Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) takes place in San Francisco every summer, and it might just be one of the biggest tech events of the year. Only 5,000 tickets are made available every year, and they sell out immediately! Last year, it took two hours. This year, it took two minutes!
Clearly, many people want to be at this event at which Apple routinely unveils major software and hardware updates. Plus, since it’s a five-day event, there are also tons of ways to learn more about developing from the very people who created and now maintain the platform you’re developing for. Awesome, right?
My question to you this: Could the Church benefit from something similar?
No, we don’t have a platform that requires such a massive conference/PR event, but what if we tweaked it just a little.
An Untapped Market
There are so many church conferences that focus on preaching, leading, discipleship, church-planting, etc. While these are vital, “front line” needs of most churches, I think there is a serious gap that could be filled by a “church tech” conference.
I love that LifeChurch.tv and Willow Creek and Saddleback do so much to help resource the Church technologically, but I guess I’m too much on the “teach a man to fish” side of that old adage. I don’t want a free resource for my church, so much as I want help developing resources tailored to my church’s distinct needs.
For example…
I love YouVersion app provided for free by LifeChurch.tv—what’s not to love? However, I would love it if it could opened up as a sort of platform wherein churches could construct devotionals and discipleship material that lines up with their current campaign or with their larger ministerial vision for their church body.
That isn’t meant as a complaint against or criticism of YouVersion. I can’t imagine how much more work my idea would add to their currently massive endeavor, so I totally understand why they haven’t and probably never will do such a thing.
The point is that there is so much I feel like could be done by the Church if small and medium size churches were resourced to build their technology rather than just given their technology.
A Conference and So Much More!
If we had a conference, what would we talk about? What would we teach each other? I’m not totally sure, but I’m pretty sure that the possibilities are endless. People could submit presentations ahead of time for a body of church tech experts to weed through before giving potential attendees a chance to vote on which topic they would like covered.
But moving beyond the conference itself for a minute let’s ask ourselves: What really makes WWDC cool? It’s the fact that Apple reveals what’s coming down the pipeline with regard to new hardware and software. It’s like Christmas in June. How do we do something similar?
Would it be possible to essentially create a “church tech” platform, complete with SDK? I’m not suggest that we create a “Christian culture” rip-off of iOS or Android, but what if we were able to build a platform within those worlds or within the larger context of the Internet? We could develop an open source, church tech platform that would function in the same way that WordPress and Joomla do. For example, I’ve already written about how awesome PressBooks is, and I’m pretty sure that I made it clear what I love most about PressBooks is that, because it was built on the WordPress platform, it was stable, easy to use, and powerful.
What if we had a platform for churches to use when building their websites, blogs, check-in apps, etc.? Even if we had a centralized location—a Church GitHub—where developers could place the source code for the church tech standards I just listed, then churches would be able to have a starting point to customize their own sites and apps on already established platforms like WP and Joomla.
Start Small
So maybe a conference would be putting the cart before the horse, but I do think that this where we should be heading. Technology is only going to be growing as a part of ministry. Even still, we need to start small. But even that contains a problem:
I’m not a developer.
I’m sitting here typing this article, feeling really guilty about the fact that I’m calling for a church tech conference and a platform for church tech development, and I can’t really do much to launch either. So where does that leave this post?
With a stripped down moment of candor I hope.
These are all just ideas; ideas that I’m not able to do much with. But what if you can? What if you have the abilities to develop some basic sites and apps for churches to work with? What if your church is perfectly positioned to being host a tech conference?
What if you’ve been thinking about this for a long time and this post confirmed for you that we need this? What if God is actually telling you that this is supposed void I’m whining about is yours to fill?
Do we need a conference? Do we need a church tech platform/SDK?
Bobby Shirley says
I think we do have conferences similar to this. Check out http://www.churchitnetwork.com/.
I love the ideas of a “Github” for churches / ministries. Also, If we could ratify a SDK for developing websites, apps, etc. could be extremely helpful for smaller orgs who don’t have the staff or ability to create in house.
Great thoughts, though.
Phil Schneider says
Thanks for the tip, Bobby! I’d never head of that before, but I’ll definitely be looking into it.
Glad you like my crazy ideas. I’m really hoping that something comes of this. If not, looks like I’ll have to learn to code and build it myself. 🙁
LaRosa Johnson says
What about Bible Tech? http://bibletechconference.com/
Phil Schneider says
Holy smokes! Looks like I’m eating crow instead of turkey for lunch today!
Thanks for the tip!
Jon Edmiston says
I second Bobby’s recommendation of the Church IT Network. Our church had the honor of being a host church for the spring roundtable and I have attended previous events. They put on a solid conference that spans hardware and development. They also help to foster communication and community between churches all year round through phone conferences and their web-based community.
On the platform side I thought I’d make you aware of a project that we’re been working on for over a year. We are developing and free open-source church platform. It’s not only a content management system but also a church management system. At its core it is a application development framework for building any kind of church application. We’re even planning on building in an ‘App Store’ concept so people and quickly and easily share their work.
While several churches are working together on it the intellectual property is managed by a separate non-profit chartered with protecting the open-source vision of the project.
You can find out more about the project at the link below:
http://www.sparkdevelopmentnetwork.com/
Phil Schneider says
Wow! That it is awesome. Following up on all of this ASAP. Thanks, Jon!
Paul Clifford (@PaulAlanClif) says
I’m working with a fan of mine who is a developer who “always wanted to make something for the church” to create an app now. I only know html & css, although I did almost minor in computer science, so this is fun for me.
I agree that the more the church can use the gifts of those in the body, the better. There’s a reason that God made some Christians programmers. We need to take Him up on the offer to use the gifts He’s given for the Kingdom.
Paul
Phil Schneider says
Perfectly stated, Paul! Thanks for the comment!
Clint Mettler says
Check out GURUS of Tech put on by Willo Creek
Phil Schneider says
Thanks, Clint! I certainly will.