Broadcast News - Aimee Semple Mcpherson

1890–1944

By the 1920s, Pentecostal preacher Aimee Semple McPherson had tens of thousands of devoted followers. She had raised funds to build Angelus Temple, a five-thousand-plus-seat church in Los Angeles. Nowadays, we’d call it a megachurch. And she was the preacher.

Aimee was equal parts evangelist and performer. Her theatrical method of bringing God’s Word to people was both entertaining and inspiring. Thousands responded. On any given Sunday, the celebrities of the day—luminaries like Jean Harlow, Charlie Chaplin, and Anthony Quinn—might be in the congregation. In addition to her temple, Aimee started a Bible college that trained more than eight thousand ministers who went out and started hundreds of churches.

Several scandals threatened to take down her ministry, but none succeeded. In 1926, the already once-widowed and once-divorced female preacher was accused of faking her own kidnapping, perhaps to spend a month in seclusion with a man. Several lawsuits were filed against her because of mismanaged investments, and it took her a decade to pay off the debt. Still, her following grew and her ministry spread.

One of the reasons her ministry grew so rapidly was Aimee’s wise use of the newest technology of her day. Her radio broadcast of the services at Angelus Temple reached twenty thousand people weekly. It’s interesting to imagine what someone with Aimee’s energy, theatrical talent, and forward thinking would be able to do with today’s technologies. Would she have an incredibly popular blog? A YouTube series? A podcast? A digital magazine?

Aimee had to raise large sums of money to take advantage of the technology that was available to her during her lifetime. Today, reaching thousands of people with technology is not such an expensive proposition. Anyone with a smartphone can make videos or start a blog. Even you.

But technology is just a tool. We still need a message, a story to tell. So what’s your story? What is God doing in your life? And how will you use the technological tools available to you in sharing that story?

The word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere . . . for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God.

1 Thessalonians 1:8