Religion

O'FALLON, Mo. — The spotlight shone on the Rev. Mike Schreiner on a recent Sunday as he preached about who goes to heaven and how earthly relationships will translate in the hereafter.

Off to Schreiner's right, the steady glow of dozens of cell phones lit up the section where the teens of Morning Star Church sat listening to the sermon, thumbs furiously working little keyboards.

High above the 700-seat sanctuary, Amie Haskins, 27, the director of worship, sat in the church's control booth receiving their text messages on the church's cell phone. She screened out some (most were about whether pets would be in heaven — a point she knew Schreiner would be addressing later in the sermon), and typed others into a computer that was connected to Schreiner's laptop next to him. During Schreiner's 30-minute sermon, Haskins received 35 questions.

• When we are in heaven, will we be able to touch our relatives still on Earth?

• Will we look the same, or have new bodies?

• What happens to the baby when a mom has an abortion? Does it go to heaven?

• Will our friends who have not officially accepted Christ within a church environment still be accepted in heaven if they lived a life pleasing to God?

• I'm wondering (and this will sound awful) about people I don't care to bump into in heaven. Will strained relationships here be awkward there, too?

• When we get to heaven, how will we know what Jesus, or even God, looks like? Could they look just like everyone else?

Schreiner answered just three of them, but the church's embrace of texting — this was the third week of its experiment — has already improved the dialogue, according to Schreiner, and energized many of Morning Star's younger members.

"I love it," said 14-year-old Kailey Elfstrum, who had her text all ready to go even before Schreiner's sermon began. "You get to ask the pastor anything you want while he's talking."

Her friend Maddie Howard, also 14, agreed. "You don't want to admit your sins to the rest of the church, but this way you can still ask something important," she said.

For some time now, churches have used text messaging to promote social events, keep their various ministries networked and even remind the absent-minded that they're late for church. But now pastors, who for years have been asking people to turn off their cell phones during services, are increasingly asking them to do the opposite.

Mid-sermon texting is a way for pastors to engage their flocks with technology many of them — especially those under 30 — are using every day.

"Lots of people say this is cool or edgy, but that's not what it's about for us," Schreiner said. "It's really about staying true to our mission to meet people where they are."

Set in a field amongst the St. Charles, Mo., sprawl, Morning Star Church is part of the United Methodist Church, but it looks and feels more like a hip, contemporary evangelical congregation.

On this Sunday, Schreiner, 41, wore his embroidered shirt untucked as he paced the stage with a tiny headset microphone. Up in the production booth, Haskins — dressed in jeans, Tina Fey-style glasses, blue canvas sneakers and pink socks — directed three technicians manning the lights and changing Scripture passages that appeared on large screens above the stage.

Some people watched Schreiner on wide-screen plasma monitors from the church's Java Bar — a coffee shop in the lobby. The church brings in about 1,500 people over three services each weekend.

Morning Star's music director, Mark Roach, said he saw texting used recently during a worship service at the Church of Rock Creek in Little Rock, Ark. Another staff member, Ryan Redding, said he'd visited Mars Hill Church in Seattle, which was using texting at a youth service. "It was sort of a free-for-all," said Redding. "We're trying to use it in a more focused way."