Local Church "Tweeting the Word"

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There’s a religious struggle underway and a local pastor’s right in the middle of it.

It’s the battle to get the one out of every four adults who aren’t in church interested in worshiping.

Some local churches encourage people to fire up the laptop, turn on the phone and Tweet Jesus.

At Metamorphosis Church in Greenville the music is intense. The mood is laid back. The message is all about growing closer God.

"The message that I've always delivered since God called me to be a preacher is the same," Pastor Chad Bowen tells me. But in this church he isn’t the only one spreading the word. He’s got a congregation of believers literally fired up, with laptops open and cell phone keyboards standing by.
"We're using our cell phones and our computers in every other aspect of our lives, why not incorporate that into church, into our worship service," he says.

Many at Metamorphosis Church use the social messaging website Twitter to send out brief messages of the pastor’s main points in the sermon.
Rick Stroud is one of the twittering members who tells me, "It is just note taking except other people get to see your notes."

Rick was one of the first at Metamorphosis to tweet. It’s generated a lot of conversation about God in these walls and outside of them, with the millions on Twitter who can potentially spot one of his Sunday tweets.

He says, "Some are Christians and you can tell and some are not, and they'll challenge some things that you say. I've had several of those conversations."
Metamorphosis joins a growing list of churches telling people its okay to use electronics to share the word – in real time. And its paying off, for people new to the area like Christy Brewer.
"Seeing these messages on Twitter helped us realize, we already know the music and the message and some of the people, well that made it really easy to put Metamorphosis on top of the list," Christy told me.

One of Rick Stroud’s Tweets helped Christy find this church, without leaving her couch. Virtual church exploration
"It was an easy way to already feel connected to the service and the mesage and the meaning and eveyrthing that's going on, already, walking in the door," she said.
But what about those who find it offensive to be typing away while the pastor’s preaching?

Pastor Bowen understands the argument against it, even if he doesn't agree. "That doing anything besides being focused completely on the music or the preaching is a sign of irreverence or a sign of not paying attention," he explained.

Pastor Bowen understands the traditional objections, but looks beyond them. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to reach those who are far from God and that's our desire, just to do whatever it takes."

I asked if seeing people typing and texting as he preaches is a distraction? The pastor says he doesn't even notice.

I''ve had people text me (laughs) while I was preaching before." He continued, "They say you know good message and sometimes I'll take it out and respond."

This isn’t the only upstate church Tweeting. I've got a growing list in my blog on WSPA.

And just this week two traditional Baptist churches here started following me on Twitter.

Read more in my blog where a full blown debate is underway. I've also posted articles for churches interested in Twitter. And vote in the polls - would you tweet in church?