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HUFFINGTON
06.09.13
People share things on social media,
with Joel, that I don’t think people
would even share with their pastor in person.”
MCP will update Joel Osteen
Ministries’ social accounts all night
to drive people to the main attraction: the live, online video stream
of the Night of Hope and the public chat room that sits alongside it
on the screen. Osteen’s chat room
will be open to all comers as a place
where they can message with other
followers or with the team of MCP
moderators on hand to offer encouragement, share information on
local churches and answer questions posed by virtual attendees.
A separate section of the screen
allows participants to post prayer
requests for all to see and answer.
Vo, a slim brunette dressed in
purple pants, a lavender collared
shirt, and black pumps, works on
putting together a list of pastors to
follow on Twitter. Peering into her
laptop, she shifts between Twitter,
Facebook, a custom-made scheduler listing outgoing posts and the Instagram app on her iPhone. Though
this is Vo’s first Night of Hope, she
has worked smaller Osteen events
and has a sense of what’s in store.
She has warned her colleague to
steel himself for a virtual stampede.
“There are thousands of comments a second,” she tells another
team member. “It’s just a massive
undertaking. It’s exciting because
his fans are excited, and so nice,
and they’re so happy to be a part of
it and they’re so enthusiastic.”
That deluge of comments is the
most stressful part of the night
for Boyd, who notes it’s simply
impossible to interact personally
with every virtual attendee —
though that’s the aim.
“We really do want to try to
reach everyone,” he explains. “If
someone asks a question, we want
to get an answer to them. If someone has a concern or wants to give a
praise report, we want to be able to
talk to them, and you just can’t do
it. Even with 10 people, with that
kind of volume, you’re unable to get
to every single person.”
A former literary editor who