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GodTube takes religion to internet masses
By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 2:27am GMT 08/11/2007
A Christian website which allows visitors to chat and exchange religious-themed videos is proving to be one of the most surprising successes on the internet.
GodTube, which was recently named America's fastest-growing website, drew more than four million users last month.
Based heavily on secular sites, the Texas-based organisation combines the video clip-sharing principle of YouTube, the social networking feature of Facebook and live webcasting.
Current hits include videos of a Christan rap song called That Book You Got Makes Me So Holy, a squirrel singing I Will Always Love Youand a clip of a little girl lisping Psalm 23 from memory that has been viewed nearly 4.5 million times.
Other popular attractions include music, comedy and heated theological debates, and the site contains more than 25,000 videos, with 300 to500 fresh ones arriving each day. Their content is monitored by a10-strong team of seminary students.
Members of other religions are invited to participate on the GodTube.com website, but they cannot proselytise.
Atheists are welcome, too, and they may share their point of view "as long as it's done respectfully".
Similar sites target Muslim and Jewish audiences but none with so much success as GodTube.
The venture, which is backed by many big churches and Christian product retailers, was officially launched in August.
Chris Wyatt, GodTube's founder, said he set it up because churches were having difficulty reaching young people "in a language they can understand". Asked what Jesus would think of the site, he said it was more appropriate to ask "what Jesus would be downloading".
He points out that GodTube users on Sunday mornings outnumber the congregation of the megachurch pastor Joel Osteen in Houston.
Mr Wyatt, 38, said the site — which is not a church but a media company — earns money from advertising, selling subscriptions to ministries which want to broadcast more frequently and by selling demographic data about its users.
GodTube is expanding so rapidly that it recently launched its own newsservice. Another spin-off, Godcaster, will soon allow any church inthe world to stream its services for free.
Mr Wyatt, a theological college student, describes the site as a neutral "Switzerland" open to various theological viewpoints.
However, that has not stopped different denominations using GodTube to take potshots at each other.
Videos being viewed recently include "Why Pentecostalism is not of God", "Mormonism exposed", and "The papacy is NOT biblical".
Mr Wyatt, who has had to put off training for the ministry, said: "Its success was a major surprise, but doing this site has been a great joy."
By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 2:27am GMT 08/11/2007
A Christian website which allows visitors to chat and exchange religious-themed videos is proving to be one of the most surprising successes on the internet.
GodTube, which was recently named America's fastest-growing website, drew more than four million users last month.
Based heavily on secular sites, the Texas-based organisation combines the video clip-sharing principle of YouTube, the social networking feature of Facebook and live webcasting.
Current hits include videos of a Christan rap song called That Book You Got Makes Me So Holy, a squirrel singing I Will Always Love Youand a clip of a little girl lisping Psalm 23 from memory that has been viewed nearly 4.5 million times.
Other popular attractions include music, comedy and heated theological debates, and the site contains more than 25,000 videos, with 300 to500 fresh ones arriving each day. Their content is monitored by a10-strong team of seminary students.
Members of other religions are invited to participate on the GodTube.com website, but they cannot proselytise.
Atheists are welcome, too, and they may share their point of view "as long as it's done respectfully".
Similar sites target Muslim and Jewish audiences but none with so much success as GodTube.
The venture, which is backed by many big churches and Christian product retailers, was officially launched in August.
Chris Wyatt, GodTube's founder, said he set it up because churches were having difficulty reaching young people "in a language they can understand". Asked what Jesus would think of the site, he said it was more appropriate to ask "what Jesus would be downloading".
He points out that GodTube users on Sunday mornings outnumber the congregation of the megachurch pastor Joel Osteen in Houston.
Mr Wyatt, 38, said the site — which is not a church but a media company — earns money from advertising, selling subscriptions to ministries which want to broadcast more frequently and by selling demographic data about its users.
GodTube is expanding so rapidly that it recently launched its own newsservice. Another spin-off, Godcaster, will soon allow any church inthe world to stream its services for free.
Mr Wyatt, a theological college student, describes the site as a neutral "Switzerland" open to various theological viewpoints.
However, that has not stopped different denominations using GodTube to take potshots at each other.
Videos being viewed recently include "Why Pentecostalism is not of God", "Mormonism exposed", and "The papacy is NOT biblical".
Mr Wyatt, who has had to put off training for the ministry, said: "Its success was a major surprise, but doing this site has been a great joy."
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