CLICK ‘PRAY’
TO PRAY
closer to his congregation (and
maybe even sell some of his books
or DVDs along the way).
Other churches, like Oklahoma’s evangelical LifeChurch, have
been more ambitious and creative
with their approaches to technology, though none can yet rival
Osteen’s reach.
And Osteen, born in an era where
the dominant screen was a television, not a computer, is facing
some of the same challenges other
churches are confronting as he attempts to update his message for
the Facebook era. Larger churches
have traditionally been technology’s early adopters, and smaller
congregations are likely to crib from
Osteen’s social media strategy.
Here’s where devotees can currently find Osteen online: YouTube,
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, on
podcasts, delivered to their email
inboxes, as a blog on JoelOsteen.
com, livestreamed via his website,
in an iPad magazine and, coming
soon, on two standalone iPhone
apps. To handle the deluge of prayer
requests posted to Osteen’s Facebook wall and phoned into his
church, Joel Osteen Ministries has
even launched a dedicated site, Pray
Together, where people can post
prayer requests for the ministry’s
HUFFINGTON
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entire congregation to respond to.
Just click “pray” to pray.
“It’s kind of like — are you familiar with Reddit or Digg?” asks
Brian Boyd, the chief executive of
Media Connect Partners (or MCP),
a social media consultancy that assists Joel Osteen Ministries with
their with day-to-day online outreach efforts, as well as their Night
of Hope events. “You can vote
a prayer request up or down, and
actually pray.”
Some evangelical Christians view
these developments with alarm,
decrying what they portray as an
insincere reach for souls with social media and a trend that could
undermine the draw of in-person
gatherings of people in one place.
Evangelical Christian pastor John
MacArthur railed against “flat
screen preachers” in a 2011 interview with Christianity.com, declaring their form of ministry an “aberration” that moved “away from
the core of sound doctrine.” But
Osteen’s social media consultants
maintain they have witnessed the
faithful finding real fellowship
and solace in a virtual setting.
“You don’t have to sign up for
an email, you don’t have to go to
church, and you don’t have to go
out and find it: you can literally log