Lessons From Babel http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel ...thinking strategically about Internet ministry Thu, 13 May 2010 16:52:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Rethinking Facebook http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/13/rethinking-facebook/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/13/rethinking-facebook/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 16:52:57 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1251 It seems that there is starting to be a groundswell of, shall we say, “concern” around the use of Facebook. Most of this has to do with the privacy issues, but I think some of it also has to do with the independent spirit of those on the front edge of the Internet.  Just as a backlash against Microsoft has led to the Linux/Firefox/OpenOffice user, I think we are starting to see a Facebook backlash. No one likes to be told what to do – the Internet was built on open standards and Facebook (just as Microsoft did) is trying to become the standard.

There are a range of reactions to the current situation from the “digital elite”. Some are canceling their accounts. Others giving up and opening up their privacy settings to be as public as possible.  I personally have not taken any action – yet – but I am starting to understand the concerns.

We all will have to make our decisions about what we will do with our personal Facebook accounts. But a bigger question that concerns me much more is how churches and ministries respond. Many ministries (such as Lifechurch) have begun to heavily commit to using Facebook. I am working with two organizations right now who are considering heavy work inside of Facebook.  I, myself, keep this blog as a page on Facebook. But if you do heavily use Facebook, what does that imply? If the “medium is the message”, are we then giving implicit approval to the use of Facebook and its terms of service? And if our use of Facebook encourages people to create accounts and/or begin using Facebook more, should that concern us?

So, will this all blow over?  Just as Facebook was starting to be seen as more important than Google, will its decline begin? What do you think? What will your church or ministry do?

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/13/rethinking-facebook/feed/ 4 Changing the Internet culture of a church http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/12/changing-the-internet-culture-of-a-church/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/12/changing-the-internet-culture-of-a-church/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 15:52:11 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1246 I am working with a church on an upgrade to their web presence.  Using my strategy framework, we have come down to a choice between two different solutions. The first is the top of the line, “Mercedes-Benz” of church web presence management software. It is expensive (though within the church budget) and feature rich. It will give us the ability to manage our full Internet presence, including integration with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Vimeo. On the other hand, we have a lower-end, less expensive solution that will give us a good church web site, but that’s about all. If we want to do the rest of our “Internet presence”, we will have to manage them separately.

It seems obvious to me, at first glance, that we want to go with the first solution. After all, we are now in a “post-web site” world, where we need to be “getting in the stream” of our audience. But I have a real dilemma: the culture of this church is not web-centric. In other words, there is very little excitement, except with just one or two of the staff members working with me on this project, for doing more on the Internet. So is it a good use of church resources to recommend the more expensive, more involved solution?  The Internet Ministry Framework shows us that a successful online ministry combines equal parts technology, people, and process. So I can recommend the best technology, but if the people are unwilling, can it work? I can develop great processes to use to manage the site and keep it updated and relevant, but if the people are ambivalent, does it make sense?

When I was studying for my information systems doctorate, one of the things we studied was “what exactly is ‘information systems’?” One of the things we looked at was which other fields combined together to make up our field: computer science, business, sociology, and psychology, among others. Going through this process with this church has helped me to understand the psychology side, something I have not had to deal with directly before.

So, what would you do? Would you recommend the best solution, given a high probability that it would site unused? Or would you go for the lower-end solution? Or would you wait and try to change the culture?

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/12/changing-the-internet-culture-of-a-church/feed/ 1 Proposed chapters for book on online ministry http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/03/proposed-book-chapters/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/03/proposed-book-chapters/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 16:56:04 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1238 As many of you know, this year I am working on a book about online ministry strategy. It is tentatively titled God In The Tubes – you can read about the origins of that name in one of my previous posts. As I complete sections of the book, I am posting portions to my blog as a way to get some feedback on what I am writing. After my first posting, I was asked if I would post a high-level outline or table of contents so that those providing feedback would know where I was heading and could provide better feedback. Well…your wish is my command! Below is my current thoughts on the chapters in my book, complete with title and a short summary of what will be covered. This may change over time as I evolve the book, but most of what I want to cover is here.

God in the Tubes – Proposed Chapters

  1. “God in the Tubes”: this chapter will be in an introduction to the book and will cover some initial concepts, such as a history of technological innovations, an overview of the Internet’s creation, and some thoughts about how God has played a role in wiring the world.  Part of this chapter has already been published in my previous blog post.
  2. “Developing a Theology of Change”: this chapter will discuss how one should view change and how we can go about integrating the Internet into our churches and ministries.  A focus here will be on how the forms of ministry should change while the functions of ministry cannot. I will then discuss the limits of these changes and discuss how you determine what is appropriate and what is not. I will refer to works by Aubrey Malphurs and Shane Hipps in this chapter.
  3. “A Post-Website World”: this chapter will try to ground the reader in the concept of streams. We are now in a world where the organizational website is not the primary way that your audience will interact with you. Instead, we must determine where our audience is and go to them.
  4. “The Internet Ministry Framework”: this chapter will give an overview of my Internet Ministry Framework and review the three components of it in some detail: technology, people, process.  Many of those doing Internet ministry feel that the technology is the key component to success, but it is not. It turns out that people and process are the hard part and the key to success. This chapter will also incorporate the results of my best practices research. It is possible that this may be broken into multiple chapters.
  5. “Strategic Planning”: this chapter will walk the reader through the strategic planning process using my Internet Ministry Strategy Worksheet.  This may be broken into two chapters: strategic planning and implementation.
  6. “Moving Forward”: this chapter will focus on what to do after you have your ministry up and running. It will discuss possible futures and how to keep your online ministry from getting stale.
So there it is, at least as I have it right now. I have already written parts of every chapter, and much of this has been blogged about or been presented at conferences as well.  If you have feedback on these proposed chapters, please let me know!  The idea is that this book could be used by anyone in ministry: a single person, a ministry organization, a church, etc., and that the concepts and strategy used in this book could be adapted for their use. Most likely I will be including a companion website that will add tons of additional resources.

So, what is the schedule for getting this done? Well, my first draft of this should be ready in time for my summer class on this subject. I will let my students read it and give me feedback and then, this fall, I will make changes as I feel necessary. Because I have been focused on getting this done for my summer class, I have not shopped it around to any publishers yet – if any of you have a suggestion for a publisher, let me know!

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/05/03/proposed-book-chapters/feed/ 0 Internet Evangelism Ideas http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/29/internet-evangelism-ideas/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/29/internet-evangelism-ideas/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:21:22 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1232

For those of you who have not been following the blog over at OurChurch.com, you have been missing a great series on “Internet Evangelism Ideas”. Yesterday was my turn to post, which you can find by following this link. This has been a great series and I encourage you to review the ideas that have been posted. The series wraps up today.  Follow this link to get an overview of the series and links to all the posts.

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/29/internet-evangelism-ideas/feed/ 0 Highlights from around the web – 4/27/2010 http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/27/highlights-from-around-the-web-4272010/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/27/highlights-from-around-the-web-4272010/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:37:45 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1229 It’s been a couple weeks, but here are the latest things that caught my eye from around the web in the past few days. I subscribe to dozens of blogs and news sources via my Google Reader and share them. You can keep up with them by following me on Twitter or even subscribing directly. I will also post them here in my blog from time to time.

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/27/highlights-from-around-the-web-4272010/feed/ 0 CLA 2010 Presentation http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/27/cla-2010-presentation/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/27/cla-2010-presentation/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:21:22 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1221 Last week, I gave a presentation at the Christian Leadership Conference’s annual conference in San Diego, CA. My session was entitled “Online Ministry Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons”, which I presented with Kevin Ring.  The talk was well received and encompassed several areas that I have been researching and writing on recently.   I was asked by several people to make the presentation available, which I have done below.

For those of you who were not at the presentation, you may also want to get a copy of the audio of the presentation, which CLA is making available for $9.00. That link is also below.

Link to PDF of presentation

Purchase MP3 audio from CLA

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/27/cla-2010-presentation/feed/ 0 CLA 2010 next week http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/16/cla-2010-next-week/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/16/cla-2010-next-week/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:37:37 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1217 I will be speaking next week at CLA 2010 on the topic of the Opportunities, Challenges, and Lessons of being online.  This session is part of the twelve-session “Ministry Internet & Technology Summit” within the overall conference. I am looking forward to meeting a lot of new people who share my vision for using the Internet to share Christ’s love to the world!

If you are going to be there next week, look me up! The session is at 8:00 AM Wednesday morning.  And don’t attend just my session! The MITS has a lot of great speakers and sessions!

Follow this link for more information on my part in CLA 2010.

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/16/cla-2010-next-week/feed/ 0 Highlights from around the web – 4/7/2010 http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/07/highlights-from-around-the-web-472010/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/07/highlights-from-around-the-web-472010/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:16:55 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1214 What I've been readingHere are the latest things that caught my eye from around the web in the past few days. I subscribe to dozens of blogs and news sources via my Google Reader and share them. You can keep up with them by following me on Twitter or even subscribing directly. I will also post them here in my blog from time to time.

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/07/highlights-from-around-the-web-472010/feed/ 0 God in the Tubes http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/05/god-in-the-tubes/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/05/god-in-the-tubes/#comments Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:54:39 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1203 As I have mentioned several times this year, I am on half-sabbatical through the end of 2010. The key project I am working on during this time is the writing of a book of the use of the Internet and social media for ministry. The book will be based on the research and experiences I have had over the last four years as I have spent much of my time focusing on Internet ministry.

I am not writing the book as a “how to” book that tells you how to create a website or Facebook page. Instead, I am aiming for a higher road: this book will talk about a philosophy (or dare I say a theology) of using the Internet for ministry.  It will cover strategy and planning.  The primary audience for the book will be anyone who wants to use the Internet or social media for ministry. It will give them an introduction to how to think and plan for doing so. Even those who already have an online presence will get value from this book as it makes them think deeper and differently about the Internet.

I also have another audience: students. This will be the primary textbook for the course I am teaching this summer. I hope to teach this course regularly, possibly every summer. I am also looking into to developing a certificate level program in online ministry, for which this book would be a text as well.

After a couple of months working on it, the book is starting to take shape. From time-to-time, I will begin sharing parts of what I am writing on this blog, with the hope that I can get some feedback on what I am putting in the book. Today is the first such post!  So, please, if you have a comment on what I am putting together, post it.

Oh, and the name of the book? God in the Tubes: Using the Internet and Social Media for Ministry. At least that is the working title for now.

What is the Internet? As I approach this subject in my information systems courses, I ask my students this question. “We all understand what we mean by the Internet, ”  I say, “but can you actually define it?” At this point,  I usually get a lot of blank stares. Finally someone will offer up “web sites” and someone else will add “a network to connect computers.”  How about you? How would you define “the Internet”?

On June 28, 2006, in the US Senate, Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), was debating a bill in the Senate regarding regulation of the Internet.  In his speech, he described the Internet this way:

“They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes. And if you don’t understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it’s going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.”

Senator Stevens’ “series of tubes” remarks has been widely repeated and mocked for its lack of understanding of how the Internet actually works.   His description of the Internet has become a running joke even to this day. Google refers to one of its products (called “Google Gears”) as the “gears that power the tubes.”  (note to blog readers, you can hear this speech via YouTube here).

Initially, the Internet was developed as a computer networking platform that enabled computers to communicate. But that definition is no longer enough. Now that the Internet can be accessed on mobile devices, automobiles, and through your television, we have to expand this definition to go beyond computers.

So, what is the Internet? Simply put, the Internet is a platform for enabling communications and applications over a digital network. I know that is not the official, technical definition, but it is what the Internet has become today and it is the one we will be using in this book as we work to understand how to best utilize it for ministry.

Though it was originally designed to enable computer communications, the real power of the Internet began to emerge when it allowed person-to-person communication. The first sign that this was going to be the case was with the invention of electronic mail, or E-mail.  When this “simple hack” was first released in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, it took over the Internet (called ARPANet in those days).  The engineers and academics who put the ARPANet together could not believe it!  Email quickly became the most popular use of this new technology; it was the “killer app” that drove its growth beyond just scientific use and started its use mainstream.

Over the next four decades, we have seen the same pattern hold true:  Internet technologies that connect people together have driven the use of the Internet and associated technologies to new levels.  From instant messaging to Skype to MySpace, this has continued to be the case. As of the time of this writing, in fact, we are seeing the explosion in users of Facebook, the latest Internet application that allows people to connect.

It is this powerful ability to connect people, then, that should draw us as Christ-followers to the Internet.  It is all about relationships. And that is what makes the Internet so powerful for ministry.  We need to understand that the Internet should first and foremost be about creating relationships: relationships between individuals, relationships between groups of people, and relationships between God and man.

So, there it is, the opening to my book. Thoughts?

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/05/god-in-the-tubes/feed/ 9 Highlights from around the web – 4/2/2010 http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/02/highlights-from-around-the-web-422010/ http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/02/highlights-from-around-the-web-422010/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:34:41 +0000 Dave http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/?p=1200 What I've been readingHere are the latest things that caught my eye from around the web in the past few days. I subscribe to dozens of blogs and news sources via my Google Reader and share them. You can keep up with them by following me on Twitter or even subscribing directly. I will also post them here in my blog from time to time.

]]> http://genesys11.com/lessonsfrombabel/2010/04/02/highlights-from-around-the-web-422010/feed/ 1