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Interview With God
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The latest craze sweeping the Net doesn’t involve music downloads, nudity or singing hamsters. Instead, millions have been flocking to a homespun Web site called “Interview with God.” Created by an Alabama Sunday School teacher, the fictional Q & A session is a runaway hit. |
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SCRIPT:
Reata Strickland at computer: “Live motion allows me to …”
She speaks like a geek …
Reata Strickland at computer: “… and then export it.”
… yet, creates from the heart.
Reata Strickland: “Simple truth always touches your heart.”
Reata Strickland wanted to jazz up her local United Methodist Web site when she created “Interview with God” …
Reata Strickland at computer: “Then I have an image of a sunset.”
… an imaginary conversation with the Almighty using landscape photographs, inspirational text and Shockwave animation.
Reata Strickland: “I expected maybe 20, 25 people in our little town to see this.”
Instead, more than 20 million people have found their way to her online devotion.
Reata Strickland: “Is it the gospel? No, but it’s simple truth that anyone can understand.”
Reata Strickland reads from screen: “That they live as if they’ll never die and die as if they’ve never lived.”
From her Alabama home, Strickland’s Web site has a global audience. Volunteers have translated the text into 13 languages.
Reata Strickland: “A 94-year-old man e-mailed me and said that he did not believe that there was a God until he viewed this.”
The middle-aged mother of two still marvels at the 15,000 who visit the Web site every day.
Reata Strickland: “I almost want to talk to them and go, ‘Where do you live? How did you find this? What do you think?’”
The Web site’s popularity, she says, is the result of a higher power.
Reata Strickland: “I cannot explain it any other way. I created it. I put it there. After that, it had a life of its own.”
TAG:
It takes 40 gigabytes of bandwidth per day to keep up with the demand. To help cover costs—roughly $400 a month—Strickland is selling “Interview with God” screensavers, posters and T-shirts.