> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Two men arrested in City Hall finance office burglary, stolen items recovered - URL: https://www.smdp.com/local-6-friday-march-9-2007-a-newspaper-with-issues-superhighway-to-heaven-just-a-click-away-2/ - Published: 2007-03-09T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T00:13:11.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import *CITYWIDE What would Jesus do... with an iPod?* If he was so inclined, he could listen to some Christian rock or a recently down-loaded sermon from the Sunday service at the Risen Church in Santa Monica. Since the Risen Church formed almost two years ago — meeting every Sunday evening at the Trinity Chapel on California Avenue — the sermons have been made available via podcast for followers who miss the service or want to relive the experience once again through their iPods or MP3 players. The times, they are a changin’ in the traditional world of religion and the rapidly advancing world of technology. “You have groups that are seeking to attract members from outside as well as maintain contact with who are already members,” said Scott Bartchy, a UCLA professor who covers the history of religion. “If you don’t exploit these means of communication, churches will, step by step, lose contact.” The changes are already evident in Santa Monica, where several churches have embraced technology, incorporating it into the services that they offer. Leaders at the Risen Church noticed that other religious institutions across the country were offering their sermons on tape or on compact disc after services were over. They decided to take it one step further by making the audio of the services available with a click of a mouse. “Technology and the Internet has allowed people to connect to one another in ways they never were able to do before,” said Risen Çhurch Teaching Director Trevor DeBenning. “We got an e-mail a few months ago from someone in India who listens to what we’re talking about in Santa Monica and really digs it. We have friends in Tennessee who listens to what we’re talking about.” In the future, DeBenning hopes to offer the services streamed live on the Web so church members who are out of town can still catch their Sunday fix from a computer. Still, nothing replaces face-to-face communication, DeBenning said. Rabbi Jeff Marx at Santa Monica Synagogue agrees. While the synagogue is moving in the direction of incorporating technology more into its services, he said it will never implement something impersonal like a phone tree system. “I do not want a congregant or a stranger to go through a convoluted system of punching in numbers,” Marx said. “I always have a live person answering.” Unless it’s after hours, of course, in which case an answering machine picks up. One of the biggest changes over at Santa Monica Synagogue is the reduction of snail mail and the increase of e-mail. The synagogue also just created a new Web site a few months ago and has been told the site has been used as a model for other Jewish congregations across the country. “We’re big fans in terms of technological changes,” Marx said. In fact, Marx is an avid user of the Palm Pilot, carrying his Bible and a Jewish holiday calendar in the handheld device. And though the synagogue is exploring other ways to move toward the future, Marx does not foresee podcasting or live streaming at Santa Monica Synagogue. “You’re either there or you’re not,”he said. Many churches in the city seem to be taking baby steps in terms of technology, acknowledging that change is necessary for outreach. St. Monica’s Catholic Church has been busy working to improve its Web site, which is still in its interim phase and is basically used for informative, rather than interactive, purposes. That may change in the future, said Jason Farmer, communications coordinator at St. Monica’s. He is currently working on creating a function on the Web site to allow interested church followers to download registration forms. “We’re hoping that the Web site itself can be a ministry,” Farmer said. The church is also looking to offer audio services and stream mass live on the weekends, Farmer said. Web sites offer the added benefit of anonymity to potential followers who want to explore a church without actually contacting the church, Bartchy said. “They can do this without making an initial kind of commitment,” he said. Things are a little bit more basic at the Church on Pearl Street, formerly the Good Shepherd Baptist Church. “There is a lot of stuff out there that we don’t have yet, but we’re heading in that way,” said Pastor Jeff McCulty. “We use PowerPoint, we use microphones and some stuff.” Technology is necessary for the church to conduct outreach in the future since face-to-face outreach has become increasingly difficult as people shy away from strangers, McCulty said. “There is no other way to do it,” he said. “It’s hard to grab people’s attention without (technology).” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 9, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/030907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)