Darrell, thanks for sharing your experience with us. Covid has forced a lot of people to adopt new technology quickly. Even though there have been challenges along the way, I love hearing stories of how people helped one another and were able to connect in new ways!

I can relate to the video though, I've been to a few online church and like I wrote in the post about presence, people (including the moderators) chatted throughout the service about whatever was on their mind.

All that said, however, I should also point out that deliberate acts of distraction like that, in our community at least, are few and far between. Far more common are technical glitches like the video not working, or not working for a particular person. But it has forced us to always have backup options on hand, and to have designated people to go into private message mode to help someone who needs help. All of these things, if you think about it, are the sort of things traditional churches do (and face) on a regular basis, too — just in a different medium. What do you do when the guitarist breaks a string? What do you do when the fire alarm goes off in the middle of worship, or when a baby cries, or when there's feedback on the pastor's microphone? Or, more rare, but still happens, especially in urban churches: What do you do when a homeless guy (who is drunk) wanders in off the street and starts asking (loudly) for money?

Church of any sort is an adventure. You prepare as best as you can, you learn from your experiences, and you trust God's spirit to move in the mix.