Danielle Bohn listens to 10w while running.
The way to start your day
By Julie B. Sevig A
s Dan Bollerud visited with young adults from his Alaska congrega- tion, he noticed one thing: they
have a strong connection to church, to faith, but just aren’t oſt en in the pews. Over coff ee he asked them: “Why
doesn’t this church, this format, work? If you threw out everything you know about church and redesigned it, what would church look like to you?” “T e common story was that they
‘We need to reidentify church
from communities gathered around a “place” to com- munities gathered around the “word.” ’
like church, it’s important to them,” Bollerud said. “But time-wise, their lives are humming along on high. On weekends they’re camping, fi shing, skiing, kayaking. T ey’re in the car with their friends. Yet they want to stay connected.” As a result, Bollerud created 10w (www.10worship.
blogspot.com), a 10-minute recording “worshipers” can listen to on the Web or on a smartphone. A few years ago parishioners from Christ our Savior
Lutheran Church in Anchorage asked Bollerud for “a mini service” to take with them camping. T at ser- vice was on paper, but it served as inspiration for this concept that was expanded, refi ned and moved into the digital audio world. “I realized that for people on the go we need to
reidentify church from communities gathered around a ‘place’ to communities gathered around the ‘word,’ ” said Bollerud, who called his choice of 10 minutes “a deep, scientifi c study” or “that’s how long it takes my wife to drive to work.” 10w is also called commuter worship, with folks using it to center their day on the way to work. T e service includes an introduction, a portion of a
song, prayer, Gospel or focus reading, homily, prayers of the people (leaving pauses for listeners to off er specifi c names and needs), the Lord’s Prayer, benediction and the remainder of the song. T ere’s no virtual off ering; the service is free. Musicians, such as Dakota Road, John Michael
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www.thelutheran.org
Talbot, Jay Beech, Hans Peterson, Andra Moran and Bryan Sirchio, granted permis- sion for their music to be used. 10w is also a place to showcase good contemporary church musicians, Bollerud said. Early on Bollerud burned CDs and
made them available at church, but that seemed more for people who were enter- ing the doors. Cellphones and Bluetooth technology have shiſt ed distribution from CDs to online. T ough diffi cult to track
the use, 10w is sent to about 240 people on Constant Contact, with about 50 opening the email each week. It’s also shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Julia Seymour, pastor of Lutheran Church of Hope in
Anchorage, and Martin Eldred, pastor of Joy Lutheran in Eagle River, are also involved. T ey take turns putting together two services a week, based on both the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary. Occasionally they get emails from listeners. A
favorite was from someone stationed at a naval base on an island in the Atlantic who was able to access it and make it his “church.” T is isn’t Bollerud’s only foray into the marriage of
church and technology. T e church provides Wi-Fi, with the bulletin suggesting that worshipers leave cellphones on but turn ringers off : “We tell people to text, tweet or post on Facebook. Let your friends know where you are and to join you next Sunday.” People also have texted Bollerud with prayer requests
just in time for prayers during worship. Bollerud sees 10w as
a ministry that allows people to connect with, and stay con- nected to, the texts and the faith commu- nity—even if they’re not in the pews.
Author bio: Sevig is managing editor of The Lutheran, and a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Chicago.
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