Church offers free iTunes, iPhone
In Coral Gables, Florida, an enterprising pastor wants to bribe (his words) new people into attending its iSermons. This is the same church, Church of the Glades, that in January drew 50,000 hits to its website with a billboard proclaiming "The Bare Naked Truth on Sex."
Anyone who comes to its iThemed services for the first time during the next three weekends can get a $15 iTunes gift card by filling out a "connection card." Today, one new visitor will win an iPhone.
The series of sermons is called "i: Successful Living in a Self-Absorbed World."
Sermon or no (and door prize or no), this has been a frequent topic of discussion lately - that we, as iPod-toting, cell phone carrying, IM-entranced humans are so self-absorbed that we are losing touch with how to speak to others, face-to-face. Psychologists have even written papers about this. Do you feel that your face-to-face interactions have dropped off since we have created all this "electronica?"
