ONE FLORIDA CHURCH ENCOURAGES MEMBERS' PARTICIPATION IN SERVICES.

One Florida church encourages members' participationin services.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It's Sunday morning at Living Word Fellowship, and Angela Franklin sits at the ready for the sermon. Her eyes are glued on Pastor Tony Palmisano. On her lap, an open Bible. On the Bible, a keypad resembling a television remote control.
During the sermon, she and 69 other keypad holders will tap out answers to Palmisano's questions from the pulpit. Within seconds, their responses will appear on two big screens as red, blue and green bar graphs.
Sunday worship meets "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" at the Lauderhill, Fla., church, via the keypads. With Pastor Palmisano asking pithy questions from the pulpit, the congregation offers instant feedback -- and stays intent on the sermon theme.
Though it's still considered experimental, Franklin is already sold on the system.
"I was skeptical at first; I thought it would be an intrusion on the service," says the accountant, a Margate resident. "Then I saw it in action."
Updated services
The devices -- used in college lectures and management training sessions, as well as audience-response TV shows like "Millionaire" -- are woven into the sermons at the 13-year-old nondenominational church. Palmisano weaves six or seven questions into his weekly sermon, then people punch in their answers.
"My grandparents listened to radio; I grew up on TV; our kids are into computers and videos," says Palmisano, 49. "And we all want input. I used to assume what my congregation was thinking. Now I know when I'm engaging them. You can even see everyone with a clicker lean forward intently."
The church, formerly a supermarket, features innovation throughout: from the transparent pulpit, to the headset mikes on the ministers, to the rhythm section of keyboards, bass, guitar and congas, to the sign projected on the front wall: "Reaching Out, Touching Lives."
In a sermon dealing with family relationships, Palmisano makes chapter-type statements, such as: "We can hate others because of our own pain." Every statement appears on screen, in a blue strip below his projected image.
Application
Palmisano then turns to passages in the biblical book of Genesis, dissecting the story of Joseph and his jealous brothers -- even going back into the family history to find the root problems in his father, Jacob, and grandfather, Isaac.
"While Esau was out throwing passes, Jacob was home vacuuming," he says, drawing laughs. "But he needed his father's affection just as much. Is it possible that Jacob treated his sons the same way?"
His questions range from mild to painfully personal. One suggests: "Many times children have pain in their lives because they feel 1) that they don't measure up to the other children in the home; 2) that the parents are divided because of them; 3) unable to gain acceptance by one or both parents; 4) all of the above."
The responses are just as frank: A whopping 70 percent choose all of the above.
The congregation listens quietly, intently, going from keypad to Bible to keypad. Their answers voice a mute faith in divine help as Palmisano asks: "Do you believe that God can remedy wrongdoings in your own family?" A green bar shows a 95 percent "Yes" response.
Palmisano issues an invitation: "If you have issues in your family life that need fixing, stand up." Perhaps 100 do so. He asks the other congregants to pray with their hands stretched toward them.
Unique approach
That he would be willing to allow the system in his church -- a system that not only lets the congregation talk back, but could be used to grade his teaching skills -- says much about the minister himself. Members say Palmisano is pragmatic, eager to learn and not afraid to try new things.
"He's a good pastor," says Franklin, a two-year Living Word member. "You feel like you're learning something. And not being talked down to."
Joe Palermo of Coral Springs, Fla., who designs training software, agrees. "Tony is always on the cutting edge of technology and always wants to know what people are thinking. And he loves to get them involved."
An Italian-American born in Rhode Island, Palmisano looks each week over a 650-member congregation roughly 55 percent Caribbean islanders, 10 percent Hispanic, 10 percent African-American, 25 percent non-Hispanic white.
He and his staff try to impart that worldview to their kids as well. In its 35,000 square feet, Living Word decorates each Sunday School classroom with a different continent -- like Asia or Africa -- and play a different style of music through the speakers every week.
Church expert J. Gordon Melton says he doesn't know of any other congregations using Living Word's high-tech approach. "Ministers are always looking for ways to improve participation in worship. As costs become more feasible, we'll likely see more things like this."
Doubts
At the same time, Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif., isn't convinced it will make a big difference in church attendance, let alone lure the estimated 30 percent of Americans who aren't church members.
"Some people love everything new, but some think religion and technology don't mix," he says. "And it's like that inside and outside church."
Palmisano says it was TV sports that got him interested in the keypad system. Watching ESPN two years ago, he was electrified to hear sportscasters ask questions -- then get viewers' answers over the Web. "I asked my staff how we could use that to get people more involved in the service," he says.
After 18 months of research, they settled on a $4,000 system with a computer, two receivers and 70 "Personal Response" keypads.
Member response
Some members were dubious, thinking the devices might "restrict the Holy Spirit" or compromise the service structure. They mellowed after seeing the units in action for a few weeks, he says.
The anonymity is a big draw for several Living Word members, including Valerie DeGiovanni, the wife of associate pastor Mike DeGiovanni.
"Some people expect an associate pastor's wife to be a certain way and say certain things," she says. "With the keypads, I can say what I think."
Palmisano plans to give the new system another couple of months; then he'll pass out questionnaires. But early results have been encouraging; some members have complained that there aren't enough keypads.