'Pokemon Go' 101: How Churches are Getting into the Game

Only one week after its release, Pokemon Go is now the the biggest mobile game in U.S. history.  

Just when you thought the Pokemon Go craze couldn't get any crazier, reports of injuries and criminal activities keep climbing, causing police departments across America to issue safety warnings.

Despite safety concerns, the game's popularity is soaring and some churches see this global craze as a ministry opportunity.

Poke Stops

A church sign at the Brandon Assembly of God in Florida reads,"We are a Poke Stop. Get supplies outside. Find Jesus inside."  This church and many other landmarks across the country are Poke Stops.

Those who aren't familiar with the game may be asking, 'What exactly is a Poke Stop?   
 
To help our readers understand, CBN News asked 13-year-old gaming expert and straight-A student Patrick Le to break it down for us.
 
"So you go up to Poke Stops and there will be a little circle that you can spin, and it drops random items like raspberries, which increase your chances of catching Pokemon successfully," he said.  "Sometimes it will give you Poke Balls and other items, too."
 
You don't have to go inside to use the Poke Stops to get supplies. Just get on or near the property. But there's a lot more to this game than Poke Stops.

A Virtual Scavenger Hunt

Imagine going on a virtual scavenger hunt, of sorts. The game uses the GPS and clock on your smartphone to locate different Pokemon in your area.

The goal is to catch as many Pokemon as you can and become the best Pokemon trainer around.

Once our CBN News crew downloaded the app, they spotted a Pokemon in a church parking lot outside the nation's capital.  Le explained what to do next.
 
"So you're just supposed to swipe this Poke Ball and try and hit the Charmander character with your Poke Ball, and what it does, it hits the Charmander and puts it in the Poke Ball," he said.  "So what you should do, you should hold down and once that green circle gets smaller, that's the right time to throw it."
 
Next, Le goes into detail about the game's Pokemon gyms -- the places you go to battle other players.  All you have to do is find one on the app. Our crew discovered one at a park sign next to the church, but it was also oddly next to a cemetery. 

"Whenever you take over a gym, the people on your team can donate their Pokemon to help defend, and I already took it over and someone has already donated a Pokemon. So I'm gonna donate one of mine, too," Le said.

Le also explained that battles help you gain experience and take control of the gym, and once you get to level 5, you're able to team up with other players.

Pokemon Go is so popular with children and adults that it has now overtaken Twitter's 65 million American daily users.
 
 "I don't know, it's really fun.  I only planned on playing it like once in a while, but it got really addicting so I check it every 10 minutes now," Le said.

A Ministry Opportunity?
 
The game's popularity is only increasing, and now some churches are trying to figure out what to do if they're considered Poke Stops.

According to one survey, 82 percent of churches have reported an increase in attendance. So are people really going to church just to catch Pokemon? The following tweets would suggest so.

Jared Smith Tweets:  "My first two Poke Stops on Pokemon Go were at a church and thought God was telling me something. Then my third was KFC and I knew he was right."

Terrible Horrible tweeted:  "This game is trying to make me go to church." #pokemongo

Janessa Smith tweeted:  "When your church has three different Poke Stops and is also a gym, you attract a lot of people to your parking lot."

Chris Martin tweeted:  "How do you get six 20-something guys to sit on the steps of your church?  Your church is a gym in #pokemongo."

However, not everyone is laughing about being chosen as a Poke Stop. Take, for instance, the United States Holocaust Museum.

"Playing the game is not appropriate in the museum, which is a memorial to the victims of Nazism,"  the museum's commutations director, Andrew Hollinger, told The Washington Post . "We are trying to find out if we can get the museum excluded from the game."

Safety Concerns

Then there are the safety concerns:  What about the teens in Missouri?  Police arrested and accused them of using the app to bait victims in an armed robbery.

Meanwhile, others caution, "Don't Pokemon and drive."  Multiple sights have been reported of people searching for Pokemon and not paying attention to where they're going.     

Regardless of these safety concerns, some parents say at least their kids are outside exercising and not just sitting at home playing video games.

CBN News contacted churches that are Poke Stops near our Washington, D.C. bureau and they had no idea they were even in the game until we told them. They also declined to comment.