Okay, I know I'll probably get slammed for this one as usual since I go to what is probably the first .tv church there was, but it seems as that ever since Lifechurch added the .tv several years back, almost all local churches followed and now many nationally are doing the same thing. It seems to me the only logic I can think for following this "trend" is that other churches might think (although I can't see why) the ".tv" is the key to instant success and accounted for lifechuch.tv's explosion?

Anyone else ever thought about this?

I wondered about it when Lifechurch did it. For decades, the evangelical church has railed against the evil influence of TV, yet now many churches are apparently embracing those two evil letters by adding them to their name.

It does seem somewhat incongruent for ".tv" to be part of the actual church name.

The ".tv" is a domain registry used for organizations that want a "channel" on the internet.

If you can't beat em, join em.

If you can't beat em, join em.

Nah, I'll just stick to beating them.

The ".tv" is a domain registry used for organizations that want a "channel" on the internet.

I understand that but why do they choose to follow the apparent ".tv" trend that lifechurch.tv started with. Why not stick with ".org or .com"? Only reason lifechurch went with .tv is because lifechurch.com was already taken, we're a fairly new church (almost 11 years, so it was pretty much berthed in the dot com internet boom era). :bright_id

A church is just like any other business, they all compete for the money. Television ads, rock bands, rap artists, juggling monkeys, whatever it takes to get people in the door. If one church is doing something that is successful you can bet other churches will follow.

A church is just like any other business...

Except they don't pay taxes, yet are still allowed to influence laws governing ME.

I've found the same irony in the .tv extension for churches. Funny how one place like Life Church chooses it and it starts a trend. No big deal though. It's a fine extension, and they are easier to find available.

well said eat around, that's why I started the thread, nothing wrong with the trend, just an ironic thing.

I understand the same on the lifechurch.tv origin - .com, etc. were not available. .tv was in its infancy then but is starting to take shape, as someone else mentioned, providing "channels" on the web. The most attractive reason for a church to have a channel, rather than a traditional web site, should be the ability to expand the evangelistic mission of the church: broadcasting to the world. If that were the aim, no matter if some got into it as lifechurch.tv copycats, they are all in the right place on the web. Of course, having a site that is a channel-type destination and having the .tv extension after your name are, in most cases, two separate things. lifechurch.tv has a nice clean look and some good multimedia content - a good foundation to build a channel. Interestingly enough, Joel Osteen's church uses the .cc extension - assigned to the Cocoa Islands. I guess they REALLY wanted that lakewood name.

.tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the island nation of Tuvalu. Except for reserved names like .com.tv, .net.tv, .org.tv and others, any person in the world can register a .tv domain for a fee. The Tuvalu government receives a quarterly payment of $1,000,000 for use of the top-level domain. The domain name is popular, and thus economically valuable, because it is an abbreviation of the word 'television' (other similar ccTLDs are .fm, .am, .cd, and .dj). The domain is currently operated by dotTV, a VeriSign company. The Tuvalu government owns twenty percent of the company.

On December 14, 2006, VeriSign announced an alliance with Demand Media, run by ex-MySpace chairman Richard Rosenblatt to market the .tv Top Level Domain Name (TLD) as the preferred web address for rich media content. The new joint venture ChannelMe.tv will promote the domain extension for "personal TV channels" and the preferred domain for online video sites. On May 1st, 2007 Demand Media launched the ME.TV tool kit along with the premium domain name list that had been held off the market for a few months prior. The company is beginning a huge marketing campaign to make .TV the official domain for video, multi-media, and social networking on the web.

copypasta, anyone?

-M

tastes like wiki-snippy-pasta to me....

oneforone:

I thought you were making that up until I googled it.

I covered this in another post but my church (frontlinechurch.tv) decided on the name because:

1. Other top level domains were already taken.
2. .TV was better than .INFO or .US
3. It was trendy at the time.

Seems like those who do it, and there are LOTS, always rant and rave about how different they are. Reminds me of the old saying "How come so many non-conformists look exactly alike"

boohoo.

boohoo.

good paraphrasing of John 11:35

Hum....who wants to start up TaxFreeChurch.tv or GiveMoneyChurch.tv?

It is amazing how big of a scam some of these so called churches have become. Follow the buck and tax the crap out of them.

Hum....who wants to start up TaxFreeChurch.tv or GiveMoneyChurch.tv?

It is amazing how big of a scam some of these so called churches have become. Follow the buck and tax the crap out of them.

Hell yes.

I think that any and all organizations should be taxed the moment they give a single dollar to a lobbyist, politician, or political cause/party instead of funneling their non-taxable fundage towards their particular cause. Be it feeding the hungry or providing everlasting salvation.

Mmmhmm. I'm right there with you OGtS.

Imagine...all the Oklahoma "churches" putting money into the regional food bank and such instead of lobbyists and politicians...plenty of food for everyone!