The book’s full title is The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ. It is an edited compilation, with chapters by no less than fifteen different leaders in various new media fields. Edited by John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton, the book starts off with a section entitled “The Landscape of New Media”.   It is really the first three chapters here that sold me on the book for my course. In these three chapters, the authors (John Mark Reynolds the first two, Matt Anderson the third) lay out a philosophy of using new media (chapter 1), discuss its future (chapter 2), and caution us on using it uncritically (chapter 3). From the third chapter, Matt Anderson echoes one of the themes I have discussed before on this blog:

We do not control how technology shapes our lives as much as we might think. The notion that technology is neutral  is not quite accurate. It may open up new opportunities, but its development and implementation almost always comes with hidden costs.

Later in the chapter, he gives an example:

…the inundation of “events” happening around us prevents us from reflecting appropriately upon them, which ultimately stifles our ability to understand and express them in language that is distinctly ours. For the creator of new media who wants to be a relevant voice, all analysis is time-sensitive. This premium upon speed threatens to short-circuit the creative process of fitting the right words to our thoughts and reflections.

Sort of sounds like another post here, huh? I knew I liked these guys.

The second part of the book, entitled “Engaging New Media”, is written by experts who are already engaged in using new media for the cause of Christ. Each of these authors writes a chapter on how they are utilizing the Internet in their own particular field: theology, community building, youth ministry, pastoring, apologetics, academia, politics, bioethics, and social justice.  Several of these chapters I found useful from a general research perspective on Internet ministry, while others may only be interesting to those who are in that particular field.

This book has something for everyone. At the very least, it will open your eyes to new possibilites of using the Internet to reach the world using new media. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in expanding their perspective on using the Internet for ministry.

You can buy this book via our genesys11 store on Amazon.com. Support our research by buying from this store.

I was thinking about this yet again today while I was working out and listening to my iPod. I was listening to some old Daniel Amos, and the song “Here I Am” came on. The song, written originally in 1983, asks the question: does the use of recorded media (“preserved performance”) change the relationship between artist and his or her audience? Some sample lyrics:

Here I am, here I am, driving to the studio with all of our equipment
Here I am, here I am, singing in the microphone while the tape is rolling
Here I am, here I am, at the photo session smiling at the camera
There you are, there you are, getting out your money purchasing the record
Here we are, here we are, by way of stereo making minimal contact

Is this a substitute, is this me
Well I can’t see you and I’m out of your reach
Here I am (crying)

To listen to the song, go to YouTube here. For a full listing of the lyrics, go to danielamos.com here.

This brings up the idea of “live” vs. “preserved” performance and the effects this has on both the artist and the presenter (more on this in the book put out by John Mark Reynolds and Roger Overton).  And this got me thinking yet again about how the use of the Internet changes our message, whether or not we want it to.  For example, when we post a blog entry, we are told we must keep it short or no one will bother to read it. To work under this condition, many authors will try to create a “quick hit” post about something that really does require more depth. (After all, to a blogger, every thought or idea looks like a blog post, as every problem looks like a nail…).  And what about using video to “video-cast” (or “vcast” or “vlog” or ?) a church service? Won’t this lead many to view the service as they do television? Just sit back and do the couch potato. This leads to a very different experience than attending a worship service.

So am I saying that ministries should abandon the Internet because the way that they will be used may lead to a changing of the message? No.  But I do think it is very important for those of us who want to minister online to have an understanding of how the Internet changes our ministry’s message and to use this knowledge to help us with our decision-making about how to use it.  This is the conclusion that Shane Hipps comes to in his book The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture. And this is also what the students in my class (and any good course that is teaching Internet ministry) will be learning.