Mobile ministry app opportunity
If you have been around any of my talks or consulting projects recently, you’ve probably heard me say it again and again: mobile is the future, mobile is now. Over this summer, I am looking to undertake a research and development project that will not only fill a need that I have, but will also apply to ministry: a mobile small group “app”. I see this need in my own classes as I assign students to work in groups – especially as I begin to teach online classes. They need a way to link into the course assignments and due dates as well as a way to coordinate with each other. And while the online courseware Biola uses gives them this ability, it does not integrate with a mobile device and is hidden behind a password and too many clicks. My idea for this app is to provide a way for students to always be connected to my course and their group in the most simple, straightforward way.
But then I got to thinking…small groups are also a powerful way for people to grow spiritually, could they benefit from this app? And many people work in teams as part of their job or volunteering, could they benefit from this app? This is where you come in – would you like to be a part of this project? Would your ministry benefit from an app that allows people to form groups and communicate privately with each other, coordinate schedules, and also integrate with your ministry? The potential users could be your employees, volunteers, or those to whom you minister. This could be a boon to small group Bible studies as the app could include pointers to what should be studied that week or (most importantly) who is bringing dessert to the next meeting – and then send reminders to them via their device the day before.
So, how can you partner with me on this? I am looking for ministries who will 1) commit to being on a steering committee team over the next few months as this app is developed and 2) be willing to make a small financial commitment up front to “buy in”. Once the app is ready, your ministries will be the first test organizations (besides my classes) to use it. And, of course, you will not have to purchase the app for your ministry once it is ready. This project will be limited to only about six ministries – so if you are interested, please contact me right away! If I feel that your ministry is a good fit for this project, then we will begin moving forward.
For my part, I will commit to working with you over the next few months to develop the app. I will work on it myself, with the possibility of bringing in one or more of my students to help work on it as the project moves forward. The app will be targeted for iPhone and Android simultaneously, with an eye toward an iPad implementation in round 2.
If you are interested in getting more information about this project and possibly partnering with me, please click the button below. Thanks for your interest!
Interview with Shane Hipps
In January of 2009, I interviewed Shane Hipps about his book The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture. I did this as a way to gain insight into the book for the students in my Internet Ministry course at Biola University. I have also shown this video as part of my “God in the Tubes” workshops that I held in Indiana in March 2009. I have been receiving quite a bit of positive feedback about this video (a recorded Skype phone call, actually) and so I recently asked Shane if he would have a problem with me making it available for others to see. He has given his permission, so I am making it available, at least temporarily, on my genesys11 web site. › Continue reading
Researcher at UC Irvine to study WoW
I wasn’t going to post again until after the new year, but saw an article in yesterday’s paper (yes, I still read the newspaper, get over it) that questioned the validity of NSF funding going towards researching online gaming. Below is a link to a story from a few months ago about the actual research project which sheds some light on what they are doing. While I don’t want to argue the merits of NSF funding going towards this, I do truly believe that we can learn a lot about Internet ministry by studying how people interact online through games such as World of Warcraft and the “not really a game” Second Life. See my write-ups here and here about this and read the news story below.
UCI tackles ‘World of Warcraft’ mystery
And Happy New Year!
Book: “Church Next”
Over the past several months, I have been reviewing books for my course on Internet ministry, trying to narrow down my choices and select books that will be most appropriate for the class. My goal for these books is that they would provide a range of views on Internet ministry, with an appropriate mix of theology, philosophy, strategy, and technology. I am NOT looking for books on how to create a web site or how to blog, etc., because these are secondary to first really understanding the concepts of online ministry. I also want books that are readable by the mix of students I will have and that will foster good discussions.
I have finally settled on three primary books for my course (though I still have a couple I am thinking about adding). Over the next few weeks, I will share my selections here on this blog. The first book I have selected is Dr. Aubrey Malphurs’ Church Next. Written with his son, Michael, I found this book to give a good overview of the current state of the Church and makes a great case for why the move to the Internet is the right one. For those who do not know who Aubrey Malphurs is, he is Senior Professor of Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is also the head of the Malphurs Group.
Pew Internet Project: a great resource
As I am working on planning my course in Internet ministry, I am spending quite a bit of time reviewing possible books and other supporting materials. One invaluable resource that I use quite a bit for my own research that I will be using extensively in the course is the work of the Pew Internet and American Life project. As I stated in my last post, it is extremely important for us to understand the users of our Internet ministry resources. If you are interested in understanding how the Internet is being used by Americans (sorry, this resource is US-specific), then you will find the reports issued by this organization extremely useful. Below is a link to their home page, along with links to a few of the most recent reports that relate to Internet ministry. If you find these interesting, I highly recommend subscribing to their RSS feed so you will know when new reports are released. Unfortunately, the last report they did on the use of the Internet for faith-related purposes is now getting quite old (2004) – I hope they will be releasing an update soon!
- Pew Internet and American Life Project home page
- Report on use of podcasting (2008)
- Report on use of video sites (2008)
- Report on “networked families” (2008)
- Report on “faith online” (2004)
Full research write-up posted
For those of you who have been asking me for documentation related to my presentation at the Internet Ministry Conference, I have now posted a six-page report on my web site that details my findings. In conjunction with this, I also wrote a short summary of these findings for the Church Marketing Sucks blog.
Link to Church Marketing Sucks blog entry
Link to research page on genesys11
Genesys11 site back up and running
My migration from my old hosting service to Vine Hosting is complete. Both my blog and my companion site to this blog, genesys11.com, are back up and running on Vine servers. You can find much more detail about my research and who I am by checking out genesys11.com.
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Welcome to the Lessons From Babel blog
This blog is where I share the latest thoughts on the world of technology and faith. Feel free to join the conversation by leaving a comment. To find out more about me, my company, and this web site, or to see what resources are available on this site, click on the images right below this.
- Dave Bourgeois
