Northland has been webcasting its services since January 2006. But in March 2008, the church launched an upgraded version of its webstream called “InSite.” Through this innovative Web-based application, worshipers are not only able to participate in services via live online video, they now have many new ways to interact with the church and with one another.
A robust set of features includes immediate access to an online pastor and the ability to chat instantly with other worshipers and to save them to a list of “favorite sites” (similar to the “buddy list” system in instant messaging programs). “Web worship is not new, but this new application takes it to a new level, where we continue the process of removing the passiveness of web worship,” says Patrick Conway, Northland’s IT director. Each weekend, worshipers at more than 1,200 sites around the world use InSite, bringing the church into homes, coffee shops, restaurants, military bases, offices and other sites. (A “site” may encompass one or two individuals gathered at home or dozens of people gathered for worship.) Worshipers can scroll the online roster of people “worshiping now.” Private, “site-to-site” chat is available, and individuals can change their status to inform others of their desire to be chatted with. InSite can be utilized by people throughout the world who don’t currently have a church home. This is in keeping with Northland’s “church distributed” philosophy, which arranges itself around the relationships of congregants and partners, rather than around a physical church building. “We believe the distribution of our worship, where people can deeply connect and engage in real-time worship and fellowship, is a vital piece to the distributed church vision,” says Northland’s creative director, Nathan Clark, who designed InSite’s user interface. “By leveraging technology in this fashion, we can support thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of churches and sites around the world.” Patrick Conway adds, “Church distributed is about ‘anywhere,’ not about ‘where.’ Online worship is a catalyst to allow people to worship anywhere. … Sites can easily grow, and I believe some amazing churches distributed around the world can mature through online worship as they take their unique walks with God.” Besides those who worship routinely in other locations, Webstream Worship also benefits Northlanders locally—the family that has a sick child or the businessman who is traveling—who can engage fully in community worship through InSite. In addition, InSite may prove useful to the burgeoning house church movement in America. According to a study by The Barna Group, 9% of adults attend a house church during a typical week. “That is remarkable growth in the past decade, shooting up from just 1% to near double-digit involvement. In total, one out of five adults attends a house church at least once a month,” Barna reports. InSite is available at www.Northlandchurch.net and requires a quick registration before the first use. Started by 11 people in 1972 in the “north land” of Orlando, Northland was named one of “America’s 50 Most Influential Churches” by Church Growth Today. Since June 1985, Dr. Joel C. Hunter has served as senior pastor. During his tenure, the church has grown from 200 faithful souls to a congregation of 12,000 that worships at several physical sites throughout Central Florida and at hundreds of “virtual” sites around the world.