Thanks for the links to the articles - they were a good read. I had to laugh when the "outdated soundboard" shown in the Episcopal Church is the same one we're using in ours with no plans to upgrade. That rag loves to push folks to buy new gear.
It was interesting to process all the various views from the different churches on how to present the music, whether or not to pay folks - all the stuff we've wrangled through here. Just goes to show you that there's really no right or wrong way, you just have to figure out what works best for you.
As for Lincoln, he's a bad moffo. Great guitarist, great human being. I'm with him 100% regarding a well tuned POD Xt. It doesn't always "feel" the same when you're playing, but it can sound as good or better than the tube amp you're used to playing through, and looking at the stack of them in my room I should know. There's something to be said about volume control in an environment like a church that was designed for piano, organ and choir. We've got 2 guitars, a bass and pedal steel all running through Line 6 stuff along with electric drums and keys and it's eliminated what was formerly 5 years of volume whoas. Seriously, our platform is so acoustically resonant that we need to be real careful with monitor volumes or the bounce can overrun the mains in the first 5 rows.