Among many others, John Piper and Mark Driscoll have added to their church numbers by employing a video image of themselves preaching their Sunday morning sermon in the mother church as the cornerstone of other virtual worship services held on other church "campuses." And now, for something completely similar, Life Together offers small group pastors who are virtual, also...
PS: Responding to the comments below, I've now made a second post on this subject. So after reading this one, please read the second post, Video sermons and the marks of the church.... There you will find the discussion continuing...
Brett Eastman regularly gets offers to join the staff of a church to implement and lead small groups. The only problem is that Brett is not available, but now, you can hire Brett's personally trained team to serve as your small group pastor for a year. Why hire a staff member, pay salary and benefits, then retrain them only to have them surfing for a new position? LifeTogether wants to be your small group pastor. Through regular visits, phone consultations, strategic planning, volunteer recruitment and start to finish implementation, the LifeTogether team will help you connect your congregation and sustain those groups for the long haul. After one year, you will have a volunteer or staff member, encoded with your churches DNA and trained in LifeTogether's strategy. LifeTogether can be the small group pastor of your dreams. Let’s start dreaming.
Yes, I think virtual preachers and virtual small group pastors are both wrong. But seriously, they're very effective. Martyn Lloyd Jones' scruples over allowing his sermons to be broadcast over the radio do seem quaint today, don't they? I wonder whether my own congregation would vote to pipe Piper's image in to our sanctuary if the vote were taken anonymously?
If we want to hold on to our income, pastors better unionize--and soon. Outsourcing is headed our way, too. No one's safe.
(Thanks, Chris.)
