Social Media Workshop – Sticky Church

Here are a few notes from the Social Media workshop at the Sticky Church conference hosted by Suncrest last week. Countless media exist, and the experience of our group was varied, so we decided to focus on a few major SM ideas. Handout available here.

Why suggest the church use Social Media? It is a fact that being online has become a natural communication channel in today’s culture. Our approach is that we want to go where people are gathering, not just expecting them all to come to us.

A few ways the church can implement Social Media:

1. website

• Podcast your sermon

2. blogging

• Lead Pastor blogging tips from Greg Lee included: Find an Audience, a Groove, a Voice, a Conversation, a Partner

3. facebook

• Create a church facebook page, invite attenders to join in

4. twitter

• Microblogging tool that has grown over 1000% in the last year
• Similar to blogging except 140 characters or less

5. tokbox

• Especially good for online small groups – also demo’d at workshop to bring in 3 Panel members listed below.

Panel Interview – I met all 3 using Social Media

DJ Chuang (Upper Left)
Spoke on new technologies and helping church leaders become aware of them. He oversees Digital @ Leadership Network, a blog dedicated to this very topic.

Tony Steward (Lower Right)
Shared some powerful lifechange stories (from social media sources) he’s been able to hear in his role as online community pastor at lifechurch.tv.

Cynthia Ware (Upper Right)
Talked to us about social media traits/values shaping ministry. A few values she discussed were – Interactivity, Decentralization and Mobility of Social Media.

Social media is not an end in itself, but a tool that can be leveraged for Kingdom advancement.

Yes, Life Change Happens Online

My online group leader, Tony Steward, posted this powerful video on his blog last night. A wonderful example of how God is using him to minister to people online.  I wanted to share it with you in the hope that we can begin to promote the viability of using technology and online community as an avenue to love on people and share the Good News that has impacted our own lives.  Thanks, Tony, for your leadership in online ministry!

For those that are about Jesus, and following him, this is just an encouragement for you to move in love everywhere you can. See video here.

New Year. New Idea!

I needed something to challenge me in my bible reading time this year.  So I decided to use YouVersion.com’s One-Year Reading Plan to keep me on track.  But to make it more interesting, I invited my small group coaches along for the ride. Then I thought, “Hey, this would be a great way to start 2009 for all of my friends!” So I threw the challenge out to my tweets on Twitter, facebook friends, and friends who I don’t see online.

How about you, would you like to join us? Check out the One-Year Rading Plan.  It’s free and fun. You can read the daily verses, and even comment on them privately or publicly… if you want.  What a great tool! Check out YouVersion today and join us.  If you go, follow me, and I’ll be sure to return the follow. Let’s start 2009 off right together!

Internet Campus Blueprints

Have you ever started a building project only to realize that you don’t have all the tools or equipment necessary to do the job?  The best place to begin to look for help is from someone who has already successfully built something similar.

Is your church considering launching an Internet Campus? Looking for some answers from seasoned veterans in online ministry? Then it’s critical you stop by Tony Steward’s blog for the Internet Campus “Starter Kit” today! Tony is the Online Community Pastor for LifeChurch.tv.  There’s a great discussion including some uber-practical questions, comments and answers to things you may be wondering about.  Also a step-by-step plan on how to get started. Join the discussion now.

Just as there are many ministry models and programmatic methods in the Church today, they way that church can be conducted online has many possibilities. That said, most people when they ask the question, “How do we start an internet campus?” are asking it from the angle of a new program (or program extension) they are considering launching. Honestly that is a great starting point, but the reality of the internet is that it is both a broadcasting channel and a gathering point. And as churches start Internet Campuses people will come for the broadcast and stay for the community. If a church just pushes their video and is never present and accessible virtually to the people who gather, they act rude and self-centered without even knowing it.