KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsChurches Go High-Tech to Attract Generation "Y"

Churches Go High-Tech to Attract Generation "Y"

In today's always-on culture, where most teenagers have never known life without the internet, getting kids to pay attention in church is becoming increasingly difficult.

One local church is taking steps to get connected with Generation "Y". You could say that when it comes to reaching out to teenagers, the Catholic Church thinks that connectivity is next to Godliness. Johnathan Sumpter is the Youth Director at St. Thomas the Apostle in Amarillo. He says technology is not a luxury, but rather a necessity. "Its become a language of a generation and for you to spread any message, you have to first speak the language that you're speaking to. The message doesn't change, just how you present it."

St. Thomas has set up a mySpace profile as well as a website for kids to see what's going on. But the technology doesn't stop there. "The kids act out scenes from the gospel or the bible. They act it out, we videotape it, do the video editing to it, make it look cool so whenever they go online they can show it to their friends on you-tube and they have fun learning the different stories," says Sumpter. St. Thomas has plans in the future to follow in the Pope's footsteps, and send out text messages to the younger members of the parish.