Posted on 02/01/2008 5:12:40 AM PST by steve-b
For years, as many as 200 members of Immanuel Bible Church and their friends have gathered in the church's fellowship hall to watch the Super Bowl on its six-foot screen. The party featured hard hitting on the TV, plenty of food -- and prayer.
But this year, Immanuel's Super Bowl party is no more. After a crackdown by the National Football League on big-screen Super Bowl gatherings by churches, the Springfield church has sacked its event. Instead, church members will host parties in their homes.
Immanuel is among a number of churches in the Washington area and elsewhere that have been forced to use a new playbook to satisfy the NFL, which said that airing games at churches on large-screen TV sets violates the NFL copyright....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
the superbowls have been losing viewers for years.
The first baseball strike ended pro baseball for me. I am no longer interested.
This did it for me with the NFL.
Exactly. Some of the posters here think churches should only be cathedral-like, silent dark places.
My church has a rock-climbing wall in it!
And yet our Sunday messages are strong, Bible-based, and completely “religious,” probably more so than the boring “traditional” (and liberal, most likely) churches’ messages.
Wake up, everyone! The boring churches are things of the past. No one under 50 attends them anymore.
20-50 year olds, which are Gen X and Y, the future, attend churches which would like to show the Super Bowl—yes, for fellowship and also for evangelism to the community.
the superbowls have been losing viewers for years.
Um, no.
While it is true that some score higher than others, the claim that "their ratings continue to plunge" is demonstrably false, not to mention laughable on its face.
“Evangelism is not becoming like the world to attract the world.
What about “be ye separate?””
What about “Go ye therefore and teach all nations...?”
I have helped lead more than 20 people to Christ in the last 6 months. You?
Besides, churches are not buildings. Churches are people. The body of Christ.
I guess if some of the religious elites on here had been Jesus’ disciples, Christianity would have died within 100 years or so of Christ’s death.
Wouldn’t want to invite any dirty non-Christians to church, would we?!
That's a great idea. But I'm under the impression that we are talking more about just a social event for believers. If it is coordinated as an outreach, great. But by not having a party doesn't mean that 'barriers' are being built.
Either way, the law must be followed. Every year we have a New Years Eve dinner, movie, family Communion, dessert, and game night. This year we chose to show a film by Billy Graham called 'The Climb. Even though no money was collected for the movie, food, snacks or offering, we still had to pay appx. $35.00 for public viewing rights.
Freedom of Association and Assembly? Pffft.
Not that I’d wanna watch in a church, but how does this affect the NFL?
Laws can be wrong. And stupid. And simply too many of them.
After all, we could judge our laws by their weight, we have so many!
Bars pay much higher cable / satellite fees which include "public showing" rights, which filter back to the networks who have paid the NFL for broadcast rights.
You are right. The oldtime religion of the "Church of Monday Night Football" worshipped on...well...Monday night.
>>>But it’s okay to watch in bars???
Yes, because they pay a license fee.
“Didn’t we do this last year?”
Yes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1778848/posts#comment?q=1
IP laws are only going to get worse with Hillary or McCain in the whitehouse.
NFL is cutting reducing the reach of its advertisers and advertisers is what it is all about. I don’t suppose the advertisers see that, though.
“But I’m under the impression that we are talking more about just a social event for believers. If it is coordinated as an outreach, great. But by not having a party doesn’t mean that ‘barriers’ are being built.”
Oh, I am not saying that not having a SB party is a barrier. I am saying that sometimes the church doesn’t do a good enough job of recognizing barriers that outsiders see and removing them. I am not talking about adopting a worldy view, or changing theology. I am talking about meeting with people where they are. That could mean having a SB party, going to a baseball game, or tons of others things. That’s what Jesus did, and I think that’s what He expects Christians to do.
All the Super Bowl parties I have been involved in have been for members, but were more importantly events for members to invite their friends to. Teenagers, especially, see it as an opportunity to get out from under Mom and Dad’s thumb and have fun with their friends.
Dropkick Me Jesus, Through The Goalposts Of Life.
http://www.eagletribune.com/archivesearch/local_story_032084946.html
“Chunky’s CEO Al Coburn said yesterday that the National Football League has prohibited the company from showing the game on the large screen in its theaters even though no admission is being charged”
The NFL is also vigilant about advertisers using the phrase “Super Bowl” as it’s a registered trademark.
A couple years back a company making dip made clever use of the name, saying in a radio ad
that “We can’t use the name of this event, but watching it would be Super...like a Bowl...of Dean’s dip”.
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