Pastor Makes MySpace His Own

Orginally published on Thursday, November 23, 2006 at 5:00 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Robert Emmitt had seen TV reports of sexual predators preying on teens on MySpace.com, figuring, like many parents, it amounted to a Pandora's box of danger. Not something to espouse as the senior pastor of one of the city's largest congregations, Community Bible Church. But that was before a 26-year-old techie on his church staff suggested he join the MySpace craze to illustrate a sermon series on setting healthy personal boundaries. Now Emmitt spends about a half-hour per week swapping messages with the 240-plus cyberspace friends he collected in just four weeks as a MySpace user.

“It was divinely inspired,” Emmitt said of the idea. “I’m about as cool as a 49-year-old can get, and I’m still a pastor of a church.”

Such forays into MySpace by Christian leaders have started primarily with youth pastors in search of tools to relate to their Internet-absorbed youth. Increasingly, church leaders of many kinds are open to becoming MySpace users despite its sometimes controversial reputation.

Already, nearly 92,000 “religious and beliefs” groups are on MySpace, with the top three being Christian in nature.

MySpace, which has 130 million individual accounts worldwide, is the most popular social networking site on the Internet. It’s the second-most viewed site in the world, according to Internet tracking company comScore Networks.

Anyone who claims to be at least 14 years old can register for their own free Web site, individualizing it with pictures, songs and graphics and posting a profile of personal data.

The pivotal feature is the ability to add or reject “friends” who view your page — and the information you choose to post.

It’s unclear how many senior pastors have MySpace sites, but Emmitt’s site reflects the sustained appeal of the Internet to churches and religious groups in recent years. From blogs to podcasting and e-newsletters, the technology has provided new tools to communicate spiritual messages and market their services and programs.

Emmitt’s profile

Click on Emmitt’s page, and a song by the late Christian musician Keith Green begins to play — the lyrics challenge Christians to spread the Gospel with greater urgency.
There’s a smiling portrait of Emmitt, known for his friendly, approachable personality, and a list of his interests: golf, hunting, racing cars and eating steak.

It also lists his heroes: Jesus, the Apostle Paul and mom and dad among others. It describes Emmitt as a heterosexual, married man whose astrological sign is Pisces. (MySpace requires a date of birth and then automatically posts the corresponding astrological sign.)

Among the photos Emmitt has posted on the site are him flying a small aircraft and swinging on a rope over the audience at his church one Sunday.

It evoked this comment from a teenage girl.

“That looked like fun! It makes me very happy to have such a great and funny pastor like you. ... (It’s even better that I understand what you are talking about when I go to church.)”

The site not only reveals Emmitt’s personal sides, it promotes the church. Each week, a short video clip — called a “v-mail” — teases the upcoming sermon topic and other church programs.

Kyle Isenhower, a 26-year-old video engineer on the church staff, suggested the idea to Emmitt and manages the account. He checks the pastor’s page for responses after weekend services. He routinely deletes “spam” invitations such as sales pitches from businesses, and invitations for friendships with people who have obviously artificial identities.

Only two MySpace friends have posed problems for Emmitt’s site.

They were annoyed at receiving a direct mail flier from the church and sent him four-letter tirades.

“I told the church I haven’t been cussed at in a long time,” he said. “One was all upset and said he hated me and I had made him sick. I said since we’ve never met apparently someone else has offended you, and for that I’m truly sorry.”

Emmitt noted that because he accepted them as his Myspace friends, they couldn’t revoke such status.

“I’ve got them,” he said wryly. “I can e-mail them and tell them what I’m preaching on Sunday.”

You can read much more of this article here at the San Antonio Times...

FOR DISCUSSION: What do you think?  Is there a way that you could effectively use technology like MySpace in your ministry?

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