by Gary Taylor, Orlando Sentinel, January 3, 2009
SANFORD - On a recent Sunday, more than 7,500 people turned out for services at Northland, A Church Distributed, the Longwood megachurch. An additional 750 showed up at remote locations in West Orange County, Oviedo and Mount Dora.
Since 2006, the church has been streaming two of its three Sunday services on the Internet, allowing more than 1,800 people to worship from more than 1,000 locations across the country and the world.
Now that technology is allowing the church to crack some of the most fortified walls in Seminole County: the jail.
Each Sunday, prisoners file into a second-floor classroom where they watch the church’s 9 a.m. service, standing when the congregation stands, clapping when the congregation claps and singing when the congregation sings a hymn.
Church officials hope to make a difference in the lives of inmates. Read the rest of this entry »