Tim McDermott “Expanding Your Ministry Through Diversity”

As a former program director, I learned that highly polarizing content often hurts a station.  If a song generates strong positive and strong negative reactions, it’s usually best not to air it.   Remember when DC Talk’s Jesus Freak first came out?  Many people loved it and many others couldn’t stand it which meant many stations didn’t air it.  

Fast forward to today and we know we live in a polarized country.  We are red and blue – and only some purple.   On and off the air, we need to be very careful about what we say.  One misstep and we will activate the “crusaders” on both sides. 

What if there were unity in our diversity?  What if we actually embraced diversity? What if other perspectives and ideas were welcomed?   The body of Christ was never intended to be made up of people who all think, look or experience life the same way.  God often uses different gifts, backgrounds and perspectives to sharpen His people and expand His kingdom.

Here are some practical ways to expand your circle of ministry.

1. Diversify the board. All things start at the top. How diverse is your board?  I remember years ago when I first became a general manager.  My board was fairly homogeneous – mostly white, Republican, and male.  Honestly, I don’t think many of them even listened to the station.  By the time I left that position 26 years later, our board was very diverse – Black, White, Hispanic, Republicans, Democrats, Protestant and Catholic, Men and Women.   How did that happen?   When we looked for new board members during our board recruiting season, we told our board to expand their circles and look for people who love Jesus and who don’t look like them.   It worked.  Our board began to welcome people in with different perspectives.  Our board discussions went to new levels. Did discussions get intense at times?  Yes, but they were always respectful.  When we finally had agreement in the midst of all these different perspectives, we had gold.

2. Experience is the key to unity. It’s one thing to talk about diversity and a whole different thing to experience it. Every December I would make our staff do ministry outreach with another organization to the most difficult parts of our city.  It was a great chance for all of us to see our city through a different lens. I learned that we don’t have to go to a Third World country to experience Third World conditions.  Every time we did this annual outreach, our staff came back changed – for good.  They had stepped outside of their normal world and they were different.  Did the staff all want to do this?  Honestly, not everyone did (although as the boss, I tried to make it compelling to go as possible). But don’t get hung up there.  The vast majority will go.  Find ways your staff can experience diversity. 

3. Take a step. Most of us got into media because we wanted to make a difference.  Now we have that opportunity.  While most conventional wisdom would say – “don’t go there”, I believe we can take some powerful steps – even if they are small.  The city we served was one of the most diverse cities in the US.  The three top languages were English, Spanish and Mandarin.  So you know what we did?  We launched marketing campaigns in English, Spanish and Mandarin.  The cume kept growing.  What about politics? We had well known people including political figures from both sides of the aisle praying the Lord’s prayer.  When World Aids day came, we didn’t ignore it, we launched campaigns to help meet the needs of those suffering, because we wanted to be the hands and feet of Jesus.   The list goes on and on.  

In a polarized world, our calling isn’t to become more polarized, it’s to faithfully represent Christ to people who don’t all think, vote, worship or live exactly like we do. I remember years ago a friend told me he was asked whether he was for this person’s viewpoint or the other person’s opposing viewpoint.  His answer – “I’m for my friends.” In Psalm 133, the Bible talks about how blessed it is for people to dwell together in unity.   There is unity in diversity – and you don’t have to compromise principles to do that.  

Tim McDermott is the CFO at a very diverse ministry – Far East Broadcasting Company with 259 local radio stations around the world, 154 languages, serving over 50 different countries – united together to reach people for Jesus.  He can be reached at tmcdermott@febc.org.