inflections when delivering his sermons, and the elderly congregants couldn’t hear the high and
low pitches of his voice.
Solution
The church first investigated a Bluetooth system, but they’d have to buy a system for each person who used it—at least a $20,000 investment. Then, a church member started looking into solutions on his own and found Listen EVERYWHERE, from Listen Technologies. Listen EVERYWHERE is the leading solution for delivering crystal-clear audio via Wi-Fi. It delivers sound directly to users’ iOS and Android devices through a free app that features customizable text banners, welcome videos, channel labels, and more. The system is so affordable that the investigating member bought it himself and donated it to the church.
“At the last deacons meeting, one of the older members stood up and told everyone about it,” says Bobby Rettew, Deacon and Chair of the Communications Committee at the church. “We didn’t have to broadcast it, didn’t have to market it. They just took over and ran with it. Word of mouth has taken over.”
Result
Congregants started using the system as soon as it was installed. At first, it was just a few people using the system, but they could hear everything the pastor said during his sermon. Church officials trained a few other congregants who had Bluetooth hearing aids on how to use the system. Word spread, and soon at least 30 people were using the system for hearing every Sunday. Moving forward, church leaders plan to use Listen EVERYWHERE for drive-in movie nights in the parking lot.
For more information about Listen EVERYWHERE click here.