The Advocate

Area congregations bring technology into services
By JULIE KAY
     Healing Place Church with a podcast, church blog and other technological approaches to ministry ranks 16th on Outreach magazine’s list of America’s 25 most-innovative churches.

But that is not the only example of technology intersecting with faith in south Louisiana.

At St. Aloysius Catholic Church, parishioners have a new alternative to dropping their financial contributions in the collection plate. They can go with automatic deductions and  online bill paying instead.

And at Istrouma Baptist, technology factored into construction planning. Before the church built its new sanctuary nearly five years ago, leaders were considering what kind of sound system and multisensory approach they needed for the new space.

Some churches are just more technologically oriented than others, but overall churches are looking more and more to employ technologies to improve or expand ministries.

A Barna Group study, conducted by the research group that analyzes cultural trends relating to values and beliefs, says that in the past five years, Protestant churches have been adding technology to their ministries at a faster pace than in previous years.

The study cites double-digit growth in the use of Web sites, large-screen projection systems, electronic fund transferring, satellite broadcasting and e-mail communication.

More than six out of every 10 Protestant churches use a large-screen projection system, up 59 percent since 2000, according to Barna.

Healing Place
Healing Place Church initially pursued technological advances somewhat reluctantly, said Lance LeBlanc, the church’s creative director. But church leaders soon realized the potential for reaching people by putting faces to names and stories.

For example, video can show the congregation footage of children in orphanages and how donations have helped there and in other mission fields, he said.

Like Istrouma, LeBlanc said planning for Healing Place’s projected new sanctuary involves laying groundwork to keep the church on the cutting edge into the coming decade.

Getting the church’s message out to a larger audience in the modern world includes television, color, lighting, graphics, music and volunteers willing to learn the latest technology.

Healing Place broadcasts services and shoots its own videos with an impressive stable of equipment, all donated four years ago by Joyce Meyer who was upgrading her own television ministry.

The equipment, housed in a room overlooking the sanctuary, resembles a television production set. Upstairs, a control booth with  soundboard and two video monitors overlook the platform.

In lieu of ministers and lay people reading announcements, a projection screen flashes two-minute video commercials to keep worshippers informed about church news and upcoming events.

Volunteers and staffers run the studio, sound system, Web site, graphics and coordinate services. The church also produces its own DVDs and CDs.

As for maintenance, “We fix a lot ourselves,” LeBlanc said.

“We push the envelope with the resources we have, but it will always come back to clothing and feeding the hungry,” if it comes to a choice, he said.

“Creativity is more than art and music, it’s problem solving,” he said. When XFL left Baton Rouge, Healing Place bought some of its electronics. His crew is good at hustling and bargaining, “in the most friendly Christ-like way,” he said with a grin.

Istrouma Baptist
Robby Sharp, worship ministry associate and media ministries interim at Istrouma Baptist Church, said with a network of computers, the church can communicate with its members through a mass e-mail or give choir members a chance to acquaint themselves with the music for an upcoming services.

Where life today is so filled with technology, he said, “It’s a disconnect to enter worship void of that.”

Istrouma’s sanctuary includes a large projection screen to bring musicians and speakers on the platform closer to the congregation and to coordinate moving images on screen with text.

Like most churches, Istrouma struggles with both the fast pace of technological advances and the ability to afford them, he said.
“There’s a balance between staying current or staying up with the Joneses.”

The sophisticated sound system could already stand an upgrade, and the church is also looking at upgrading its lighting, which, Sharp said, enhances the mood and the worship experience.

Like St. Aloysius, Istrouma will soon offer online giving, he said. “The act of giving has been a very physical thing and some will continue to give that way, but when you’re dealing with people with no church experience, they’re not tied into that.”

St. Aloysius
The decision to implement automatic deduction and online giving came after many requests for it and much discussion about what it means to be an active participant in the giving process, said Cathy Dardenne, director of administration at St. Aloysius Catholic Church.

Some questioned whether automatic deduction or paying online would count for “prayerful commitment,” but the thinking is that one is still following the same prayerful process in deciding to contribute electronically, she said.

At a recent commitment Sunday the church received a little more than 100 commitments to electronic contributions, she said.
“That’s tremendous to have a response like that the first time.”

Other advances in technology have been relatively slow, but steady at St. Aloysius, she said.

Computers have made networking, scheduling and compiling parish databases easier than in years past when nuns physically went into neighborhoods to register people, Dardenne said.

The church used cameras and screens for Christmas Masses, videoing the service in the sanctuary and projecting it into the original church building, now a Parish Hall, to overflow parishioners.

“It met with great results,” she said. “When my kids were little, we would have to stand outside.”

As technology evolves, the church will grow with it to some degree, Sharp said. “We can’t do it overnight, but it is essential in the life we live in, being in this world, but not of it,” he said. “Being in it means being relevant.”

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