The Reality of Tribal Missionaries
For the fifth time in six years, Answers in Genesis (AiG)—the ministry behind the renowned Creation Museum and the soon-to-open Ark Encounter—was recognized today by the 1,400 member National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) for excellence in media. This year’s award, “Best Digital Initiative,” comes in recognition of a website wildbrothers.com and related social media that accompany a reality DVD series “The Wild Brothers.”
The criteria for the award include that the initiative engages people through the use of the digital campaign, demonstrates a use of specific online advertising, landing pages, social media and media outreach to aid the organization in reaching measurable campaign and ministry goals.
AiG created the wildbrothers.com digital initiative in the spring of 2015 to highlight the true-life experiences of a missionary family living in the remote mountain jungles of a Southeast Asian island. The site features a reality DVD series following the four Wild brothers and their parents, Mike and Libby Wild, as the family works together to share the gospel with the animistic tribal people, beginning with the account of creation in Genesis.
“It’s so gratifying to have a national organization such as the NRB recognize our utilization of technology and the variety of ways it can now be used to communicate the gospel,” said AiG President and CEO Ken Ham. “We strive to stay on the cutting edge, and having most of our recent NRB media awards be in the category of online and social media is confirmation that we are achieving that goal and God has blessed.”
The award was presented at the NRB Media Awards Lunch held at Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of the annual NRB International Christian Media Convention.
Much more than a product line, wildbrothers.com gives people a portal into the reality of tribal missions, providing a worldwide audience the opportunity to follow and learn from this amazing, industrious missionary family. Thousands of families are connecting through an active blog, a fast-growing email list and a highly engaged social media community on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and regular video updates on the Wild Brothers YouTube channel. In addition, the wildbrothers.com minisite targets a number of frequently searched keywords and phrases using the latest white-hat SEO strategies.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Bible-defending) ministry based in northern Kentucky, near Cincinnati, Ohio. The organization publishes an award-winning magazine called Answers, hosts one of the most popular religious websites in the world (up to 2.75 million unique visitors a month), and produces a daily radio broadcast (900 outlets) and weekly TV program (which airs on the NRB Channel and other networks). Its Creation Museum, located west of the Cincinnati Airport, has welcomed 2.6 million visitors, and its sister attraction, a full-size ark at the theme park called Ark Encounter, is scheduled to open in Williamstown, Kentucky, on July 7, 2016. See arkencounter.com for recent construction videos and photos.
