Technology

Jeremiah Owyang, and his blog www.web-strategist.com/blog/, is someone that has been a virtual mentor and social media teacher for quite a while. I was researching a lot of the information I have gathered over the past two years (you can access here) and came across this presentation he shared 5 months ago. If you are looking to launch an online community (FYI: if you are putting your ministry content online, they you are launching an online community - people gather to content online) then this is an excellent guide for how to plan, prepare, launch and have processes of sustainability built in.

Maybe you don’t need to launch a social network, but you at least need to know what your systems of feedback and followup are - in church language how are you going to extend your ministry process online (5 purposes, etc.)

(Click on the comments section below, or the blog title above and there is an extra video with Jeremiah and an interview he did with Fastcompany.tv)

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

This is a very interesting video where Malcom Gladwell (author) speaks about the process of discovery by a man studying people’s tastes in the food industry - specifically speghetti sauce. Watch the whole video - but do so in mind of the variety of ministry methods that exist from Mega Church Contemporary, Emergent Acoustic, to Hillsong Concert or Midwest Traditional. Think about different styles of preaching, different doctrines in preaching and different sizes of church.

[UPDATE: The way I said this initially caused confusion, like the different styles of church are different brands. In my head, and what I suggest is that all these styles are varieties of the same "brand" - Christ's body the Church.]

<<<Seriously - watch the video first and then keep reading>>>

As I watched this video and those things were coming to mind the light popped on that every church I’d ever been a part of always used absolutes in regards to methods, styles and processes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been a part of conversations about how we are going to “get the 20s and 30s more interested in church.” Maybe it is because we shape church to be “right” in our own eyes. We are building church that works for the masses - but only gives them 60% satisfaction in what they are looking for.

And that satisfaction isn’t shallow - it is 60% satisfaction in how they are growing, what they are learning, how they are serving and experiencing God as a part of a faith community.

What if instead we realized the diversity of humanity and the danger of “sameness”? That no congregation wants everything the same.

Think of it another way. When you order pizzas for a big group what type of pizza do you typically land on? Pepporoni and Cheese. It is the pizza everyone can eat. But is the pizza everyone that everyone receives the most satisfaction from? NOPE!

The point? The search for and application of the mentality “one-size-fits-all” is dangerous. This isn’t just for the diversity churches in a town, but for diversity to have a place within a local church. Here are the questions it brings to my mind, and some are disruptive, and some we might know answers right away - but take a moment and think of new possibilities in how we do church understanding within a community of any size people are in a variety of clusters in regards to preference and satisfaction of experience.

Questions to ponder:

• If a church has multiple services, why are they all the same (beyond it being easier)?
• What would be the clusters of preference within your local church?
• Is it possible for a local church to be united as a body but grow through several different church expressions or experiences?
• Does unity mean sameness in the church, or is unity the celebration of diversity?
• Why couldn’t there be two (or more) preachers for the same church? (think outside the ego of leadership and pride of position)
• Can a church have a unifying mission with a diversity of worship communities? (Young Adults in Cell Groups, Families in House Churches and Seniors in Sunday School?)
• Have you ever listened for the preferences or tried to see the clusters?
• How does your staff react to members of your community suggestion different expressions of worship, discipleship or ministry beyond the “chosen path?”

I think that the growing commodities of modern life that are being ushered in by technology and the ability to scale on a global perspective create tremendous possibility to help people find Jesus, live a testimony to his glory and enjoy Him better than ever before - but I think the key is listening…

What are your thoughts on this?

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?

Here is a screenshot of my dock (click to enlarge) on my MacBook Pro - what does yours look like?

Here are the fireworks we watched last night in HD thanks to Vimeo’s ability to do so. Forgive the at times shaky camera and child discipline half way through - our kids were way past bed time (Make sure to hit “HD ON” on the right of your screen to see it in glorious 1280 x 720)

Forth of July Fireworks from Tony Steward on Vimeo.

I thought this was a great post about the changes of the tech and social media tide in Washington D.C. - cool to hear the president has been shown things like qik.com and twitter…

read more | digg story

I started a business last year and was trying to find a good solution for my business taxes, I found www.thetaxclub.com as a referal from legalzoom.com as I setup my LLC. Legalzoom is totally legit - unfortunately thetaxclub - well, read for yourself below, I just sent this in today.

Please cancel my Tax Club account for the following reasons:

1. I haven’t seen anything that even comes remotely close to the value of what I’ve paid for this service at any point.
2. Every “call” or “meeting” I’ve had has only been to sell me more of your services, never to truly explain, help or do anything related to my taxes.
3. The only stuff that has gotten done is stuff that I’ve had to do - not the point of me paying you to do it.
4. I didn’t sign up with this service to fill out more tax software, I can spend $80 once a year and get BETTER software than your lame tool. (I spent over $1,000 for the tax club.)

Please cancel my account immediately and stop scamming people.
Sincerely,

Tony Steward

Okay, I really want one of these bad - super simple, video, and it was Merlin’s MacBreak pick of the week .. drool ..