Video Venues

One of the blogs I read to help me better understand the Emerging/Emergent Church from their own perspective is the bob.blog. This is the dude who also does the PastorHacks blog.

In a recent post (where Bob discusses preaching via dialog), he links to all of his blogposts with the preaching category tag. Following that link, I read through a few of his blogposts from a while back discussing the issue of "video venues."

I've run across this subject before. Several Calvary pastors hashed through this very issue recently due to some of our own going to the whole multisite/multivenue model. There are arguments pro and con.

My take: I see precisely zero difference between a video venue and your average, run-of-the-mill megachurch. In the video venue, the average congregant's relationship with the teaching pastor is limited to watching him from afar on a video screen. In a megachurch, the average congregant's relationship with the teaching pastor is limited to watching him from afar on a... hey...

The perceived benefit of video venues is that you can pipe the teachings of a good, "big-draw" teaching pastor to more people. That way, more people get the benefit of great teaching. Why not have Chuck Smith teach the people in your neck of the woods one Sunday, Bob Coy the next, maybe throw in a dash of Rick Warren for flavor... you get the picture.

The main argument against video venues is the disconnect between the people and the teaching.

For the record, I agree with this argument.

Consider this, though... at a certain point in the numerical growth of a local congregation, you'll run into the same exact problem. So instead of multiplying fellowships, the current trend is to tack on multiple services... multiple venues...