wfn.org | PCUSA - Skype gets pastor to two places at once on Sunday morning

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Skype gets pastor to two places at once on Sunday morning
Message is beamed from downtown Minneapolis to Payson, Ariz.
Bookmark and Share

> Posted at
> July 5, 2010 12:50 a.m.

> by Shane Whisler

The Rev. Chuck Proudfoot worked in Minneapolis on Sunday. He also 
preached at the worship service of his congregation, Community 
Presbyterian Church, 1,600 miles away in Payson, Ariz.

Proudfoot preached live via Skype, a free one-to-one online video 
conference tool, which kept him from missing two Sundays in a row due 
to volunteering at the 219th General Assembly (2010).

Back in Arizona, about 90 worshipers watched the projection screen as 
Proudfoot read the Gospel lesson. He, in turn, viewed his 
congregation from Minneapolis via his MacBook.

With the laptop as his pulpit, Proudfoot turned the pages of his 
sermon as he preached and used a dollar bill as an illustration.

The dollar bill, any bill, "preferably a $100 bill," he said, would 
show the handiwork of the Rev. John Witherspoon, who signed the 
Declaration of Independence and designed the seal of the federal 
treasury. He watched and waited after he instructed the worshipers to 
dig out their bills.

"And just leave those out for the offering," he said to the 
congregation's chuckles.

The congregation didn't know that Proudfoot's son Scot had called his 
father earlier to share prayer concerns that elders had collected at 
the beginning of the service. That call allowed Proudfoot to lead a 
personalized pastoral prayer, even from the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Proudfoot's only similar technological experience was broadcasting 
last year's Easter sermon via Skype to his homebound mother's 
computer in Colorado.

> But what if the technology fails?

"We videotaped the sermon last week," he said. "It starts with the 
message, 'If you're seeing this, the Skype thing didn't work.'"

Proudfoot has volunteered for more than 20 years in the Assembly's 
communication center.