I saw this at pasty.com and am reposting it here in the hopes someone can assist Jimbob:
By Jim Bergren (Jimbob) on Saturday, March 25, 2006 - 10:27 pm:
Grace and peace and to you. I am hoping someone from the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church (or anyone that uses this device) might be able to answer my question or direct me in the right direction. The Lutheran church I attend in Brush Prairie, WA is wanting to expand our ministry to our elderly shut-ins who cannot come to worship services on Sundays. Members from the Old Apostolic Lutheran church in our area talk about something they have at their church called "The Patch". This allows members of their church to call a phone number on Sunday mornings and they are patched into the sound system so they can hear the service. Members of the Old Apostolic Church would love to share that they have this feature, but would love to not tell you exactly how it works, or who you could reach at their church to learn more about it. If anyone has knowledge on this Phone Patch and could let me know, I would be forever grateful....and so would our shut-ins who so badly want to be part of our worship services. Thank you and God bless. Jim Bergren, buydiscoverytoys@hotmail.com
I know the Chassell, MI and the Goen Road New Ipswich, NH Apostolic Lutheran Churches had the Patch. If you know anyone from those churches, they might be able to help you. I've listened on the patch before, but never set it up. At Chassell, people would call in and a person at the church would go do something at the phone to get it to work. I know within the last few years, they changed something such that now it requires less set-up from someone at the church. I think you need to contact your phone company to set it up. Sorry I can't help you much more, but I only observed it being used and never set it up myself.
ReplyDeleteSomething more I remembered: the system used in Chassell was pretty low tech. They just put a phone microphone (ear piece) near one of the church speakers. One thing you will want to look into is making sure that you can set it up so that the listeners' on the phone only hear and can't talk. It's annoying if all the people listening hear noises coming from other people listening on the phone.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember right, to call the Goen Rd ALC you just need a phone number and an extension number and it connects you to the system.
ReplyDeleteThe "Patch" uses the conference call feature available from your telephone service provider.
ReplyDeleteIt's not necessarily just annoying if you can hear noises from other people's houses, it can be kind of funny too if they make nasty comments about the sermon or start arguing with each other... :) In Finland it happens sometimes that they make chains: house A calls the prayer house and is patched to the system, then house B calls house A and asks them to put the phone near their loudspeaker so house B can listen as well, and then maybe house C calls house B and asks them to do the same thing etc. That way you can sometimes hear some funny things... :)
ReplyDeleteNowadays however most "oalc" prayer houses in Finland have an arrangement with the local phone company to have a certain number anyone can call and listen to the service for a certain fee per minute. In some cases the number is even included in the local phone book so even "outsiders" can have access. There was a strong opposition to that system among certain conservative groups of people in the Finnish "oalc" community when the system was introduced, spurring comments like: "That's outrageous, it'll be like any wino out there can just call the number and listen to our meetigs!"
Hi, I don't know if the gentleman will see this or if you were suggesting that he be contacted directly, but if he contacts the Hockinson ALC church, also in WA, just around the corner from the OALC, he should find someone to help him as we also have that system. He could make contact through the website http://www.hockinsonchurch.com/
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
I find that in Pasty.com, all email logs are old years. How do you access new months??
ReplyDeleteAnon above, I found Jimbob the day he posted, so I can't help you with pasty.com . . . sorry!
ReplyDeleteBut I can tell you all a story, told to me by an ex-OALCer we'll call X. Years ago while visiting relatives, X was seated at a big oval table surrounded by serious men with hymnbooks and solemn women with scarves, all ears and eyes tuned to the speaker phone in the middle of the table.
If you've never heard an OALC sermon on a crackling speaker in an overheated, overpeopled dining room while outside the spring sun was shining brightly and the wind was tossing leaves and shadows, you do not know what a burden it can put on one's powers of attention.
Just as the assembly began to slump in their chairs and sigh heavy sighs, there came a remarkable sound through the speakers: the sound of someone -- a woman? -- exerting immense effort, as if lifting a piano up a flight of stairs. A long flight of stairs. A heavy, heavy piano.
Several throats cleared and chairs scraped, as if some local noise might camouflage the broadcast. But very soon, the groans ceased. There was complete silence, as if the preacher and the piano-lifter decided to rest. And then came the distintly familiar sound of a toilet flushing.
Well, my dear X had been doing her best not to smile, but at this last she burst into gales of laughter. She fled the room, clutching her sides, and to this day, cannot tell the story without paroxysms.
Thank you for sharing this, X. If nothing else, your stint in the OALC gave you some funny memories.
Theo: Is it usual to have two incoming telephone lines in homes in Finland? One to call to prayer house and another for the house B caller?
ReplyDeleteConnecting People
Free2beme, thanks for the flushing story, wish I had been there, woulda been hilarious! :)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, actually I don't think it's too common to have two telephone lines in Finland. At least I know very few people who have it (at my home we sort of had two phone lines when I grew up but it was because the other one was for my grandma). So, before the time of the cell phones, your phone was busy for a couple of hours if you listened to a sermon and had to worry about possible urgent phone calls that didn't come through (and teenagers about possible "worldly" friends who migh have tried to call wondering why your phone was busy for so long, feverishly trying to figure out a good explanation...), but nowadays it's not such a big problem any more because everyone's got a cell phone, Nokia - Connecting People, you know, ;) so you can get hold of people if you need to.
All fin-ables, read this... (Its about female priests which we have since 1986 in Finland)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.luthersaatio.com/AT31_Raamjapaimenv.pdf
Happy Easter-time!
H. Finn
LLLreader: Recently attended the funeral of a much beloved relative. The funeral was the standard OALC service. The name of the deceased is hardly mentioned, except for the reading of the obit. The reason given is that all glory belongs to God and it isn't right to glorify man. The thing that struck me this time was how the first preacher used his time to talk about his own shortcomings and his own salvation. He asked for prayers for himself and his family--almost as though he was asking that the attention be turned toward him. Why does a person use another man's funeral as a time to focus on himself and his own needs and fears? From experience, I know this is the way it's done, but it's one of the things about the OALC that I really can't understand.
ReplyDeletePatch observation from a former OALCer: At the church that I used to attend, every Sunday morning right before the sermon, the preacher would announce all of the names of those who were listening in on the patch. Sort of like a roll call. I would wonder then why not announce to those listening in on the patch, all of those who showed up at church?!
ReplyDeleteThey did stop making those announcements --- perhaps it was considered to be self-righteous, as if commending those who made the effort to join the patch? I don't know, was not privy to the decision.
The patch is teleconferencing and is arranged through the phone company.
My prediction is that someday they will move to video teleconferencing, when the meetings crowds become so large and unwieldy. People will be encouraged to stay home and watch from the comforts of their own living rooms!