But Lawrence is not a real person. He is a virtual, on-screen pastor whose sermon topics, personality, even mannerisms are chosen collectively by his congregation.
"We’ve never been happier," says head elder Louie Francesca. "We finally got the pastor we all want."
Virtual Pastor, a UK company, began pioneering the "virtual pastor model" in 2005, and has created a dozen lifelike, on-screen avatars which preach, joke and give personal anecdotes as if they were real people. All their sermons and personal stories are scavenged from the Internet.When a church subscribes to Virtual Pastor, each person in a congregation helps "shape" their pastor by entering likes and dislikes into a response box during services. This live feedback is fed into the company’s servers and helps to change the pastor’s sermon topics, hair style and more in following weeks. The result is a pastor perfectly tailored to the will of the congregation.
"We unify churches and remove any reason for quarreling," says co-creator Gavin McReady, standing next to the servers in Scotland where all the virtual pastors reside. "It’s a monumental achievement." More
Well, do we want a pastor to scratch our ears or stomp our toes..Like the Lord said one day " I am their King and Lord, no one else" Should we reflect this as wanting to tailor God to what we would like him to be..Didn't he say.."How will the mud the the potter, why are you making me this way." He has all the authority to do so..if we are to be called HIS people..But if you don't then you will not be called HIS people..just someone else's.. <><
ReplyDeleteThis will work until people realize its not the preacher's fault. When some people like some things and others don't, the conflict will come as some people will try and take control of what the "virtual pastor" should be like
ReplyDeleteMatt I guess you could say that this is the next step to removing the preaching on sin that I am sure many of the congregation needs to hear. Thus they now have a pastor that speaks that which only his congregation wants to hear.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete