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Why Tina Van Osten, co-owner of Collingswood’s Christian Treehouse Coffee Shop, began letting guest performers take the stage

The faithful are trying a new method of saving souls that’s suited to Generation American Idol: open mikes. Four years ago, Tina Van Osten, co-owner of Collingswood’s Christian Treehouse Coffee Shop, began letting guest performers take the stage on Sunday nights; today, more than a dozen Philly-area coffeehouses and churches sponsor similar open mikes to draw in congregants. “People play guitar,” Van Osten says. “We have comedians. We’ve even had yodelers.” Now there’s a way to fill the collection basket.