There’s a part of me that wants to think that I may be the only one that has thought about this issue but I’m betting that I’m not entirely alone here.
Here’s hoping, right?
There’s a bunch of us that are passionately interested in using web technology and social media/social networking as a tool for communication, both internally, externally, and more.
But what does a church do with us?
Our official “titles” probably span the complete gamut of options out there, and our official “roles” in the church are probably just as diverse.
Heck, some of us may even be the Senior Pastor!
A friend of mine, David McDaniel, wrote a blog post a little while ago titled “Your Career Path to Nowhere” and although his angle is not 100% in line with my topic of discussion, it’s what actually started me thinking about all this “Career Path” mumbo jumbo.
It got me thinking about “typical” career paths in ministry and the church and how technology is, perhaps, disrupting these paths, for the good of course.
Let’s get personal: Where do I go “next” in terms of my career at church? Do I “graduate” to some other typical role? Do I sit tight and pray for complete satifaction from God that I’ll be there forever and that’s fine (sarcasm here a tad…)?
I’m not angry, upset, disenfranchised, or disallusioned, nor am I looking to even leave or anything even close to it (so don’t get the wrong idea!), but I’m genuinely curious about what a Career Path looks like for a Web Technologist in the church?
I’m a forward, future-thinking person. I’ve always been that way.
Does the above 250 or so words even make any sense? Your thoughts, experiences, etc?
John, You replicate what you do so well for many churches. Eventually that means you oversee teams of people who do a lot of the work you presently do, while you work with churches strategically.
A web technologist by definition is a single-man role. I think the way to grow in that job is to become a technology steward. You steward many in technology.
Chris,
Thanks for this. this is a great perspective…!
Chrisdat has a very worthwhile perspective.
The only thing I might add is that God has a sense of humor. For a self taught computer geek with a passion for missions and church, why I am running margin reports for my local hardware store is sometimes beyond me. But for some strange reason God has kept my wife in and in one place to help out our church, work through the dynamics of early marriage, deal with siblings that just don't get it and so on and so forth.
Learn to trust that God has a plan even when you don't see it. The mountaintop experiences are great, but the best times come when you are that F-16 flying at fifty feet through the mountain passes with no instruments at Mach 2 in a lighting storm. That's when God shows up, and says "I am just off your wing, hang tight we'll get through this…."
Ooh. Daniel, My days as a Nut and Bolt man in the hardware business just flashed through my mind.
You and I sound much alike. God kept me where I was (in a true value hardware store) for years until a project management position opened up at a web development company. I knew nothing of HTML. Now, (although I'm still lost most of the time) I am managing thousand page projects with very complicated applications. God moved me to a position that has benefitted me and my local church as now I manage all media and basically marketing too.
He Is Always Just Off our Wing as long as we stick to the flight plan that He has laid out for us.
Good comment Daniel. Nice post, John
Hi Andy,
Yeah God's been providing for us, its just really challenging when you don't see the context. So often its just day by day, do the best you can for the Lord and pray that its enough. (Do you have a blog or a twitter, I would like to swap stories…..)
Thanks for the encouragement. Its funny you mention True Value, we just converted over to them exclusively in both stores.
If I knew the answer to that my friend, I may not be working in corporate America right now.
peace|dewde
puaha. then what am i doing?
I feel like I’m in a very similar para-church type boat myself…and you’re right. Where does something like this head? Technology and ministry is such a recently discovered intersection that’s still being defined–it’s pretty much anyone’s guess.
The thing that gives me peace is that at the core, comp sci/web/programmers are problem solvers. As long as there are gaps in the church’s ministry, we’ll be there to connect them. In our environment, computers and technology are just the means to an end (of reaching people).
Today it’s websites and social media. Tomorrow, who knows. But as long as there are lost people and a (sometimes clueless but often well-meaning) church wanting to connect to them, there will be someone to create the initiative to solve the problem.
Scott,
great points here. glad for them. and you're right, of course, it's still so new. perhaps we'll be gap-fillers for a while.
thanks.
Testing! Facebook Connect…!
Good question. I ask myself this very same question all the time. Unless a web technologist is in the situation of having the resources and the audience to merit a strong push toward the web, he's sort of up a creek in that role.
You, however, are in a unique situation of being able to start a new venture at NPOnline (you're a natural entrepreneur), but it's also interesting to note that one day NPOnline will be self-sustaining and no longer require a futurist to keep it running…that means you'll be on to something else that hasn't been created yet.
And that's the rub. The career path for a technologist is never clear because the future of the web is never clear. Who saw Google Wave coming? Who saw Twitter coming? Who saw Wolfram Alpha coming?
a good word here scott. thanks for that.
Seek and Pray. He'll answer.
good point!
I would echo chrisdat… "You replicate what you do so well for many churches…" and you do it working with me.
Seriously, though I guess it all comes down to what a person is passionate about and what God that person to do. Everyone's wired up differently. Even web technologists are wired up differently from each other.
Just a couple days ago you were talking about NPOnline being the best project ever. Seems the NP is constantly taking on bigger challenges which would provide an ongoing progression of exciting challenges for a web technologist. If that's not completely satisfyingly, then what's missing? Can that missing piece be added to what you do at NP? Or is God eventually leading you somewhere else for that next step?
I agree with Scott in that we tend to be problem solvers at the core. As long as there are problems or people to connect to the church, we will help find the means to connect them whether it be with tools like Facebook & Twitter or the next big thing.
The constant freshness and ever changing web technologies are what drew me to working with the web. I would go crazy creating the same widgets everyday for years and years in an office or factory.
In a recent conversation, my brother (who works in the corporate world) asked me a similar question about my career path and "climbing up the ladder". He was baffled by my lack of a concrete answer.
Personally, I do not want to be a manger. Being a visionary on a large scale and have others execute the systems would be fun (including a project manager to manage things). I like getting my hand dirty in the execution though.
For now, I'm content being a team of one pushing our church forward to connect with people through technology.
haha. I don't want to be a “manger” either.
Just kidding.
great stuff here. resonates with me mucho. thanks dude.