Ken Willard, author of Beacon of Hope, shares practical strategies for churches to connect authentically with their communities, especially in an era of rising skepticism towards institutions. The discussion covers relational evangelism, community listening, bridge events, and the importance of adaptive communication.
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In this episode Ryan Dunn interviews Ken Willard about shifting church outreach from attractional marketing to relational, community-centered work. They explore the "fishing pond" approach, bridge events, prayer walking, and practical ways to welcome skeptical neighbors through hospitality and improved accessibility.
Listeners will learn how to listen to their communities, equip members to share personal stories of faith, and create small, sustainable steps that build long-term relationships and invite new people into the life of the church.
Ken Willard is the Director of Faith Communities Renewal for the West Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church. He is the author of Beacon of Hope: Your Guide to Reaching, Witnessing, and Welcoming New People, as well as books on time management for ministry leaders and discipleship pathways and leadership pathways for churches.
Visit Ken's website: https://kenwillard.org/
Find out more and order Beacon of Hope: https://www.marketsquarebooks.com/store/p131/Beacon_of_Hope.html
In this episode:
00:00 Introduction and Context of Church Skepticism
04:43 Building Relationships for Evangelism
07:25 The Fishing Pond Model Explained
10:46 Shifting Church Communications
13:38 Listening to Community Needs
16:43 Common Mistakes in Church Outreach
20:31 Vision Casting and Church Growth
23:29 Bridge Events as Outreach Strategies
26:26 The Importance of Patience in Outreach
29:26 First Steps Towards Relational Outreach
32:27 Accessibility in Church Ministry
Related episodes:
More Resource UMC articles on church accessibility:
- Meeting sight and hearing accessibility needs in the church
- Using AI to improve accessibility in worship and online ministry
Episode transcript
Ryan Dunn (00:00)
How can churches foster genuine connections, especially when skepticism towards institutions is on the rise? In this episode of MyCom, Ken Willard helps us explore evolving approaches to church outreach.
Hi, this is the MyCom Church Communications and Marketing Podcast. We're building your digital ministry toolkit to bring your congregation into the digital age. My name is Ryan Dunn. I'm a fellow traveler on the journey to better church connections. Gone are the days when simply opening the doors was enough to draw people into the church. Ken Willard, who is the author of Beacon of Hope, takes us on an exploration.
fresh approaches for connecting with communities in an age when skepticism towards institutions, even the neighborhood church, is on the rise. So together we discuss building authentic relational bridges, shifting from attractional marketing to meaningful outreach, and we explore how churches of any size can foster real welcome and accessibility.
You'll discover some practical ways to listen to your community, host impactful bridge events, and rekindle your church's passion for hospitality, prayer, and mission.
Ken Willard is the Director of Faith Communities Renewal for the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church. He's the author of Beacon of Hope, Your Guide to Reaching, Witnessing, and Welcoming New People, as well as books on time management for ministry leaders and discipleship pathways and leadership pathways for churches. So let's meet up with Ken on the MyCon Podcast.
Ryan Dunn (01:44)
Ken Willard, greetings to you over in Charleston, West Virginia. And thanks for joining us on the MyCom Podcast. How goes it with your soul today? Well answered.
KEN WILLARD (01:53)
It is well. It is well with my soul. ⁓ It's nice
here and ⁓ yes, I'm looking forward to our conversation.
Ryan Dunn (02:02)
Cool. I want to jump right in with ⁓ an entry point that you kind of bring up in Beacon of Hope. In a lot of Beacon of Hope, the book that you've supplied for us is... ⁓
redirecting our attention from some of the things that we took for granted in the past. You for example, that people are just kind of have a mindset that they're going to go to the local neighborhood church. That's not necessarily the case here in 2026. In fact, a lot of people are maybe a little skeptical of institutions or that church in the neighborhood. So if you can start us off here, like what are some ways that we might start to think about how we can make connections with people to invite
them through the door for the first time, especially the skeptically minded.
KEN WILLARD (02:49)
Thank you, yes. I agree, I think a lot of people today are skeptical of institutions. I know I am. And it's a challenge when we think about church as that institution and how people are viewing the church. I do think, though, most people like people. And when we think about...
Ryan Dunn (02:58)
Yeah.
KEN WILLARD (03:17)
You know, people have trouble with an institution, but they're more likely to engage with people as long as it's real. And I think it all starts with a relationship. How do we build those relationships? know, marketing and communications, all the old church attractional elements, I think they're all fine. I think they're all still fine. I don't think it's about leaving that. I do think it's about
Ryan Dunn (03:26)
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (03:47)
⁓ You know learning how in in today's world today's culture You know, how do we connect with people on a real level? ⁓ Those people people were trying to reach probably aren't naturally drawn to the church ⁓ but they may be drawn to us as individuals and ⁓ Obviously, this is not a quick fix. So that's
Ryan Dunn (03:58)
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (04:16)
That's a challenge with many churches today, but it is something that fits any size or type church. So wherever the ministry is located, we can focus on those relationships. That's, you know, one of the things I talk about is kind of that relational evangelism and where many of us growing up in the church have this impression of evangelism. I've got to find somebody I've never met and
Ryan Dunn (04:43)
Alright.
KEN WILLARD (04:44)
get them to church this weekend and be baptized. And that's scary, you know. ⁓ But I use the old, you know, fishing pond kind of model. How do we reverse that? And think about who are the people that we already know that maybe aren't connected to a faith community? And I think all of us have, you know, some of those people in our circle. ⁓ And what is it that would help
Ryan Dunn (04:47)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
KEN WILLARD (05:14)
strengthen those relationships.
Ryan Dunn (05:17)
Can you tell me a little bit about fishing ponds? A lot of people are familiar with that term, but maybe not everybody.
KEN WILLARD (05:19)
Yeah.
Sure, So I use the illustration and I think about, you know, I encourage people to think about, if you're at the center of the circle, if it's you, then, you know, think about those in your immediate family, however you define that, whatever that definition is for you, is there someone in your immediate family who you would say is not currently connected to a faith community?
doesn't mean they're not Christian, doesn't mean they don't believe in God, any of that kind of stuff, but just they're not connected for whatever reason. ⁓ That's the next circle. And then the circle after that would be, are there people in your extended family? However you wanna think about that, ⁓ whatever that looks like. And then you keep kind of adding a circle. Maybe there's friends.
people you have that you're close to, they're not family, but you're close to them, you already have that relationship. And it keeps expanding, the circle keeps expanding to where acquaintances are the furthest out in the circle. And that's pretty much exact opposite of how many of us have grown up thinking about evangelism is thinking about starting with...
you know, the stranger on the street or the, you know, the person down the street, you know, that I've never knocked on their door before, but now I'm going to go down and ask them to come to church. Well, that's just, you know, that's scary. And that's, I know there are people who have that spiritual gift that I celebrate that I don't. ⁓ so I think, you know, the fishing pond is just kind of the illustration that's used to say, okay, let's, you know, let's turn this on its head.
Ryan Dunn (06:46)
Right.
Okay.
KEN WILLARD (07:13)
and think first about those we're already close to.
Ryan Dunn (07:17)
What does the invitation look like then? I mean, are we talking about inviting somebody back to like the Sunday morning program or?
KEN WILLARD (07:20)
Yeah.
I think that is something that is gonna be different for most of us. There's a challenge with inviting people to a Sunday program. There's nothing wrong with that. But that sometimes can feel like I've got an agenda. And my purpose is I've gotta, again, kinda get you to church. And I prefer the 1 Peter 3.15.
Always be prepared to share the reason for the hope that you have. But do it with gentleness and respect. So how do we prepare to have that conversation? So when somebody says, you know, Ryan, tell me what's different with you? You don't seem to get upset about the things I get upset about or whatever. it's, think the...
question is always going to be different. You may never have somebody say, tell me about the hope that you have. ⁓ But their own translation of that, you know, that's where we can share ⁓ our story, our testimony. That's what I think 1 Peter is really all about. And it's not about my church, it's about my relationship with God.
Ryan Dunn (08:28)
Yeah, right.
KEN WILLARD (08:51)
And the church will come, all that will come, but I think it really is, what difference has God made in your life? And that's your particular answer. Nobody else can answer that.
Ryan Dunn (09:04)
Hmm. Let's talk about how we get those stories out a little bit, how people share that hope, that difference that they made, because oftentimes in the public space, especially online, ⁓ church communications tend to look a little markety. You know, we're announcing programs, we're inviting people to events, but as you're talking about, people are...
KEN WILLARD (09:24)
Yeah.
Ryan Dunn (09:31)
searching more for that personal connection, a sense of relationship. Have you seen some ways that churches have kind of adopted their messaging or communications from ⁓ not so much promoting activities, but maybe to sharing a sense of witness or connection?
KEN WILLARD (09:50)
Right, yes. Again, I think it always looks a little different, but if ⁓ you step far enough back from the communication, whether it's social media or bulletins or news, whatever it might be, if you can step far enough back and just look at it with some different perspective. So who is this for? Who am I communicating to?
Ryan Dunn (10:05)
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (10:19)
And what am I communicating about? ⁓ when you look at the church calendar, things like that, ⁓ is it really all us or are there elements in there about those we're trying to reach? And so I think some of it is ⁓ the intentionality and finding that balance. So there's some things I'm gonna need to communicate about an event or whatever.
Ryan Dunn (10:46)
Sure, yeah.
KEN WILLARD (10:47)
⁓ But when I'm communicating and there's a potential that somebody ⁓ who's unchurched, if we use that term, if somebody's unchurched is gonna see this, will that speak to them? Is this internal ⁓ all about us or is there some element in here about our community?
Ryan Dunn (11:03)
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (11:13)
ministry that we're doing with the community, not necessarily for the community. That's a big shift in churches. That's not just language. That's a whole, that's moving from transactional to transformational, those kind of things. How do we communicate what we're doing with our local community? I think that's not marketing. That's...
Ryan Dunn (11:29)
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (11:41)
That's helping people see we're part of this community.
Ryan Dunn (11:45)
Programmatically, what does that look like? An ⁓ activity with community over an activity for the community.
KEN WILLARD (11:54)
That's great. Yeah, and that's a hard answer because it's unique to the community. Now, I will say it begins with listening to the community. Often when churches are programming, ⁓ the programming is done, you know, imagine around a table and all the people around that table, all the voices around that table are us.
Ryan Dunn (11:59)
Okay. Okay. ⁓
Mm.
KEN WILLARD (12:24)
So for us to really do something with the community, somehow we've got to hear the voice of the community. ⁓ So, you know, I don't know that there's a ⁓ set answer, but I do know that it starts with ⁓ finding out what are the things that the community really needs. ⁓ I've sent, in my working with churches, I've sent people out to talk to people in the community, community and just giving them.
Ryan Dunn (12:51)
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (12:52)
you know, two or three questions, know, tell us, you know, what's the best thing about our community? You know, what would you like to see a church do? What do you know that we don't know? And ⁓ the answers, the responses have been just amazing. People sharing things that, ⁓ frankly, the congregation was totally unaware of that was happening in the community, needs that the community had. ⁓ But I'll also tell you,
⁓ Every single time somebody's come back with a story, ⁓ the community leader said something like, nobody's ever asked.
Ryan Dunn (13:29)
Mmm, yeah.
KEN WILLARD (13:30)
So that's a lesson too.
Ryan Dunn (13:32)
How are they doing these listening sessions or interviews? they setting up appointments with, the mayor or knocking on doors?
KEN WILLARD (13:37)
Yes, I always tell them honor the person's
time, you know, make an appointment. ⁓ But mostly listen. ⁓ It's not about selling the church. It's not about, you know, hey, you know, look at how great we are. It's really about we need to learn. So it's going in with that attitude of learning. So I do encourage them, you know, ⁓ talk, try to talk to people. ⁓ The fire chief.
is always a great point of contact. School counselors are a great contact. ⁓ Sometimes local officials, maybe a mayor or somebody like that, ⁓ honor their time. ⁓ Don't take up more than you told them you were going to, but in 20 minutes, it's amazing what you can learn about your community just by talking to some of the community leaders that have a different perspective than you do.
Ryan Dunn (14:37)
when we, I guess, refrain from those sessions of listening, then we run a chance of doing our outreach just blindly. And we've all been there, I suppose, but do you consistently see some common mistakes that churches make? I mean, you've worked with churches of all sizes and shapes, so ⁓ are there themes that we seem to just kind of miss the point on?
KEN WILLARD (14:46)
Right. yeah.
Yeah, I think ⁓ some of the common mistakes that I've seen are doing things with an agenda. So we're doing this so that more people will come to our church, and those people will then serve and give and stuff like that. ⁓ People in our world today can really see through that. ⁓
Ryan Dunn (15:12)
Okay.
KEN WILLARD (15:32)
I've seen churches who treat it like a checklist. ⁓ Yes, we did that, now we're on to the next thing kind of thing. And I think that's a challenge too. ⁓ most often what I've seen is churches are doing ⁓ either the same thing they've always done and or they're doing what they wanna do. This is weak.
We came up with this, it's a great idea, we think, and we're gonna go do it for the community.
Ryan Dunn (16:07)
All right, so what are some of those things that ⁓ we need to let go of that we've always done?
KEN WILLARD (16:15)
I don't know that there's an easy answer to that either. I think it begins with understanding our mission. How does what we're doing support the mission that Jesus gave us in Matthew 28? How is this helping us make disciples? And that includes reaching new people.
Ryan Dunn (16:18)
Okay.
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (16:44)
either or, it's making those that are here disciples and it means also reaching some new people. So I think ⁓ it's tough in churches of any size that have been around for a while, ⁓ tradition is a strong magnet. It's just we tend to once we've done something once or twice, then that's tradition.
Ryan Dunn (17:02)
Mmm, yeah.
Right.
Yeah. There's a strong pull to say, well, we've always done it this way. So, mm hmm. Yeah. ⁓ I, I think some of the joy that maybe comes through consulting is that you can, you can push against those, ⁓ that mindset and, ⁓ encourage people to move away from the nostalgia or doing things simply for the sake of nostalgia. ⁓ but then to
in order to be proactive, there needs to be a, I guess, really a reclaiming of the vision of mission. So within churches, how do you see people ⁓ making that shift? How do they communicate that shift?
KEN WILLARD (17:50)
Yeah, ⁓ I think it's finding a way as ministry leaders, pastors and others to honor that past and to be able to say, okay, that is our past. That is important. ⁓ I often share with churches, I think the life of a church is like a book and there's many different chapters. And as leaders, we need to know those chapters. That's important.
But it's not about rereading those chapters or reliving those chapters. It's about writing the next chapter. What is that next chapter that God's calling us to write? And that's discernment, that's prayer, ⁓ that's vision. And our role in ministry leadership is to be able to cast that vision. Again, honor the past. It's not about forget it or, you know, don't ignore it.
but it's more about here's where we're going. Here's where God's calling us next. vision casting is another, it's just a challenge to keep it alive. But it can't be just one time a year or one weekend or something like that. It's really gotta be just all the time. Here's where we're going. People are excited when there is a clear vision cast.
Ryan Dunn (19:14)
Yeah, yeah. They'll wander away when there is not,
KEN WILLARD (19:19)
That's right. ⁓
Ryan Dunn (20:21)
to touch on some of the, I guess, horror stories or places where churches miss the mark, but have you seen some churches lately that have ⁓ really kind of excelled in this? And can you maybe note some of the things that they're doing?
KEN WILLARD (20:31)
yes,
yes. I have been so blessed just to see and to hear from churches. ⁓ It's been an interesting almost 10 months now since Beacon of Hope came out and just hearing from churches who are using some of the concepts in there, who are doing some teaching and some training and the fruit that they're beginning to see.
So that's been very encouraging. I've seen churches who have made a shift and are focusing ⁓ more, a little bit more, 51 % maybe, on those who aren't here. I think that's healthy. But people are learning new language, ⁓ maybe new perceptions of reaching new people, what that might look like in their context.
But also, kind of the second half of the book is really about hospitality and accessibility and how do we welcome first time guests. And that's been a place where a lot of churches have taken some steps. that's a combination of kind of that both technical and adaptive types of changes. There are technical things you can do, make sure that.
There's accessibility in your building. But the adaptive is more about what are the words and language we're using? How are we helping somebody who didn't grow up in the church understand what we're talking about? And that's more than just changing a word or two. That's a whole different mentality. So yes, I've seen ⁓ quite a few churches who are... ⁓
seeing fruit for their efforts and it's so encouraging and it doesn't matter if it's one person or a hundred. ⁓ It's such a joy to be reaching new people.
Ryan Dunn (22:40)
Yeah, well I think a lot of our churches would completely rejoice in just one person, you know. I want to go back to this idea of the fishing ponds because I'm curious, we talked about fishing ponds from a personal standpoint and looking at our immediate relationships and how we might be inviting or engaging in those contexts. Are there some ways that churches as a whole kind of engage in the fishing pond?
KEN WILLARD (22:46)
Amen. Amen.
Absolutely, absolutely. So ⁓ I'll come at this in a couple of different ways. ⁓ One is ⁓ most of our churches, I think, ⁓ have opportunities to teach spiritual discipline.
So, including evangelism, witness, whatever word you want to use. You know, in our membership vow, for example, we have, you know, people enter into a covenant with God when they join a local church. And, you know, they say that they will support that local church with their prayers, presents, gifts, service, and witness. And I think one of our opportunities is, you know, are we helping people understand what that means? ⁓
What does it mean to support this local church in those areas? Not only the witness, but including the witness. So I think there's opportunities for ⁓ equipping individuals. Now, on a church level, ⁓ one of the sections in the book is about bridge events. And bridge events are things that a church can do.
to engage with those in their community who ideally are not connected to other faith communities. So it's not a fellowship kind of event or let's reach all the other church people. But how do we reach those in ⁓ our area in a safe way, in a fun way that includes an invitation? And ⁓ those are...
Those are things that I think, again, every size, every type church, wherever you're located, can do some type of bridge event. And in the book, I go through all the different elements and also give examples of, you know, small churches and large churches and stuff. But I've seen churches that have done some amazing bridge events and that's a way. I would say that's a form of the fishing pond, but on a more corporate kind of level.
Ryan Dunn (25:22)
Yeah.
Do you have a favorite example of a bridge event?
KEN WILLARD (25:27)
So one of my favorites is from a small church that I worked with ⁓ who, the church was right in the middle of a neighborhood. They were just surrounded by homes. ⁓ But most of the people who lived there had no idea that the church was even there. And this church had been getting smaller and smaller over the years. ⁓ And I was out there actually helping them do kind of ⁓ a strategic ministry planning, vision, mission.
kind of project. But through that, we, you know, the question was asked, you know, what are our strengths? What do, what do we have? And somebody kind of jokingly said, well, we have a parking lot that's really big. And it was, it was, it was really unusual. This, I would say small church ⁓ facility wise and people wise had this enormous parking lot for some reason that nobody knew. And they ended up doing a,
It turned into a car and a motorcycle show. ⁓ They had local businesses donate like food and I think there was a bounce house for the kids. There were different things. ⁓ Somebody there knew the mayor. So the mayor came out and on, you know, it was done on a Saturday for like two or three hours, on the, ⁓ sat, you know, the mayor came out and did the judging. Well, because the mayor was there, the local.
newspaper covered it they got you know coverage and social media and all that and It was just they had hundreds of people show up from the neighborhood and again That's where they heard most people say we had no idea you were here ⁓ And that was just that was an amazing bridge event ⁓ But I do also want to say they did not see anybody new for months
Ryan Dunn (26:58)
Hmm
Yeah.
Yeah, well, that's
I was going to ask. So how does that become a bridge? Like, so they probably did not do an altar call, right? But was there a next step plan in place?
KEN WILLARD (27:23)
Yeah, it.
Well, so
the pastor did a wonderful job at the beginning and at the end. What she said was, you know, thanks for coming out. ⁓ We're so happy to be a church in your community. You know, we hope you enjoy this. It's just our way of kind of giving back and connecting with our neighbors. And if you don't have a church home, we worship.
every Sunday at 11 o'clock and we'd love to see you." And that was all she said. That was the invitation and ⁓ it was given again at the beginning and at the end. And you know, they were very disappointed that the next Sunday they didn't double their attendance. ⁓ But God's Spirit doesn't always work like that. And ⁓ what I'll tell you is after several months, ⁓ they did see a family and the family said they
Ryan Dunn (28:10)
Yeah.
All right, yep.
KEN WILLARD (28:23)
They were there because of that car show. And then a month or two later, they saw another family. So they did reach people. just, you know, sometimes it takes, ⁓ it takes casting that invitation and understanding that God's timing may not be our time.
Ryan Dunn (28:25)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Well, in the reality is that that moves us away from that program driven mindset that there's more to it. Like we're not just going to put on an hour or two hour long event and things will change. Right. There's a ⁓ paradigm shift that's happening in something like that. Yeah. And that lets go of that transactional. Yeah. Right. Let's go that transactional nature.
KEN WILLARD (29:02)
And we're also building relationships. You know,
⁓ it's gotta be the whole congregation engaging, but again, not with an agenda.
Ryan Dunn (29:17)
Yeah. Right. Besides at the car show, like maybe the agenda is just like, hey, let's have a good time. Right. But let's have people feel comfortable. Yeah. Yeah.
KEN WILLARD (29:26)
Right, right. It's in it's in it's but to do it with you. You
know, so we're there with a white towel over our arm. We're serving. ⁓ we're here as part of the community. There is an invitation giving that's, that's, you know, that's what it is. That's what a bridge event is all about is how do I create that bridge? ⁓ but it's not, ⁓ it's not done in an unsafe way. You know, I would say the, do we do it in a way?
that feels comfortable to those who are trying to read.
Ryan Dunn (30:00)
Well, Ken, I imagine that as you're meeting with different churches, there's probably oftentimes a first step that you recommend. It's often probably ⁓ shared across most churches. So for our person who's listening and is ready to take that first step, what's likely the thing that they're going to need to do that would encourage them to begin the process of being, I guess, more relational in their outreach and becoming a beacon of hope?
KEN WILLARD (30:28)
Thank you. So I would always encourage the first step is prayer. And I say that in the church world, knowing that that's almost always the first thing everybody says. ⁓ I want to say it and say it in a little different way. ⁓ So what I would encourage is both individually and as a church, how do we this season
Ryan Dunn (30:33)
Mmm.
Yeah, however.
KEN WILLARD (30:57)
expand our prayer circle. So, you know, not going away, not giving up what we're praying for now, but how do we expand that circle intentionally? So one of the best ways that I've ever seen is prayer walking, the community, getting out in the community, praying over whatever God shows you, whatever is there, ⁓ mostly listening.
What is God's Spirit saying? What is God showing you maybe for the first time? Maybe you lived in this community your whole life, but you're seeing something new. ⁓ That's God showing us something different. So I think that prayer walking, and by the way, every time I've worked with a church who's done that, it has been transformational. It has been, people come back in tears. ⁓ So I think that's a key piece of it.
Ryan Dunn (31:27)
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (31:55)
Part of it also is thinking about the church's prayer life. So every church has a prayer life, not just a prayer warrior or a prayer list, but the church has a prayer life too. What would that look like this season to grow? So for example, if most of our prayer concerns are internal, kind of connected to those of us who are already here.
Don't erase any of those, don't stop doing any of those. But what would it look like next week to add one external? ⁓ And maybe it's the fire chief we mentioned, maybe it's ⁓ a business owner, maybe it's a school counselor, ⁓ or maybe it's a government official, maybe it's the person who delivers the mail. ⁓ Maybe it's the pastor of another church right down the street.
Ryan Dunn (32:27)
Mm-hmm. All right.
Hmm.
KEN WILLARD (32:55)
I always encourage also, I think it's better to do it by name than by position. But imagine adding each week, just adding one name for somebody who's outside of us. I think that type of prayer growth changes us. It changes our ministry. It helps us to begin to ⁓ see beyond our walls, if you will.
That's the most powerful change that I know of that both an individual and a church can take as a first step.
Ryan Dunn (33:34)
Well, can any other ⁓ lasting thoughts you want to share with us, concluding ideas, ⁓ one last thing you want to send out into the ether that you hope churches grab onto?
KEN WILLARD (33:39)
Ha ha ha.
I guess ⁓ the last thing I would emphasize is ⁓ in my experience, every church has challenge with its accessibility. ⁓ And I know your last podcast was about digital accessibility and I think that's wonderful. That's a great place for every church to focus on. I also think it's time for our churches to get serious.
Ryan Dunn (33:56)
Mmm.
KEN WILLARD (34:15)
about accessibility for those who have both seen and unseen needs, whatever that might be. And I'm not the expert. I do know that every church I go into has challenges. Many of them want to do things better. They're just not sure maybe where to start. Sometimes it seems overwhelming. So I don't...
I would not categorize accessibility as part of hospitality, but I would say there is a big connection there. It's not only about hospitality. It's much bigger than that, ⁓ but it is a piece of hospitality that I think ⁓ we've neglected. So ⁓ in the United Methodist Church, we're very fortunate. There's a great... ⁓
website, Disabilities Ministries has a great website. They have great resources there. ⁓ There's an audit that you can do to better identify where your needs might be. ⁓ But I guess what I would encourage every church is to get serious this season about taking a step in that area. How do we get a little bit better?
Ryan Dunn (35:33)
When speaking of websites, is there a spot for people to follow along with some of the things that you're up to or to get ahold of you?
KEN WILLARD (35:41)
I'm on most social media, so I'd love to connect with you. ⁓ Facebook or Instagram, anywhere. ⁓ My website is KenWillard.org. And you can find Beacon of Hope on Amazon or Market Square or just about anywhere you buy books. So I'd love to connect with everybody.
Ryan Dunn (36:04)
Ken, this has been fun. It's been informative. Really appreciate you taking the time this morning.
KEN WILLARD (36:09)
Absolutely. Thank you, Ryan.
Ryan Dunn (36:11)
Thanks for taking this journey with us on MyCom Church Communications and Marketing. You can learn more about the podcast, find episode notes, and get more resources for your digital ministry toolkit at resourceumc.org slash MyCom Podcast. MyCom is a production of United Methodist Communications and it comes out monthly. Thank you to Renee McNeil and Andrew Schleicher for production and marketing support. My name is Ryan Dunn. I'll talk to you soon. Peace.