"Video Sermons"

[Nelson Bradford]

Okay, here's a question for all you lay people.

What if your Senior Pastor announced that beginning the 1st Sunday of October (or whenever - some future date) he would be recording all of his sermons onto a video and rather than being in any of the multiple services "live" all of the sermons would be projected onto a screen?

It is my understanding that many of the mega-churches - including Willow Creek - are already doing this - simply to save wear and tear on the senior pastor.

Maybe I should add quickly this is not THE plan at our local church - yet - but it could be the plan for the future with our growing multiple services each Sunday a.m. (4) and locations (2).

Would you laypeople support such a plan, by your faithful attendance and continued giving?

Or would you leave to attend some other church where the preacher is "live" and in living color? (More or less.) 8-)

Comments, please?

thank you
Nelson
ps - Isn't God good?!

[Andrea Larabee]

I would not attend or support this. I have had multiple experiences where the pastor had his sermon prepared and then suddenly before the service starts or shortly after it started, by a prompting of the Holy Spirit he changed his message.

This type of thing happened on a rare occasion for my family. We actually had my Dad in church on Father's Day one year. Which, sadly, is nothing short of a miracle. The pastor was already conducting the second service-which was ours. He opened his notes and his mouth to begin with the service. Then he suddenly paused and said I feel the Spirit telling me to change my message. Throughout the whole service, I could tell by my Dad's body language that the Holy Spirit was speaking to him. My Dad was very out of character. At home, after the service that day, my mother, sister, husband and myself, all sat around the table and played Scrabble, as my Dad lay on the floor reading a Bible.:gen06

I am just not sure with video, you'd get that extra personal touch or moving of the Spirit. I can watch just about any pastor at home on a Sunday.

[Billy Cox]

Okay, here's a question for all you lay people.

What if your Senior Pastor announced that beginning the 1st Sunday of October (or whenever - some future date) he would be recording all of his sermons onto a video and rather than being in any of the multiple services "live" all of the sermons would be projected onto a screen?

It is my understanding that many of the mega-churches - including Willow Creek - are already doing this - simply to save wear and tear on the senior pastor.

Maybe I should add quickly this is not THE plan at our local church - yet - but it could be the plan for the future with our growing multiple services each Sunday a.m. (4) and locations (2).

Would you laypeople support such a plan, by your faithful attendance and continued giving?

Or would you leave to attend some other church where the preacher is "live" and in living color? (More or less.) 8-)

Comments, please?

thank you
Nelson
ps - Isn't God good?!

My understanding is that larger churches (and some small wannabes) are doing a multi-site church in which the sermon is broadcast LIVE in other locations. Each location generally has its own live worship band. In larger churches, people are accustomed to watching the person speaking on the screen anyway.

[Brad Mercer]

Oh, I think that's a terrible idea. I'd way rather have multiple preachers than one preacher just on video. You can't fellowship with a large crowd. If the preacher's not live and in person, I don't know why you wouldn't just stay home and watch it on the web or TV.

Brad

[Dana Grant]

Oh, I think that's a terrible idea. I'd way rather have multiple preachers than one preacher just on video. You can't fellowship with a large crowd. If the preacher's not live and in person, I don't know why you wouldn't just stay home and watch it on the web or TV.

Brad


Agree, mate.

[Mark Metcalfe]

I am okay with it. I would just send in my video presence and a picture of my tithe.

nyuk nyuk nyuk

Mark

[Kim Hersey]

I'm not sure I should answer, since I can't claim "layperson" any more...

But I participated in the Willow Creek Ladership Summit by delayed telecast... and it was simply fantastic. We had a "live" person for local announcements, and then sang with the screen, took notes from the speaker on the screen, etc.... and it was a great experience. The fact that it "actually" had happened two hours earlier did nothing to subtract from the sense that we were part of something much larger than our own mid-sized gathering in San Jose, CA.

It would have been an even better experience if the music had been live... but I'm 36 and completely comfortable with learning from 2-dimensional people (television and movies have been around my whole life), and it's significantly better than audio-only (which is effectively the case in anything larger than a small church withOUT a screen projecting the speaker).

Multiple speakers/multiple sites/services has its potential, too, but also drawbacks in terms of shared vision and understanding.

So, my short answer is: all other things being in place (I can follow the vision of the leaders, etc.), YES, I would wholeheartedly support a multi-site ministry with video feed (live or pre recorded) for sermons.

Somebody had to be different.

Kim

[Nelson Bradford]

One and all for your input
-neb