The Washington Post reports on churches that are switching from a real live preacher man to a canned video sermon. The approach allows churches to expand to multiple locations without hiring an additional pastor. Young people like it for the familiarity it shares with all the other screens in their lives, and older people appreciate being able to see the pastor better.
But some people aren’t so happy, arguing that video preachers enhance the celebrity image of pastors and discourage interaction in the church (though I don’t understand how interaction happens during a sermon, at least not the sermons I grew up with).
From a marketing standpoint it’s an interesting approach.
On one hand I worry about sub par filming: churches can hardly compete with the local TV news, much less any higher standard. But on the flipside, perhaps people aren’t expecting bells and whistles; it’s more of a Jumbotron experience.
There also seems to be a threat to community when a church has so much choice. It’s like channel-flipping for preachers. If the person delivering the sermon is so expendable, perhaps it’s time to reconsider the place of the sermon in a church service.
At any rate, churches need to be authentic and intentional. What does it say about the importance of community and wise elders if the person doing the majority of the spiritual teaching in your church is someone the congregation will never meet? But if the sermon takes a backseat to worship, discussion, and other forms of teaching, then a video may be appropriate. (link via CT’s Weblog)
Anthony D. Coppedge
March 30, 2005
Great post about this usage of technology. Two quotes that caught my attention. The first one:
“On one hand I worry about sub par filming: churches can hardly compete with the local TV news, much less any higher standard. But on the flipside, perhaps people aren’t expecting bells and whistles; it’s more of a Jumbotron experience.”
As a Church Media Consultant, I say often to Pastors and Techies alike: Don’t try and ‘Xerox’ Mega Churches. You can’t become like Andy Stanley or Ed Young, Jr. or Rick Warren by duplicating their technology or staff structure.
You can, however, learn from the principles that these guys leverage for their churches. This seems simple, but when it comes to technology, it ain’t. To be blunt, most churches using live video in the same room don’t get it right. They typically suffer along with a consumer/prosumer camcorder on a flimsy tripod and force the attendees to suffer through shaky video and out of sync audio and video due to the quick and easy firewire connection.
What floors me is that they think that using technology will suddenly make them relevant. Here’s a notice: It won’t.
So when the application calls for live video or, as described above, multi-venue video, the church needs to count the costs of equipment, training, time and personnel.
Thanks to Terry Storch for linking to you guys. Fantastic site!