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Finding God On Your i-Pod by Kathleen Murphy(Religion News Service)

Posted by Ed Miller

Godcasting is the latest advancement in online religion, in which preachers convert their sermons to audio to be heard on portable digital audio devices.

Using iPods or any portable MP3 player, “podcasting” lets people download audio programs that can be listened to whenever they like. It’s a form of audio syndication that musicians, businessmen, tech talk show hosts and political commentators like Al Franken have already adopted.

There’s lots more God on iPod than jazz, theater or movie reviews. Pod preachers, including Christians, Buddhists and Pagans, are among the most prolific users of the new technology. Just as sermons were among the first type of broadcasts when radio caught on in America in the 1920s, podcasting is creating a new form of wireless parson.

To get the audio feeds, listeners connect an MP3 player to a computer, go online and sign up for podcasting feeds. Audio content is then pushed from the original source and makes its way through an aggregator to a subscriber who can listen to it anytime — in the same way VCRs time-shifted TV and services like TiVo have provided television programs on demand.

“Based on the number of religious-themed programs being distributed, though, it looks like Godcasting may be the podcast’s first killer app,” said Podcasting News, a Web site that features a directory of podcasts.

Kevin Seger, minister of youth and education at Pitts Baptist Church in Concord, N.C., one of the first churches to podcast weekly sermons, said: “You don’t normally see the churches on the cutting edge of technology. If we can utilize tools and technology to get the gospel out, the better we are. It’s portable. It’s compact. People can listen in the car or when they’re working out. It fits like a beeper on the side of your belt.”

Recently launched podcasts include “Catholic Answers Live,” an hourlong daily call-in radio program run by a San Diego-based lay group. The show also airs on AM and FM stations.

Another podcast called “Teachings for the New Age,” offers thoughts on following your inner self and achieving true perfection. Meanwhile, the “RevTim Podcast” with host Tim Hohm, and “Lifespring” with Steve Webb devoted recent podcasts to discussing how God could allow a devastating tsunami to happen in South Asia.

“Psalmcast,” produced by John Owen Butler, pastor of Beal Heights Presbyterian Church in Lawton, Okla., airs selections of musical settings of the Book of Psalms.

Religious podcasters said they like the medium because it’s an inexpensive way to reach the masses.