I had the pleasure the other day in being a part of a church planting kick-off party (I’m not sure if that’s what the official title was, but that’s what I’m going to call it…).
Soul City Church is live and kicking and their aiming to have their first live service Easter 2010. Exciting! I’ve never been a part of something like this from the “ground floor” and have been able to walk with the Stevens’ for the last couple of months as they’ve ramped up.
One of the interesting things is that Jarrett, from the very beginning, knew that the “online” experience was going to be a critical component in not only launching this new venture but also as a continual communication channel for the ministry’s success; he came to me asking for advice and unfortunately I didn’t have much to give him.
But it really is great question and one that I know a number of church planters are asking: What would a new Ministry and/or Church look like that had a complete and robust online experience from Day 1?
Or, in other words, what would a church and/or ministry look like that had an intimate-online-integrated strategy; that was born from the “online?”
I’m not sure, but I know it would look awesome, and that it would definitely be leveraging one of the most powerful communication mediums available for us today.
I know that Soul City Church is going to be awesome as well, and they’ve been doing everything that they can with their limited resources to make it happen.
Check out some of these vids after the jump… and be praying for them! I know I will.
tonytsheng says
definitely been thinking about the same kind of question too. i know it might be a tad cheesy – esp for high end web designers like this audience – but i think a ning site is a great first start. i've been playing with one for a little project i'm doing and i love the fact that you can brand it as your ministry, people can join up [a bit of making a commitment], and you can do all the forums, pictures, commenting, etc. that makes the site interactive and driven by the community.
human3rror says
Tony,
Not cheesy… it could definitely work…!
tonytsheng says
hey john…. if you say ning isn't cheesy, then i definitely feel better about using it. =)
human3rror says
I have an opinion about it… but i'm not dogmatic..!
Bill Whitt says
Those videos are great. I liked one of the kinetic type ones so much that I just RFed it (that is, "Re-Facebooked," a new term I'm coining, even if no one else uses it!).
It's interesting to note how different his approach is from someone like Louie Giglio, who has intentionally kept his church plant offline (no tweets, no podcasts, no video, etc.). Passion Conferences is already so global that they're working hard to make sure Passion City Church really is rooted to the city before going deep into online territory. He says he's working very hard to downshift into first gear before starting to upshift again. I think that's a smart strategy too, especially for the unique situation involving Passion City Church.
human3rror says
Bill,
That is an excellent point. Well said. Definitely a different strategy…!
Jim says
this is the future of planting…the web side must be a priority. rather than planting and setting up the web later
ChurchBartender says
7 is greater than 1 – is exactly what we have been screaming and why we birthed the Dirty Church Awards and the conversation surrounding Dirty Church. I love it…
Your Church Bartender,
Michael Trent
@churchbartender
Adrian Jackson says
I love the videos and if I lived anywhere near Chicago I'd fully be connected with these folk.
The videos are definitely going on the inspiration shelf though.
human3rror says
w00t!
Graham Brenna says
I'm pretty excited about the launch of Soul City Church. Since I live just outside Chicago I'm hoping to be able to get to a service or two every once in awhile. I'm definitely impressed by their web presence even though they don't have regular worship yet! Must be cool to be able to work on something like this from the ground up!
human3rror says
yes, i'm pretty excited too…!