Channeling God at the Video Cafe

Members of the nondenominational New Life Christian Church in Centreville sit at tables with food or coffee while watching the Rev. Dan Smith on the video screen. (Rich Lipski - The Washington Post)

Two-thirds of the 6,000 people attending North Coast Christian Church in Vista, Calif., now go to video venues, its pastors say. The music is live, and churchgoers can choose an assortment of styles -- traditional hymns, acoustic guitar music or heavy Christian rock -- before the sermon lights up a screen.

The phenomenon is so new that there is little research on how many people receive their sermons via video. But the format is getting a push from some of the largest and most influential mega-churches in the country, such as Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., which allows its video sermons to be used for a fee.

Pastors try to make video services more appealing by offering live music before the sermon, said the Rev. Larry Osborne of North Coast Christian Church, which holds conferences to teach pastors how to start using video sermons. Emcees are instructed to introduce the onscreen sermons with a personal touch.

The atmosphere is usually relaxed and youth-oriented, other pastors say. And there are no Sunday school teachers telling young people to sit up straight or spit out their gum.

The Rev. Todd Wilson, a pastor at New Life in Centreville, said older people at his church like the video cafe as well, because they can see the preacher better.

"It can be a weird dynamic at first," Wilson said. "But if you've ever been to a big conference and convention, you end up watching the speaker on a big screen anyway. It's a little awkward for a minute, and then you forget it's on video."

By using videos, churches can offer top-notch preaching. Tim Cole, director of "church planting" for the Virginia Evangelizing Fellowship, is planning to start a church in Richmond next year using videos from preachers across the country every week. He said he will act as the part-time head pastor and have live music on Sunday mornings.

And when it comes time for the sermon, he said, all he will have to do is "roll the tape."

The idea is cost-effective, especially for a new church, Cole said. "What it's saving us is half of a salary," he said. "Theoretically, 20 hours is what a good sermon writer will spend writing a sermon. And if it's a 40-hour work week, then you can see the savings right there."

Because video venues are not expensive to set up, churches can start more branches and draw more people. What's more, pastors have more time to spend with their congregations, Cole said.

But New Life member Beth Cygon, 39, of Chantilly says she just can't get used to her church's video cafe service.

"I love the direct connection with the person up front," she said. "As a minister you might be moved to speak about a certain thing. You can cue off how a crowd is reacting and change the direction of what you are doing. That's . . . impossible with a video service."

Cynthia A. Woolever, a professor of the sociology of religious organizations at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, believes the rise of video venues represents a cultural shift in church life. People are now more demanding of their churches.

"Because of television and everything else in our culture, people expect high-quality sermons. I mean, where else can people go to hear that kind of speech? So they want it to be very good," she said.

Woolever's research also shows that people join churches because they value knowing the pastor. The weakness of video sermons is that "it will be like developing a relationship with someone on television," she said.

She said she thinks the video venues should be embraced because they are proving to be a success in drawing people to faith. But, Woolever added: "I guess it admits the fact that we have a lot of people that see coming to worship as a spectator sport."