While sitting around watching television tonight I started watching Joel Osteen. Osteen is is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas and was named "Most Influential Christian in America" in 2006 by The Church Report. As I was watching his sermon, at the bottom of the screen they showed a website where you can go to receive free podcasts and broadcasts of his show. It's interesting now after taking this social media class how all these different aspects of the internet are taking over. Now that I know what all these things are such as the podcast, I am better able to recognize all the different places they come up. We discuss in class how social media is starting to take over and I believe that Joel Osteen and his messages have made it to a vast population in some part due to the fact that he is keeping up with the times and the growing internet population.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Podcasts for Everyone
While sitting around watching television tonight I started watching Joel Osteen. Osteen is is the senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas and was named "Most Influential Christian in America" in 2006 by The Church Report. As I was watching his sermon, at the bottom of the screen they showed a website where you can go to receive free podcasts and broadcasts of his show. It's interesting now after taking this social media class how all these different aspects of the internet are taking over. Now that I know what all these things are such as the podcast, I am better able to recognize all the different places they come up. We discuss in class how social media is starting to take over and I believe that Joel Osteen and his messages have made it to a vast population in some part due to the fact that he is keeping up with the times and the growing internet population.
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2 comments:
A lot of mega churches have podcasts for the sermons. I think it's a great thing to do. It allows for a wider audience. When I miss church for work I'll go and listen to the podcasts. It's convenient and I'm still able to get my church fix.
It's not just the mega-churches.
While I'm not a church-goer, I work as a church secretary for two small churches. One has about 75 members, the other is just starting out and has only a handful of members. One has a website, complete with podcasts of sermons. The other has a blog with podcasts.
The internet offers the churches a new way to reach out to people, which is really nice for the churches I work for because they are atypical churches who serve those traditionally marginalized by other churches. Many of the visitors have already heard previous sermons and checked out the online newsletter or blogs, and since the podcasts and all have gone online, attendance and membership are up.
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