Being intentional about our online lives

As part of my preparation for my book on strategic online ministry, I am working my way through some of the latest books and other materials on the topic. As I review these for myself, I will also share my thoughts about them on this blog.

When I first started reading The Church of Facebook by Jesse Rice, I was a bit cynical. The title seemed a bit corny and so many people have said so many things about Facebook already that there couldn’t be anything new to say. Besides, any book written about a specific technology is going to be outdated a year after it was published, and since this was published in 2009, I figured it was already going to be out of date. But, as I began working my way through the book, I was pleasantly surprised in many ways by this book and would recommended for reasons having nothing to do with finding out about Facebook or online ministry.

The book begins with a quick history on the rise of Facebook, in which the author compares the impact that Facebook has had to other technological breakthroughs in modern history. I did find it a bit hard to buy the comparison of Facebook’s impact to that of air conditioning or London’s Millennium Bridge. The discussions of how quickly Facebook’s popularity rose and the founder’s plans for the future can be found in many places. But for the uninitiated, it provides a good background on the popular social networking tool.

› Continue reading

Tags: church of facebook, facebook, jesse rice

Highlights from around the web – 2/12/2010

Here are the most interesting, instructive, and innovative articles from around the web that I’ve read in the past few days. I am sharing these, along with my comments on them, via Google Reader – you can read them all there or subscribe to the feed if you like.

• Ed Stetzer on Pastors and Change
  Posted: February 10, 2010
  From: Out of Ur
  Wow. This post gives great insight into where "the Church" is headed. While not all of it is relevant to online ministry, the basic premise is: be ready to change!
• BREAKING: Iranian Government Bans Gmail
  Posted: February 10, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  If you are considering a move to "cloud computing" for your ministry, take note of this article. I realize that here in the US, the chances of something like this happening are slim (after all, the government can't shut down Google, can they?), but if your ministry has a presence in a restrictive country, this could paralyze your communications. And think of all the saved email you would lose access to as well! If you use other "cloud" services to store documents, client information, presentations, etc., this is a call to be sure you have them backed up!
• 7 Ways to Promote Your Offline Event Using Social Media
  Posted: February 10, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  Here's a nice primer on using social media for "real world" events. I am all about online/offline integration, so here is one way to do it!
• 3 Ministry Podcasting Options with Wordpress
  Posted: February 10, 2010
  From: ChurchCrunch
  This is a great addition to my series on "web 2.0" for churches: using free web 2.0 tools, you can put your ministry fully online. You can read the series at http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2007/05/14/web-20-suite-wrap-up/.
• Visualizing 6 Years of Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC]
  Posted: February 10, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  Some good data on how Facebook is becoming THE social media tool. Need some stats to convince your ministry leaders or board that you should be on Facebook?
• Wed. Website Weview & Extreme Makeover Winner: Faith Bible Church
  Posted: February 10, 2010
  From: Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com
  Another review of a church website with good recommendations.
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Online Course for Summer 2010: Using the Internet and Social Media for Ministry

There is a need for those being trained in ministry to understand the full potential of the Internet. In their open letter to colleges, the Internet Evangelism Coalition states:

We thank God that some ministries and missions are already ‘seizing the day’ and using the Web effectively for outreach. But unfortunately, these are the exception. Although there are vast numbers of Christian websites and blogs, the overwhelming majority are only for Christians. Church websites can be very off-putting to outsiders. The situation is even worse in non-English languages. Most cross-cultural mission agencies are not using the Web for evangelism. The opportunities to use this God-given tool are immense, but not yet being grasped.

We wonder if this is a gap that colleges like yours could be poised to fill. With your vision, experience and resources, you could help to shape and establish a web evangelism movement that will impact the world for years to come. This new medium also offers many opportunities for student placements, assignments and research projects.

This coming summer (2010), I will be offering an online course in Internet ministry in my role here as a professor at Biola University. I am very excited about this course and hope it can become a regular course that I teach at Biola and possibly expand to other programs at other colleges.  Click here to see the first draft of the course syllabus.

If you are a Biola graduate student and want to find out more about this course, please contact me via email.

If you are not a Biola student and you want to know how you can take this course, please read the letter I sent to dozens of other colleges regarding this possibility.

Tags: biola university

Help us help you: excellence in online ministry

I told you earlier this week about the Ministry Internet & Technology Summit at CLA 2010. One of the themes of this summit is going to be “excellence in online ministry”. I am part of a research team that is putting this project together – and if you are part of an online ministry effort, I need your help!

The cornerstone of this research project is an online survey that will help us understand just what online ministries are doing, why they are doing it, and how effective they are. The results of this survey, combined with interviews and in-depth conversations, will provide our team with the resources needed to develop materials that can make your online ministry excellent.

So will you help us? The survey should take under 30 minutes. I know, this is still a lot of time, but we ask your patience in completing the entire survey to give us the full picture of your ministry.  Those who complete the survey will receive a discount code good for $50 off of the conference registration.

Start the survey by clicking here.

If you would like more background on the conference or the team that is working on the project, see our website: State of Ministry Online.  And if you are not part of an online ministry team, but you know someone who is, please forward them a link to this post or to the survey and ask them to help us out!

Tags: CLA 2010, excellence in online ministry

Highlights from around the web – 2/9/2010

Here are the most interesting, instructive, and innovative articles from around the web that I’ve read in the past few days.   I am sharing these, along with my comments on them, via Google Reader – you can read them all there or subscribe to the feed if you like.

• 5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media
  Posted: February 8, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  Five great speakers give their take on social media from past TED conferences.
• 12 Reasons to Redesign Your Website
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com
  When was the last time you redesigned?
• 10 Reasons Why Your Church Should Seriously Consider Google Apps
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: ChurchCrunch
  Here is an article suggesting the use of Google Apps for churches... Though I love Google Apps myself, I am not so sure. See more of my POV in the comments on this article.
• 5 Real Challenges For Non-Profit Texting Campaigns
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  Thinking about integrating texting into your ministry? This article gives some of the downsides that this can bring.
• Prayer Engine Launches, Customizable Web-Based Prayer Wall
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: ChurchCrunch
  I've been looking for ways that social media could play a role in prayer. This app looks promising...
• How Social Media Helps One Small Business Connect with Fans
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  If it can work for this small company, can it work for your ministry? What if your Facebook page became your PRIMARY focal point for interacting with web users?
• Facebook’s Major Redesign Emphasizes Search and So Much More
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  Facebook redesign - do you have it yet?
• Smartphones Are Selling Like Crazy
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  Smartphone sales are now slowing down... just a reminder to be sure your ministry is updating its strategy to integrate mobile!
• Pew Study Points to Facebook as Personal Blog Killer
  Posted: February 5, 2010
  From: Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com
  Paul points out something in the new Pew report on teen usage of the Internet: blogs are fading, social networks are replacing them.
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Internet & Technology Summit – CLA 2010

Do you want to network with those who working on the same technology projects as you? Need to know what the latest technology trends are? Do you want to know how to be “excellent” in online ministry? Or maybe you just need an excuse to go to San Diego in April? Come to the Ministry Internet & Technology Summit from April 19 to 21 in San Diego, CA. This summit is part of the larger Christian Leadership Alliance’s annual conference.

Presenters include:

• Cynthia Ware, Executive Director Center for Church Communications
• Nick Nicholau, President Ministry Business Services and Co-founder Ministry Technology Institute
• Drew Goodmanson, CEO Monk Development
• Steve Hewitt, editor-in-chief Christian Computing Magazine
• Kevin Ring, President Unconventional Method
• Steve Hewitt, Editor-in-Chief, Christian Computing magazine
• Ron Weber, COO Trinet Internet Solutions
• …and me!

For more detail on the sessions, take a look at this PDF of page 8 of the conference brochure.  For full details of the conference, take a look at the full brochure.

Watch this blog for more info on how you can make these sessions even more effective by participating in research and giving us feedback on what is important to you (and get a discount on the conference as well!).

Tags: CLA 2010

Highlights from around the web – 2/5/2010

Here are the most interesting, instructive, and innovative articles from around the web that I’ve read in the past few days.   I am sharing these, along with my comments on them, via Google Reader – you can read them all there or subscribe to the feed if you like.

• Announcing the Excellence in Online Ministry Survey
  Posted: February 3, 2010
  From: State of Ministry Online
  State of Ministry Online is launching their survey. If you are part of an online ministry, take a few minutes to do the survey and you'll score a discount to the CLA 2010 conference.
• Teens Just Don’t Blog or Tweet [STATS]
  Posted: February 3, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  The Pew Internet project just released a new report on teen use of the Internet. If you are targeting teens with social media, this is the scoop on what they do.
• Who We Are Is Who We Are
  Posted: February 3, 2010
  From: Collide Magazine
  A great perspective on the use of social media by...everyone. How do you use social media? How do those in your ministry see you using it?
• 3 New Ways to Measure the Social Web
  Posted: February 3, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  One of the keys to a good online strategy is to have measurable goals. This article gives you three ways to measure your social media interactions. Are you using any of these?
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Tags: pew internet

Are you following “best practices” for online ministry?

Since many of you may be new to my blog and research, I wanted to make you aware of the “resources” section and some of the online ministry tools I have put there. The “resources” section is available both at my main site and my Facebook page.

One of my first projects in the area of online ministry was to seek an answer to the question: what makes online ministry successful? This led to the development of a research project to determine the “best practices” in online ministry.  From November 2007 to April 2008, over 300 ministries took a survey and reported on how they were doing Internet ministry. From the data collected, a series of “best practices” were developed matching ministries who reported success with their Internet presence with answers to the survey questions. I presented the results of this research at the Internet Ministry Conference in October 2008. › Continue reading

Tags: Best Practices, research

Is your online presence credible? Thoughts about the book “Persuasive Technology”

As you know, I am now on a “half-sabbatical” for the next two semesters here at Biola, with one of the outcomes being a book on using the Internet and social media for ministry. As part of this process, I am spending some time reviewing some different materials for possible inclusion in the book and/or my online course this summer.  As I complete my review of these materials, I will post a summary to this blog. To see all my reviews, click here.

Yesterday, I finished working my way through Persuasive Technology by B.J. Fogg. Dr. Fogg is the founder and leading researcher in the field of “captology”, which is defined as the design, research, and analysis of interactive computing products created for the purpose of changing people’s attitudes or behaviors. Though not written specifically to help churches and ministries with their online efforts, this book has a myriad of insights that are extremely applicable to those us interested in understanding how our ministries can have a more effective online presence.

› Continue reading

Tags: bj fogg, persuasive technology

Highlights from around the web – 2/2/2010

Here is the latest online ministry news and opinion from around the web.  I am sharing these via Google Reader – you can read them all there or subscribe to the feed if you like.

• Microsoft’s Tag Links the Physical World To the Internet
  Posted: February 1, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  Wouldn't it be great if you could put up ads with one of these barcodes that people could use to see a video about your ministry or share the gospel? Say in a bus station, or in a magazine ad, or even in your church mailings?
• A Blog-centric Multi-Ministry, Multi-Channel Church Communications Strategy
  Posted: January 31, 2010
  From: Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com
  Here's an interesting strategy for church communications. I think I like it (read my comments). Read the article and comment on it to give Paul feedback.
• How Facebook Ads Filled My Church
  Posted: January 31, 2010
  From: Christian Web Trends Blog by OurChurch.Com
  Here is a story of how Facebook ads worked for a church. Facebook allows you to focus ads to particular users based on many demographics: location, age, gender, group membership, etc. Who would you target your ads to? Would your church or ministry consider advertising in this way?
• Baby Boomers and Seniors Are Flocking to Facebook [STATS]
  Posted: January 28, 2010
  From: Mashable!
  If your social media focus has been on the under 30 crowd, time to expand your horizons!
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