Immanuel Baptist mixing Sunday service with cellular service
Posted on Sunday, April 6, 2008
ROGERS - A Rogers church wants its new cross to double as a cell-phone tower, not only to raise money for the church's new building, but also to fuse religion and technology in a way not formerly possible.
Dr. Thomas Eugene Hatley, pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Rogers, said the idea for the cell tower has been a long time in the making. Several years ago, during the early designs of the church's new facility, there was already going to be a cross - a giant cross - rising 199 feet above the ground. Why not find another use for it that would also raise money for construction, he wondered ?
The new building, dubbed the Global Outreach Center, is due to open this spring at 2555 S. 26 th St. The church currently meets at 506 W. Poplar St.
And as of the Tuesday night Rogers Planning Commission meeting, the building's enormous cross is now approved to house not one but three cell-phone antennas.
But it all makes sense to Hatley. The GO Center, as it is known among church members, will rely heavily on technology. Hatley's even trying to find ways to work cell phones into his sermon.
He had no thoughts of telling his parishioners to turn off their phones, not with the perfect reception they are likely to receive in the sanctuary - he does ask that they turn off the ringers - but he actually wants to encourage cell-phone use.
In the near future, those attending Hatley's sermons may be able to text-message questions, comments or suggestions to the pastor while he stands at the pulpit. He laughed at the suggestion that such a practice would lengthen the sermon.
"It'd be their fault, wouldn't it ? "he said, laughing, of those who would send the messages. "After 30 minutes, I bet the number of questions would decrease dramatically."
But the real question is how the church was able to win approval of the cell tower without one complaint.
Not one person stood up Tuesday night to protest Immanuel Baptist's request. The same cannot be said for any other recent cell-tower proposal.
Residents came out twice in February to oppose a cell tower at 3200 W. Seminole. They protested plans last fall to put a cellular tower at the Rogers Public Library, an issue that is slated to be addressed at the Planning Commission meeting Tuesday. In the spring of 2007, they even cried out against a tower, disguised as a clock tower, at Freewill Baptist Church.
Hatley said he could not compare his church's efforts with other cell-tower attempts but did offer one possible reason the church didn't face opposition to its cell-tower proposal.
"We were very diligent in making our stuff known," he said.
Maybe it is just the changing of a tide. Lori Stone, assistant city planner, said another proposal is coming in to put a possible cellular array on a tower already in place at Traders Market near Second Street. That applicant, however, will need to address structural concerns before being allowed to build, a problem the GO center, being a new building, does not have.
Whatever the reason, Immanuel Baptist did not need to fight for its celltower permit. Hatley said some companies are lined up to lease the space, waiting only for the permit to be approved.
So it appears that, unless there are problems with the church's sound system, Hatley will no longer have to ask," Can you hear me now ?"
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