The Christian Response to YouTube

The Christian Response to YouTube


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Paul Nelson, KSL NewsradioChristian pastors, preachers and missionaries have a new way to get their message out. Some people are calling it the "Christian response to YouTube."

For all of the rap music purists out there, no, this is not Sir Mix-a-lot's "Baby Got Back." This man calls himself Southpaw, with a song called "Baby Got Bible." This happens to be one of the most popular videos on the new Web site GodTube.com.

"You have 20- and 30- and 40-something Christians around the world who have put together videos for their youth group or for their church, and now what they're doing is they're sharing them with the world," explains GodTube Co-Founder and CEO Chris Wyatt.

The site has serious lessons, music videos and even comedy sketches, like this parody of the latest Mac computer commercials: "Hello, I'm a Christ follower." "And, I'm a Christian."

Wyatt explains that the site works just like YouTube, but it has strictly Christian content. Wyatt is a student at the Dallas Theological Seminary and got the idea for GodTube last semester. "In the last five days, we've broadcast over 14 weeks of television programming."

Wyatt says he is surprised to see how big the site has become. "We're the most traffic Christian site on the Internet. It's more like between 40,000 to 50,000 unique visitors a day. We're going to be serving this month about four to five million videos."

The interesting thing is, the site won't officially launch until May. Not bad, considering he bought the site for $400. "Without any marketing whatsoever, all of a sudden, people started coming to the site," Wyatt says, "taking their videos and sharing them."

If you think the site is big now, wait until it actually launches. "We'll be broadcasting more in one single day, more Christian programming around the world, than, say, a Trinity Broadcasting Network can in an entire year."

Since the site is open to all Christian faiths, there is some material that could be considered by some as "anti-Mormon," like a video of Pastor Ray Comfort at the Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant. "I'm not an expert on what Mormons believe. A lot of Mormons don't even know what Mormons believe, so it gets kind of complicated," Pastor Comfort says.

But, Wyatt says the goal of the site is not to pit one Christian religion against another. "Quite frankly, what I think you're seeing here is a new face of Christianity," Wyatt says.

Wyatt says the site is allowed in countries where Christian missionaries are not allowed. People on the other end of the earth can see church bloopers, or if they really want, "Baby Got Bible."

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