This post was mentioned on Twitter by human3rror: Virtual Brides? No? Then Why Virtual Church? – http://tinyurl.com/yfbd239...

For me, seeing lives change will always trump sticking to the status quo.

There's a young girl who lives out of state who was invited to attend by her father (he attends our physical campus). She started attending online and offered to volunteer online as a greeter. When I called her on the phone, I realized she wasn't a Christian and got to lead her to the Lord. A few weeks later, her boyfriend was watching online and committed his life to Christ.

Over Christmas, they traveled here, and I got to baptize both of them, and we broadcast the video online.

Honestly, I can hardly keep up with all the stories. People in the hospital having babies and watching from the hospital the next day, sick people and people with sick kids, home bound people from all over the US, people who have been burned by the church and are giving the church another try. So many fun stories. Seems like there's new ones almost every week.

God's doing some awesome stuff online. Can't believe I get to be a part of all this!

Many people are way to quick to draw conclusions and make judgements rather than continuing to listen and learn about the issue.

And for me as an Internet Campus Pastor, I have to remember that I'm doing this for Jesus. Some people may think what I do is a joke, but that's OK. I'm not doing this for them.

After doing the 9 part series about church online on Christian Web Trends I'm at the place where I believe online church is good for a lot of reasons but less than ideal compared with offline church. So, my hope is that online churches and internet campuses will continue to press forward and innovate but also encourage those who are able to connect with an offline church to do so.

Most of all. though. like you said I want to see the conversation about online church continue in a thoughtful, God-honoring way.

Where are you and NPOnline on this? I don't think I've ever heard you say. Does NP encourage people who participate in NPOnline to get involved in an offline church? Or do you encourage people to make NPOnline their church home?

i'm with you. there's an apparent belief that it's ok to criticize something without “trying it” or experiencing it.

super lame, if you ask me.

I could be wrong. I am probably over generalizing. But many stories I read from those against it have zero experience with church online. Personally, I don't think online church is a goal, but rather a tool. Likewise I don't know many ministers whose "goal" is to get people to show up on Sunday. I doubt most churches would say that attendance in their worship services is their priority.

I almost equate it to racism, xenophobia, homophobia and the like. Yes, that's brutal, I'm sorry. But often the loudest cries against foreigners are from those who have spent their lives in a sheltered & xenophobic state. The more gay people you know, friend, share life with, and see the love in their heart, the harder it is to just chalk up homosexuality to being a sinful state against God.

And yes those are anecdotal comparisons…I'm ok with it.

It's in that same manner that I believe it's those who are ignorant of the potential of online church who are its loudest and most persistent critics.

To be honest, I'm getting really fed up with the "discussion" at this point. I can't imagine I'm alone.