The ministers name is Font. No. Really. Wonder how much this piece of virtual real estate cost?
Pastor Otoneil Font, Senior Pastor of Fountain of Living Waters Church in Puerto Rico, has signed a contract to break digital ground on an exact replica of his church to be constructed in the Universe of Faith, the premier, browser-based virtual world for the Christian community.
Developers at Entertainment Arts Research, Inc, the creators of Universe of Faith, will be working with Font to construct the church and city in the virtual world as it appears in real life. This will allow users around the world to have access to Fountain of Living Waters Church as if they were actually attending and participating in worship. For a ministry such as Fountain of Living Waters Church that already reaches thousands of people in the Caribbean, Universe of Faith provides a one of a kind platform to offer more ministry resources to even more people across the globe.
…Universe of Faith introduces a diverse and immersive experience for users to create a life beyond the tangible world. With opportunities to connect with people across the globe, Universe of Faith will quickly become the most intriguing venue for social networking available. Never before has there been such a revolutionary tool that allows people to go beyond their means and limitations and explore the world in ways they had only dreamed. Universe of Faith equips users with total control of the details allowing them to design a personalized way of living.
I remember the Ship of Fools – Church of Fools.
The real church (Font’s) online streaming isn’t up yet, nor is the virtual faith world.
I guess you get a second life the in Universe of Faith. (sorry;^)
This also reminds me of the College Humour Wii Church game.
Mind you, even though I don’t read Spanish, it’s clear The Church of Living Waters has a lot of product to sell. I wonder if they’ll sell virtual products?
Otoniel Font homepage
via: pjmiller
The headline for this caught my eye since it said “Electronic Arts.” I was thinking WTF is EA making a Christian/Biblical MMO? But, turns out Entertainment Arts Research is the actually name of the company involved.
There’s a “new” Virtual gospel in town! Unfortunately, it’s actually an age old play on religion, whose previous acts have included the money changes in the temple, indulgence selling priests of the dark ages and modern televangelists.
This upcoming “Universe of Faith” promises to be a “virtual world for people of faith from around the world. You can grab a soapbox and preach to the crowds and join in live, public debates, or hang out at cafes and shop in our virtual store. (emphasis added).” The emphasis becomes clear, when you look at the “Legacy” of Legacy Group Global (LGG), the PR & Marketing Firm involved with this venture. LGG has a 30 year history of developing slick promotional campaigns for some of the top Televangelist and home shopping brands around the country.
With the 2 Billion dollar success of Avatar and millions of people spending multiple hours and millions of dollars a week in Virtual Worlds like Second Life and MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games), it doesn’t surprise me that the “wolves” would soon be circling this potentially lucrative demographic of “Virtual Sheep.” I can see them licking their chops when they imagine the captive virtual audience of believers, ready to be fleeced by all manner of virtual healings and miracles, while clicking on “donate now” buttons, that hold the promise of saving starving little virtual children, health, wealth or other untold virtual blessings.
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
– Matthew 21:12-13