More on Satellite Services & Multi-Site Churches
- Posted on July 19, 2005
- Viewed 582 timess
- (20) comments
Welcome to the electronic church, live via satellite.
In the time of reality TV, perhaps it's no surprise that fast-growth churches increasingly use cameras to put their pastors in two places - or three or four or more - at the same time.
Some do it to relieve crowding or reach a wider geographical area; others see it as a way to offer more worship styles under one roof, said Scott Thumma, a researcher of megachurch trends at Hartford Institute of Religion Research in Connecticut.
The number of churches beaming pastors from one location to another is unknown, but 22 percent of 153 megachurches surveyed in 1999 said they had satellite campuses, Thumma said.
The trend concerns traditionalists such as Ole Anthony, the president of the Trinity Foundation, a religious watchdog group in Dallas.
"Do you lay your hands on the screen for fellowship?" asked Anthony, who criticizes megachurches as bastions of amusement and anonymity.
On the other hand, researcher Thumma said, satellite services merely reflect what already occurs in most large worship settings.
"Even if you're in the main sanctuary, chances are you're not going to be watching the pastor at the pulpit anyway," he said. "Your attention is going to be focused on the large screens because you can't really see the pastor if you're in a gathering of 4,000."
On a recent Sunday, Groeschel appeared on the big screens at LifeChurch.tv's south Oklahoma City campus sporting shorts, a T-shirt and a Los Angeles Dodgers cap.
Introducing a study of the apostle Paul's epistle to Philemon, he walked through a leafy neighborhood to a mailbox, where he pulled out a letter just like the one contained in the New Testament.
When the taped segment gave way to the live portion of the message, Groeschel showed up in a dark shirt and slacks - but only on the video screens.
The 450 or so jeans-clad worshippers watching in a converted storefront didn't seem to mind that the pastor delivered the sermon from 20 miles away.
"In my opinion, it makes not one bit of a difference at all," said Eric Urbach, a 32-year-old attorney making his third visit to the church. "In fact, it's kind of a nice thing that I can see him up close."
Urbach's friend, Amy Chilvers, 34, added: "You're still getting the live music and the interaction with the other people who facilitate the service. So, to me, it's not an issue."
At North Coast Church in Vista, Calif., north of San Diego, worshippers choose from four simultaneous "worship venues" at the church's main location on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings.
"North Coast Live" offers preaching in person by Pastor Larry Osborne, along with a full worship band and Starbucks coffee. A separate "Video Cafe" presents a more acoustic style of worship, again with Starbucks coffee but with Osborne's sermon by video.
A third venue, called "The Edge," features what the church Web site describes as "a slightly more cutting edge atmosphere with full band worship," along with "Mountain Dew, big subwoofers and teaching via big-screen video."
Other options include a Saturday night "Country Gospel" service ("Y'all come on over," the Web site says) and a Sunday morning "Traditions" service with a baby grand piano and a mix of classic hymns and contemporary worship choruses. Each venue gets the same video sermon by Osborne, often a recorded DVD to allow more flexibility in individual services.
"You tell me what music you play and I tell you who comes to your church. So we reach more people than we ever could with a one-size-fits-all approach," said Osborne, whose church draws 5,700 worshippers each weekend to its "central hub" and four satellite locations within a 35-minute drive.
In Oklahoma City, Groeschel, 37, said he stumbled on the video format when his wife delivered the fourth of their six children on a Sunday morning in 2001.
By then, LifeChurch.tv - known for its ear-piercing praise band and Groeschel's real-life sermon illustrations - had already grown to several thousand people at two locations. Groeschel had preached twice that Saturday night.
"I was holding my little son and asking, 'Who's going to fill in for the day?'" Groeschel said. "Someone said, 'Hey, why don't we roll video from the night before?' We did and it worked great. There was almost no difference."
Four years later, LifeChurch.tv has 130 ministers and staff members and serves a combined 13,000 people each weekend, with two locations in Oklahoma City and one each in Tulsa, Stillwater and Edmond. And in September, LifeChurch.tv plans to take the concept to two new campuses in the Phoenix area, more than 1,000 miles away.
Here’s an additional article on multi-sites… this one written by the Religion News Service: Most weekends, Craig Groeschel preaches at 23 services in five church locations across Oklahoma. His schedule isn’t quite as busy as it sounds, though. The founder of LifeChurch.tv, a nontraditional church, Groeschel delivers only five of the messages in person. Technology takes care of the rest…
Comments
if you want a Globally Recognized Avatar (the images next to your profile) get them here. Once you sign up, your picture will displayed on any website that supports gravitars.
bernie dehler on Thu, July 21, 2005
MODERATOR COMMENTS:
I’m going to leave this next comment stand, but this will be the last one of it’s type. Honestly, folks, we’ve been down this road before… so let’s let it lie already. I know there are some that don’t like the multi-site movement. And I understand your reasons (we’ve discussed them here many times before). But to keep arguing about it is moot… it really is.
Why do I promote multi-sites here? Because I’ve seen them be effective in reaching people for Christ. I’ve met some involoved in multi-sites and they are not the egomaniacs that some here think they are (at least the ones I’ve met). I can’t say this loud enough… In my opinion, you’re really wrong to judge the motives here, because from what I’ve seen, it’s just not reality in most cases. If you disagree… well, we’ll just have to leave it at that.
On this blog, I will continue to provide information and resources on multi-sites for those who wish to learn more… but we will no longer give space for those who would like to demonize or decry the evil of their practice. That is something that can be done at another blog at some other time. And it is something that should have been done here long ago.
Here we will discuss the multi-site movement and how different churches are using different strategies to reach their communities for Christ… and we will discuss the things that are working, things that aren’t working, and discuss openly how different scenarios might work in our communities.
I know this will not please some; but I hope you’ll respect my decision.
As I’ve mentioned… all comments now will be pre-screened before posting. So if you see that one of your comment doesn’t appear, it means that either I haven’t approved it yet, or it just didn’t make the cut. http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif
OK… in interest of fairness… I’ll give Bernie this last chance to repond…
Geoff Surratt on Thu, July 21, 2005
Our solution at Seacoast (and most other multi-site churches I’m in relationship with) is to start campuses AND new churches. When we find a leader who’s heart is to plant a new church and to be the primary communicator, we help him do just that. (We help found a group called The Association of Related Churches. We have helped plant dozens of churches over the past four years through the ARC. We are deeply committed to church planting.) When we find a leader who feels his gifting and calling is to be a campus pastor, we help facilitate that call as well. We feel we are able to deploy more rather than fewer leaders.
As to the accusations of being a cult, being ego maniacs, avoiding the IRS (which is a new one, by the way), beating our pets; not a problem. As long as people are moving from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, we’ll take the arrows.
Thanks for keeping the conversation fresh Todd. I look forward to the new and improved MMI.
Dr. Eric J. Richards on Mon, July 25, 2005
This idea is fantastic from one simple standpoint, some individuals have been given a great gift from God in their ability to communicate a message. Yet people without this gift pursue a career in ministry, go to seminary, and forever struggle while sharing God’s message. And though that is fine, if those same people had an opporunity to have one of these great communicators speak to their congregation, and allow them to focus on counseling individuals, leading other members of their team to learn to witness and “fish”, the church would be more successful at leading people to christ, as well as providing financial stability to that otherwise struggling pastor (not that I feel as though God has called everyone to succeed financially, but I do believe he rewards many in that way).
tactical riflescope on Tue, November 04, 2008
The new generation is not a life without high technology, and because the churches of all denominations have to look for new ways to attract believers.Himself Pope in January this year, acknowledged the usefulness of the Internet. 81-year-old Pontiff, whose first appeal to the world through the Network was held in November 2001, praised the Internet as a “wonderful tool” that can and should be used to disseminate the word of God and peace on a global scale. However, the universal nature of networks, which can satisfy both sublime, and ignoble human needs entails, according to the Pope, the need for regulation, because providing access to truly boundless treasures of accumulated knowledge of mankind, Set, however, makes no rights wise and can easily contribute to human dignity.
dvd to apple tv converter on Sun, August 02, 2009
That’s great! thank you!
Page 2 of 2 pages < 1 2
Post a Comment