Touching Lives has an evergreen
mission. Its purpose is to “touch
the lives of lost people and enrich
the faith of the found.” For over 40
years, Dr. James Merritt, the host
of Touching Lives, has enabled this
mission through his video sermons
and radio and TV programs. Today,
Touching Lives broadcasts all over
the world, including the 50 states
and over 140 countries.
To enable Touching Lives’ global reach,
content such as sermons, articles, and
devotionals are offered via various
digital media formats on the web.
Content must be posted for daily
devotionals and weekly sermons,
mandating substantial new content
creation.
During its 40-year tenure, Touching
Lives has produced a substantial
library. However, videos produced
before 2015 — about 75% of all
content — existed in various tape formats that became inaccessible as
the formats aged out. That’s when
Touching Lives, after being referred
by Amazon Web Services (AWS),
turned to Iron Mountain for help in
preserving this treasure trove of
content and digitising the legacy of
Dr. Merritt’s work for ongoing use.
Building the Future by
Preserving the Past
For Touching Lives, future-proofing
its mission means preserving its past.
That’s because TV and radio presence
can live on for years to come. The
content is enduring because it is built
on unchanging Biblical principles. The
impact of ministry content sends out
ripples that increase in reach and
magnitude over time. That’s exactly
what Touching Lives content seeks to
accomplish, making its preservation,
or digitisation, a key factor in building
a stronger future.
The majority of Touching Lives’
historical video content was locked in
a host of unusable formats, spanning
from Betamax, and MPEG-1 to Linear
Tape Open (LTO) and everything in
between. Touching Lives could not
play any of these tapes because the
video format became obsolete. For
example, Betamax ceased production
of video recorders in 2002.
“Preserving Dr. Merritt’s powerful
ministry was a top priority for us. It’s
a way for us to continue to amplify
and further expand his ministry and
life’s work and reach more people. In
ministry, we constantly need content,
at least every seven days or 52 times
a year. Repurposing timeless content,
built on the steadfast principles of
the Bible, is a must-have,” shares
Jared West, Director of Marketing,
Touching Lives.
Learn more about Iron Mountain
Digital solutions including the
preservation of your assets.
