Daytona Beach News Journal: The next time you get a message on your answering machine from a local minister inviting you to Sunday services or a social event, he may be calling to speak to you directly. Or maybe not.

Ormond Beach, Fla.,-based The Broadcast Team Inc. has developed two telemarketing services for churches across the country: RealCall®, an outbound call program that can deliver up to a million prerecorded messages to answering machines and voice mail systems in the span of several hours and God's Calling®, an automated survey service geared toward connecting churches with prospective parishioners. Both, those in the business say, increase church attendance by making people feel they are wanted.

"Eighty-six percent of people come to church because they are invited," said marketing representative Jon Domeij, who along with partner Mike Ellis, who first used these programs out of state, said it worked recently to bring several members into their own church, Covenant United Methodist in Port Orange, Fla. The Port Orange church is the first to use the partners' telemarketing program in Volusia and Flagler counties.

Using information from a data company, lists of registered phone numbers for selected ZIP codes are compiled within minutes, then are edited to prevent calling numbers which have requested to not receive telemarketing and to remove multiple calls to a household. Lists may also be selected to target specific demographics, such as younger families with children.

Unlike other programs, however, calls are generated by a central computer,delivering the message at precisely the moment the answering machine goes into recording mode. "It doesn't sound like Hal from `2001: A Space Odyssey,' it doesn't sound digital," Ellis said. "The important thing is that it sounds like someone picked up the phone and called you."

Using a real pastors' voice with its accent and common speech patterns makes the messages more welcoming, Ellis said, making it appeal to two groups of interest to most ministers: Those who stopped attending church after a bad experience and "chr-easters," who mostly attend services on Christmas Eve and Easter. "The goal is to get people to come to church and have a positive experience, so they'll come again," Ellis said.

The second program, God's Calling®, uses automated phone surveys to locate "qualified prospects," who are interested in receiving information from an area church.

It works like this: Those who agree to take a short survey are asked if they attend church. Non-churchgoers who want more information are asked if they would like to be contacted in person by phone or by mail. Domeij explains it is critical to build a relationship between a church and a potential member by conveying an attitude of caring.

"God's Calling® not only opens the doors of communication between the church and unchurched, it gives the laity an opportunity to build that caring relationship as soon as they follow up with the new prospective church member."

Another attractive aspect of both services is their cost-effectiveness. "What's great about this is that a church will send out maybe 5,000 pieces of mail, and maybe they'll get to the right person, and they pay for every single piece of mail," Ellis said. "With RealCall®, w only charge them for the messages that get through. With God's Calling®, we only charge churches for each prospect that's created."