If your church is looking for a ministry that supports your members and can reach seekers, then a duplicating service might be the answer. Producing cassettes and cds of sermons and church presentations is relatively easy and cheap. But, you ask, is it effective?

It certainly works for the Evangelical Free Church in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Pastor Kirk Belmont has only glowing things to say about the church's tape ministry: "We produce a couple hundred tapes each week. People really appreciate the ability to walk away from a sermon and pick up a tape to hand to a friend. Or they listen to it throughout the week and reflect on it."

Belmont says the church receives a lot of positive feedback on the tape ministry, especially from the 90 missionaries supported by the church. "They really appreciate the tapes," he says. "It lets them know we are remembering them, and they're challenged by the Word as well."

Leo Clukey, owner of Recording Products, further praises the audio cassette: "There is no other medium that has been so effectively involved in spreading the Word since the invention of the printing press. Our biggest customers are the denominations that are recording the greatest growth."

Churches often initiate a tape ministry by simply making a single library copy of sermons, which members can borrow. They then begin producing multiple copies for shut-ins and members requesting sermons they missed or want to review. Once word spreads, increased demand spawns a full-fledged ministry. Tapes of sermons or services can be used as an evangelistic tool—to expose seekers to the church's message—and/or as a point of continued contact with overseas missionaries, those in the military, and former members. The possibilities are endless.

Before you get too carried away, though, take note of these pointers from industry experts.

• Get an idea of what you want to do before you buy duplication equipment. "Determine how you want to use the product: Is it just for shut-ins? Will you have the cassettes for people when they leave the worship service?" asks Sue Arrington, duplication products sales director for Telex. The answers to these types of questions determine what equipment you should buy. For instance, if you'll be recording music, you'll want to consider a stereo duplicating system; if you're just taping sermons, a mono system is OK, Arrington says.



• Know what's out there. From one master, 1-1 duplicators make one tape, 1-3 duplicators make three tapes, and 1-3 expandable duplicators can be chain-linked to four-position machines to make more copies simultaneously, says Vince Stone of CLW Electronics.
  
  Then there's the issue of speed. "Most duplicators make tapes at 16x (16 times recorded speed), copying two monaural (mono) tracks or four stereo tracks simultaneously," Stone says. "Copying an hour service takes about two minutes."
  
  You'll also need to consider the type of heads you want your duplicating equipment to have.
  
  "When making a choice, one prime consideration is frequency of use," says Stella Derum, Sony's marketing manager for audio duplication products. "Our models have normal wear heads for typical use and extended wear heads for more extensive duplication."
  
  Stone notes, "Ferrite heads yield four to five times as many passes as standard heads but cost $500 to $600 extra."
  
  Regular cleaning is a must if you want to maintain your new tool's high performance.



• Know what you have permission to record. Taping your pastor's sermons is not a problem. But you will need to ask permission from guest speakers.
  
  Things get a little trickier if your church begins recording worship services or special programs.
  
  "Know what you can and cannot do by recording music," says Chuck Musser, president of Crown Magnetics. "Don't record it if you don't have a license."
  
  A church must have a copyright license to record music included in a live worship service. Christian Copyright Licensing Incorporated (ccli) offers a blanket license to use copyrighted music in a live service. There are many rules regarding copyrighted materials, and churches should check out the details given at the ccli Web site, www.ccli.com. For more information or to obtain a license (costs are based on average attendance), call 800-234-2446, ext. 3218, or go to the Web site.

Sony and Telex are the major players in the cassette duplicating industry.

• Sony. "Customers consider Sony duplicators to be the industry's 'workhorse,' with minimal down time for repairs or parts replacement," says Sony's Stella Derum.
  
  Sony's CCP series is popular with churches because of its easy operation and dependable performance, she says. All models have a track select option (users can duplicate one side of a cassette at a time or both sides simultaneously) and erase heads (to reduce stray magnetism). The 1-3 CCP1300 master can accommodate up to 10 four-copy expansion units, allowing it to copy up to 43 tapes simultaneously. A mono master costs $1,856; a stereo master, $2,750. With long-life ferrite heads, costs rise to $2,775 and $3,750, respectively.



• Telex. The company's top-selling series, Copyette, appeals to churches that are just starting a tape ministry, sales director Sue Arrington says. Later, churches may purchase another duplicator or a larger expandable system, she says.
  
  The Copyette series, with erase heads and track select, is available in 1-1 and 1-3 mono and stereo models. List prices range from $567 for the 1-1 mono to $2,215 for the 1-3 stereo model. Telex's ACC mono series and ACC stereo series feature a no-clutch drive and are expandable to 27 copy positions. The high-end 1-3 XGEN basic mono and stereo units can add up to 16 four-copy modules, enabling them to make up to 67 copies simultaneously. The mono master and add-on modules each list at $1,945; stereo models cost $2,840. Ferrite heads are available.



• Other manufacturers. Graff (Gem) products feature direct drive mechanisms (no belts, clutches, or gears); Recordex products offer precision tape handling; Tascam models provide high-quality stereo duplication.

The vendors mentioned below actively help churches set up and maintain cassette ministries; some even provide instructional books, tapes, and videos. These companies carry complete lines of copying equipment, tapes, labels, files, and other accessories. Prices are low and bulk discounts are available.

• Truth On Tape. Located in Olathe, Kansas, the company distributes to churches across the entire country, says representative Susan Riedel. Truth On Tape sells Sony, Telex, Recordex, and Graff products.



• Recording Products. The company, located in Santa Paula, California, stresses reliable personal service and quality products at low prices. They carry the Telex Copyette series and ACC series, among others. Owner Leo Clukey's excellent 200-page book, "A Concise Guide to Media Ministry," which was recently revised, includes information on all aspects of a tape ministry. Download it free from www.recordingproducts.com or purchase it from the company for $8.95.



• CLW Electronics. "We provide the Christian community with superior-quality goods at competitive prices," says product manager Vince Stone.
  
  Located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the company sells Sony, Telex, and Graff. They offer a complete tape ministry starter kit by Graff for $489. CLW is part of AMG International (Advancing the Ministry of the Gospel), and their profits fund many mission organizations.



• Crown Magnetics. The company, located in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, handles only Telex duplicators.
  
  "They're the industry's oldest duplicator manufacturer, they've kept up with technology, … and they have a readily available inventory of serviceable parts," explains president Chuck Musser.



• Kingdom. The company carries Sony, Telex, Recordex, Gem, Tascam, and an exclusive Kingdom One Touch brand. A free video, "Pastor's Guide to Church Growth," is available from Kingdom, located in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Pat McDonnell, church growth consultant, recommends Kingdom's Church Growth Power Modules, which include nine audio cassettes and a video ($59.94) intended to help churches grow through tape ministry.



• Church Service and Supply. The company, located in Long Beach, California, sells Sony and Telex tape duplicators and Microboards cd duplicators.
  
  "We are very aggressive in our pricing, and we work individually with people ready to buy," says sales manager Dean Brown.

Churches can make recordable compact discs (cd-rs) easily from their sound system outputs.

"Churches are using this media not only for sermons and pastoral messages but also for recording music, choir selections, and even video," says Tameka Goldsborough, marketing director for MediaFORM. Compared to cassettes, cds sound better, last longer (70 to 200 years), and don't degrade with repeated playing.

Buying your own cd-r duplicator is generally more cost effective than paying an outside source to do the duplication. Speeds range from 8x to 16x. When considering a purchase, look for good editing capability, buffer underrun protection (prevents recording gaps), pirating protection, and 16x copying.

MediaFORM sells high-quality, professional cd-r duplicators—many to churches. Prices range from $999 for a one-drive duplicator to $40,000 for multiple-drive units with automated operating and networking features. The manual models can copy one, four, eight, or 16 cd-rs simultaneously at 16x using a simple keypad. The automated models load the cds, record at 16x, label (print) the cds, and then unload them without any intervention.

Finally, Telex's new computer interface devices, EDAT and EDAT Zing, make data editing, storage, and retrieval faster and easier. With an EDAT card you can transfer analog or digital data 1-1 to a computer hard disk drive. With Zing you can transfer at 2x, 4x, or 8x speed . A digital master cassette is created, which can be downloaded for high-speed analog or cd-r duplication. EDAT has a list price of $3,925, and EDAT Zing, $2,395.