Godcasting

Missed Church? Download It to Your iPod. - New York Times

I continue to see articles such as the following and honestly believe this could be a good idea for my church to look in to.

Kyle Lewis, 25, missed going to church one Sunday last month. But he did not miss the sermon.

Mr. Lewis, who regularly attends services of the National Community Church in Alexandria, Va., listened to the sermon while he was at the gym, through a recording he had downloaded to his iPod. Instead of listening to the rock music his gym usually plays, he heard his pastor’s voice.

The Rev. Roderick Vonhögen has 10,000 listeners.

The home page of theaterchurch.com, introduced by the Rev. Mark Batterson of the National Community Church, who started ‘godcasting’ last month.

‘Having an iPod is a guaranteed way to get the sermon if you’re going to be out of town,’ Mr. Lewis said, adding that he listens to the pastor’s podcast at least once more during the week, usually while driving to work, even during weeks he makes it to services.

Mr. Lewis’s pastor, the Rev. Mark Batterson, started podcasting, or ‘godcasting’ as he prefers to call it, last month to spread the word about his congregation. The hourlong recordings of his weekly service, available on theaterchurch.com, have already brought new parishioners to his church, he said.

‘I can’t possibly have a conversation with everyone each Sunday. But this builds toward a digital discipleship,’ he said. ‘We’re orthodox in belief but unorthodox in practice.’

(Via the New York Times.)