As you browse the Internet, you’re likely to find tons of church resources. Some are free, some are not. Some are free digitally, but not physically. We asked how you felt about this and what you would pay for, and you let us know.
Those of you happy to buy the digital copy if you miss out on the actual experience are in the vast minority. Only 9% of you would pay for a sermon on a regular basis. I assume this is within the bounds of reasonable costs.
Another 40% of you find yourself in the “maybe” camp. You might try and find a friend who recorded it on their cell phone, look to illegally download it on the Internet or raid the church offices. But if the sermon was great, and there was no other way to get your hands on it, you would pay up.
The majority of you, 51%, wouldn’t pay up for a digital copy. You’re OK with paying for the physical copy, but digital should be free. After all, the cost to the church is minimal, and you shouldn’t be punished for staying home with your sick kids.
This week, we’re asking, does your church provide open wireless access for anyone to use?
TjL (tntluoma.com)
February 5, 2008
Short answer: YES
Longer: We have teens who bring their laptops into fellowship hall @ times and it was just easier than trying to make sure they all got the password (which was “jesussaves” just for fun).
So it’s open and the SSID is set to broadcast.
However we’ve found that Windows XP really doesn’t like (re)connecting to a WiFi network w/o a password. They get a lot of dropped connections and then XP says “Do you really want to connect to this network, your information may be at risk” etc etc.
So I’ve thought about putting on a WEP password “Jesus” and making the SSID “Jesus_Is_My_Password” or something equally hokey.
Cameron
February 5, 2008
I’m not sure why you say that people will try to download things illegally from the internet. Not all downloading is illegal.
There are many authors/preachers/ whatever who would charge you for a physical copy of their work but let you have the electronic version for free.
Brad Ruggles
February 6, 2008
YES…every Church should offer free wireless access. I mean, come on…for the cost it’s one of the simplest things it could do to reach out.
You’re already going to have high-speed run to the church for office work. Just buy a decent wireless router, hook it up, and advertise your availability.
You should also register your hotspot on wireless hotspot directories so that others know about it.
If you’re too cheap or too worried about free wireless then you’ve got bigger problems.
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles
Paul Loeffler
February 11, 2008
One answer that’s not on there is ours. We don’t provide free wireless because we don’t have offices at our church. We’re working on that, but, for a church that’s been around for over 40 years, they just started paying their pastor (against his wishes) about 10-15 years ago. I’m the first youth pastor, and I came less than 18 months ago. Pastor have simply worked out of their homes in this rural community. It’s changing, but slowly. When we get offices (in about a year), I will definitely push for wireless access.