I think the roast of publishers taking advantage is fair as well.

And I agree with the other side of what you were saying that the ‘at hand’ presence of Christ should be what we are seeking to bring to our gatherings/neighbors. Anything less… is a lesser thing.

On the other hand, any human culture/structural climate will have its unique opportunities / dangers. Maybe another takeaway would be questioning assumptions against scripture and Spirit leading for a particular ministry’s opportunities?

I’d like to challenge you on the idea that the mode the Bible teaching comes in equates to a church being ‘at hand.’ If a lead-elder is lead-discipler then he needs to be ‘at hand’ with his disciples the way Jesus was with the twelve, but as far as a church being ‘at hand’ to their surrounding community, I think that has more to do with the actions (or inaction) of the congregation, than where the preacher is standing. If that assertion is true, then the content of the teaching would be more important.
I think a bigger issue than whether the sermons come over the wire or not, is what hands-on discipleship is or isn’t being done by leaders who ARE “at hand.” The fact that so many churches, large or small, put all that burden on a 40 minute lecture once a week is a more significant problem.

Even so, I think the sermon is important, and your statement that Jesus taught a crowd, “… only [on] a few occasions…” overstates the case rather dramatically. It’s true he did start avoiding the crowd to spend time with his boys near the end of his ministry, and we often aren’t told what the crowd was or was not accompanying a given teaching account, but by Jesus’ own admission, “Everyone knows what I teach. I have preached regularly in the synagogues and the Temple, where the people gather. I have not spoken in secret.” (John 18:20.) I think you’re reading a presupposition about a modality into the text, instead of the other way around.

This whole multi-site thing is kind of a new experiment, and maybe it won’t work out, but I think the ‘broadcast’ teaching is a different thing than the ‘at hand’ discipleship. Both are important, and both need to be done. I will agree (I think) that the ‘at hand’ is the more central and unchanging thing. Platforms come and go, but a ministry like Mars Hill was will reach more and different people than you can ‘at hand.’ If God calls you to be ‘at hand’ then be at hand. If he tells you to write a blog and touch the world, then go reach a huge audience. I’m not going to tell you that the one precludes the other.