Churches find podcasts fill desire to hear sermons

Published 10:49 pm Friday, March 27, 2009

Not everyone can make it to church every Sunday. People get sick, travel or are deployed far away from their hometowns.

That’s the case in Snohomish County, particularly Everett, where many men and women in the armed forces who might otherwise listen to their pastors from the pew are stationed overseas.

But whether in the Middle East or in Lynnwood, many local people can listen to Sunday services using the Internet and podcasts, a video and audio digital media that can be downloaded to computers and media players from church Web sites.

Pastor Tom Albright from Marysville United Methodist Church started podcasting two years ago.

“I got an iPod and got hooked on listening to podcasts,” Albright said. “I thought, ‘We could do this.’ ”

A friend of Albright’s was going to work in Italy. He wanted to listen to Albright’s sermons while he was gone.

“And that’s how we did it,” Albright said.

Marysville United Methodist Church staff had recorded sermons on cassette for those who wanted to hear them, sometimes for the second time. The podcasts have replaced that method of recording, said Albright, who describes himself as senior pastor and information technology officer.

Albright knows how many people download the sermons each week. There are 15 subscribers to his service.

“My kids enjoy it,” he said.

People, whether part of the 700-member church or not, can watch and listen to scripture and Albright’s sermon. Copyright issues prevent music from being part of the podcast.

“I think we will continue to refine it,” Albright said. “Technically it’s very simple and probably takes me only about 15 minutes a week.”

A team of people, is involved in podcasting media at New Life Four Square Church in Everett, including worship arts pastor Tim Poetzl.

New Life staff began their podcasting experiment in 2006.

“It was amazing,” Poetzl said. “We had a couple of hundred downloads within the first week.”

Without publicizing the new podcasts, New Life staff received e-mails from around the world saying how much people were enjoying the service.

“It was a surprise to us,” Poetzl said.

Poetzl says that the video podcast of services is downloaded four times more than the audio. The video is time-consuming but staffers have figured out how to streamline the process.

“It’s a free service,” he said. “If we straggle behind, (those downloading) get upset with us.”

Poetzl and his staff have learned to make sure the computer servers used to store the podcasts are maintained. People are waiting to watch. After the first year of podcasting, they experienced a computer meltdown because of demand.

“It took us a month to get back up,” he said. “People missed it. Some were unhappy.”

Poetzl has explored ideas other than weekend services for those who connect to New Life through the Internet. There is not time or resources available right now to make that happen.

Servicemen and women are among the 15,000 people a month who log onto New Life podcasts primarily through Apple Inc.’s iTunes program.

“That’s the way they connect,” Poetzl said. “We get e-mails from Japan, China, France, thanking us for what we are doing.”

Christina Harper: 425-339-3491, harper@heraldnet.com.