On a recent Sunday morning, Leanne Staeger, dressed in faded jeans and sneakers, was giving out curt, military-style orders to her four-person crew.
Their eyes were locked on a bank of monitors that showed a middle-age priest in white vestments delivering a sermon in the church across the street. Then, he did something that made everyone in the room burst out with laughter.
He jumped. Then he jumped some more.
“This is going to be known as ‘the jumping sermon,’ ” said the 40-year-old Staeger. “They’re going to love it online!”
Recent polls have shown Americans are losing confidence in religious institutions, but at the same time, an interest in spirituality has been on the rise. In search of new alternatives to houses of worship, a growing number are moving from pews to Internet portals to find God in cyberspace.