I first met Brad Lomenick at Catalyst One Day and at the Off The Blogs event that evening.
Quite obviously a “mover and shaker” the man’s got a humble heart about what God’s doing through him and through the organization in which he serves.
His thoughts today about “Gaining Credibility” we’re a much needed reminder and some succulent mindfood for the day.
I’ve recaptured them here and dropped a few thoughts about it’s application, as I’ve seen it, through blogs and the online space:
In a perfect blog world ChurchCrunch.com and my other blog would speak to all peoples in all circumstances in all cultures in all languages all at the same time.
That’s obviously not possible.
And so one of our goals, collectively, is to find the particular people group online that we feel like we’ve been “called” to engage with. Some feel particularly compelled to blog for the youth, some the singles, some married peoples.
What about the “older” (but wiser) generations?
According the the Pew Internet and American Life Project:
[T]he largest jump in adoption of Internet usage was by users ages 70 and older. Internet penetration among people ages 70 to 74 increased by 19 percentage points from 2005 to 2008. For people 75 and older, the increase was 10 percentage points.
It’s not your job to spread yourself so thin as to be relatively ineffective online, it’s to match who you are, your gifts, your time, and your calling to the people who need it on the web.
Collectively, no one will be “missed” in our effort.
[Just found a great article today about a 67 year old on video... and finding a "cure" for her isolation via CNN]
The first time I met Fred was in a random hotel in Austin.
…
I’d like to just leave it there for suspense and intrigue, that that might get a bit sketchy…
We met because I was discussing a new worship website and wanted his insight and input. Now that I come to think of it, I can’t even remember how we got connected, but it must have been online.
He’s doing some great stuff and is leading community through the gifts and talents that the Lord has given him.
Here’s a Friday 5 to you Fred.
This is a Guest Post by Aaron Asay. He can be found blogging at AaronAsay.com.
Little did I know in November of 2007, when I signed up for Twitter, that I wouldn’t love it completely until January of 2009! Wish there was some kind of stock I could have purchased back then in the early days… Hmm.
In the last couple of days, I have seen more growth in my Twitterness than ever before. I am really starting to “connect” with others who do the same things that I do. I heard it said once:
“Facebook is for those you used to know, Twitter is for those who you will know.”
So true! I have been asking relevant questions, and getting relevant answers.
I read a recent article in Christianity Today and a referring blog post here (and their apparent “sister” site…?) about that shared how one congregation experienced a “large increase of traffic” because of their use of Google Adwords.
Let me just put it down that any advertising, regardless of channel, will give you more traffic. That’s a given. The question is whether it’s worth it.
The answer is a definite no, from my perspective.
Your blog categories should provide guideposts and should generally be helpful to the reader. Unfortunately, for many blogs, there are just too many categories to be of any use to the audience.
If your blog has as many categories as this guy changes topics, then you should probably start thinking about killing a few. Specificity and focus rule in the blog kingdom.
Have a good Friday!
At first glance Examen.me just didn’t make sense to me, or I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was.
Thankfully there was a button in the bottom left that let me “Start an Examen” without an account.
Loved it.
Within a few seconds I knew exactly what this service was and I was pretty excited.
EXAMEN.me is a simple-to-use web site that fosters your personal interaction with God. The site guides you to “examen” your life as you meditate on scripture, pray, and journal all of your reflections.
Not only does the site look sleek, it really is simple to use, straight forward, and obvious, and Brent Minter, the Worship Pastor at NorthWood Church, wasn’t kidding me when he told me that it was via email.
I’ve found it. I’ve really found it. I’ve been looking for a super easy large group voice chat system and I found it.
It’s called Voxli, and so far, it rocks my face.
Voxli is a super easy voice chat system that can support up to 200 people at the same time on a persistent URL (http://voxli.com/churchcrunch). Originally intended for Gamers and Teams, it’s application and use could easily be leveraged for the local Church.
The reports are true and have been screaming around the interwebs faster than people digg the newest bomb from The Huffington Post: Digg.com is not as “socially” driven as people would like to believe.
This, personally, doesn’t surprise me one bit, the fact that 46% of ‘Front Page’ Diggs come from some 50 or so sites.
It’s because the vast majority of websites and “social news” sites are still, at their fundamental level, a business. Meaning, they have a business model. Meaning, they make money.
To enable the most ROI, the “business” most have a metered level of control over their product and service. That’s just how it is. So as much as you’d like to think that web technology has enabled 100% true and unfiltered democratic usage, it’s just not the case.
But I think this is where the Church can innovate and prove the traditional web-model wrong. That’s because we assume a level of control already and we don’t have to necessarily fabricate it or exhibit a false-sense of chaos and democracy in order to “preach” social web egalitarianism.
We will always have the Scriptures as our guidepost and control point. His Kingdom isn’t democratic but He’s enabled His people to be creative and innovative within the structure of the Word.
And therein lies “freedom.”
Our goal is not fame nor fortune. Our desire is to create community with God and with each other. That’ll provide the breadth and depth of innovation that a business-model could never touch.
The future is bright for the Church online.
Have you thought about going to the Drive Conference 2009? Perhaps a little Twitter-love is in order…!
You can follow @DriveConference on Twitter and when you’re there make sure to use the #Drive09 hashtag!
Oh, and yeah, here’s the discount code: 09twitter040506.
Be there! I’ll be there. So you be there. Thanks.
Copyright 2012 · 8BIT, LLC.