Social Media

This is just a heads up to any of my blog peeps who are in Atlanta. Greg Atkinson is holding a Church 2.0 forum there at Perimeter Church. A Church 2.0 forum is where I first met Greg here in Orange County, and I found the forum to be not only informative but fun! That and the free Wahoos lunch, which I think there is a free lunch for the Atlanta meeting as well. (10am to 2pm at Perimeter - www.perimeter.org)

There is also a good deal of networking that goes on here, I was able to meet people who were looking to innovate as pastors through both creativity and technology - some of those connections are bringing a lot of value. SO, all that to say if you are in the Atlanta area I would highly suggest checking it out!

Facebook Event Page Facebook Group Greg’s Blog

Summary of Twebinar on Listening in Social MediaThis is a quick summary of the twebinar that happened yesterday by Radian6 & Chris Brogan. And apparently the thumbnail of this video shows me napping - lol!

I would love to start a conversation on listening online, so post your questions, comments and feedback to this video summary here, in twitter or in seesmic!

I got a chance to hang out with one of my new great friends Cynthia Ware this last Friday. Since we both are very excited about all that God is doing with his church online we got to talking about the movement of churches taking their worship experiences online - and the interesting situation of how and where they need to look for the pastors to lead the campus as well as the online community it will create.

Here are my thoughts in a bullet list so it looks organized but doesn’t have to be in my head

• Worship Leaders will make the best transition to Internet Campus Pastors. They are used to facilitating a group of people and pointing to God. They are great at creating the experience a community needs to unite, and act. They are not trying to be “the man”, but are charismatic enough to be a part of why people are coming back! Basically they know, better than any other pastoral position, on how to create value, direct people and get out of the way.
• Women will make some of the best Internet Campus Pastors. They are the better sex  in regards to social skills hands down, especially when it comes to community, conversation and caring. Just look at the mommy blog networks and social networks focused on women and this becomes a no brain-er.
• Pastor first, Tech second. An internet campus is more about translating your ministry processes online than about what technology you use to get it there. The ability for them to get online and use what is there is essential, but not more important than knowing how to pastor people from unbeliever to disciple (however your church has chosen to do that!)
• Good on Video (Communicator). Writing, Commenting, Audio and Video are all the ways that people build relationship on the internet. This person needs to be able to defuse an angry commenter, post a video update through Facebook, record a volunteer news podcast and do the video intro for each weekend. It is more about communicating than running the camera (tech), but knowing something about the tech doesn’t hurt.

Those are my thoughts - what do you think? What people are will be more natural in transitioning to a ministry postion like internet campus pastor?

Regator is a new social blog aggregator. That basically means you can nominate blogs (at least your own!) and they will approve your blog for the category that it fits. Then when new posts get written they are automatically submitted - but then people can vote one what is best. This is very much like if Alltop.com and Digg.com had a baby, and it had big teeth. Check it out and let me know what you think of it in the comments below!

regator.com - a bite of the blogosphere’s best

I’ve been a fan of Alltop.com ever since it came out. Its a great resource to view the best web resources over a range of topics (my favs: Social Media, Mac, GTD and Frienderati). Well I saw today they launched a Modern Church section and I was thrilled to find my blog included!!

Go check it out, I also included a badge in the side bar for future reference - fun!

A friend of mine recently schedule a coffee with me to have us plan out how a new Sunday night service could try and connect with those attending through Facebook. This basic strategy could also work for any churches wanting to experiment with extending their worship services into a social network like Facebook - sort of an internet campus “starter kit”

Internet Campus Starter Kit

1. Script, shoot, edit and post a 3 minute video for the Facebook community once a week

• Content
  • Graphic Lead in and Close for Service branding
  • Announcements
  • Teaching summary (”campus pastor” does a brief overview of main scripture and teaching)
  • Teaching challenge (”campus pastor” explains the challenge)
  • Prompt to share challenge results or teaching questions in discussion topics “below”
• Bonus / Extras
  • Ministry Highlight (small groups, retreat, etc.)
  • Event Highlight (social, movie night, etc.)

2. Monitor Facebook Community Daily

• Leave Wall comments on all new “fans” to the page
• Have “facebook team” friend all the people who are fans of the page
• Monitor discussion topics and be as catalytic as possible for generating conversation
• Create a topic for every weekends teaching title the same as the sermon with “Sermon:” then the title each week
• Create a topic for every event, and send out and event update

3. Post 2 Updates to Fans a Week

• Announce the Posting of the Video
• Send a post with service and church announcements

4. 24 Wk Strategy for Initial Phase

• 1st 8 weeks: Building trust that you are going to show up each week and refinement of the content creation and posting processes. Don’t expect any significant growth or engagement
• 2nd 8 weeks: Community should start to grow along with engagement. Start recruiting people to be a part of the FB community team.
• 3rd 8 weeks: Start evaluating process, engagement and ideas. Work on implementation plans for new content, and activity on Facebook page - and look for 1-2 other social networks you can start a 24 week Initial Phase on.

What would you add, adjust or take out?

Greg asked that people twitter in some questions for the Church 2.0 forum he is doing in southern California today. Here are the questions I had off the top of my head - what are yours?

We are in very exciting times! Ever since the Internet has come about people in the church have recognized what a tremendous opportunity it presented – but for over a decade we have been sort of “scratching our heads” on how to use it beyond a digital bulletin. Now there are lots of opportunities online, especially with the rise of churches using multi-site and Internet campus strategies. With that in mind I thought it would be good to start a conversation around all the different methods that the Internet presents to help the local church extend its ministry online – starting today!

1. The Internet Campus Method

This method actually has many different expressions depending on the church, the vision and purpose in having it. For some having an Internet campus is just a way to put the weekend teachings online for current members to see while remote, and for new people to get a taste before they come to the physical location. Others find themselves more invested in making this a legitimate church experience for people who don’t attend their (or one of their) physical location(s). There isn’t a “way” to do it, but there is a reality that once you start “speaking” on the web people have an expectation that you are also “listening”.

There are high tech (custom development) and low tech (Mogulus.com, Ustream.tv, Justin.tv) ways of pulling this experience off – but what is most important is having people who are specifically paying attention to those that come and that the team is ministry minded. The Internet is incredible at attracting when used right, but the same rules apply for follow-up as people who come on the weekend – get to it!

2. The Church/Pastor Blog Method

Again there are a lot of levels with this, from an official Church blog for news, announcements, post sermon conversation, and 100 other types of relevant news your community generates; to the Pastor blog where the lead pastor posts devotional thoughts similar to what many churches have in a weekly – quarterly newsletter. The point is that instead of thinking that having a blog means you have to write all “bloggy”, realize that blogging technology is a great platform to keep people informed and to receive feedback. If you are doing this I would bet the farm it is the most viewed page on your entire site because it is interactive and consistently updated(and the reason that it should be your home page or at least feature on it.)

3. The Distribution Method

This is the most natural method most churches have used the Internet for, and it is effective. I like how Marshill Church in Seattle, where Mark Driscoll preaches, is very intentional in splicing up their weekends and distributing them through many channels. From podcasts, to youtube and the other sites that exist, this is a great way for the message of your church to literally travel on its own. (Youtube.com, Vimeo.com, Blip.tv, etc.)

4. The Online Community Method

I don’t know of any churches specifically pulling this off – but in my mind it is as valuable as any of the other methods previously mentioned. In my limited experience is seems a lot of church strategy focus primarily on attracting people to itself. Whether through the weekend services or through an internet campus, a lot of the time if people are going to connect to us they have to do so on “our turf.”

The really cool opportunity that has happened on the Internet is that everyone is now participation and sharing their lives online – and 90% of it has the ability for people to leave comments and to reply. As a church would just started listening and engaging in the online communities that their people are already involved in (Facebook, Forums, etc.) they would be able to interact with people on “their turf”.

It might not seem this way, but people LOVE to get comments and feedback on what they post online. Going through and looking for opportunity to leave comments, walls posts, and blog post replies on the online properties of your community is a powerful way to value people, and to connect with their networks. This approach is much more likened to a “missional” mindset.

So, three questions:

1. What methods have you seen or are currently putting into practice?
2. What methods do you see as happening in the future?
3. Where are the potential dangers in extending ministry online?

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