Archive for Web 2.0
Social Media and the Church
Posted by: | CommentsMy good friend Douglas Baker, executive editor of the Baptist Messenger of Oklahoma, my home paper and one I love dearly, asked me to write an article for their Project 2010 (which is a great year-long series dealing with serious issues the Church is facing) about Social Media in the Church.
My post is titled Leveraging Social Media for the Gospel.
Take a look and let me know what you think.
Product Review: Mars Hill Church iPhone App
Posted by: | CommentsMars Hill Church launched their iPhone / iPod touch app on August 11th, 2009 and I’ve been extremely impressed with their application which includes their blog, music from a variety of their bands, the ability to find one of their many locations, give online, and of course, their excellent sermon series. The reason I really dig it is that I no longer have to worry about downloading their podcasts into iTunes and then onto my iPod – I can get the latest right there from my phone. The only thing I’d like to see incorporated into the future is a Bible app but then I guess that’s what YouVersion from LifeChurch.tv is for, which is another great app for the iPhone! Check both of them out.
My Church on Twitter
Posted by: | CommentsToday I learned that my church – Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City – is now on Twitter!
Follow our church, plus some of our ministers here:
- QSBC – main church account
- Ray Griffin – minister of education
- Tobin Jackson – youth minister
- Rusty McMullen – middle school minister
- Scott Campbell - college minister
- Brian Hobbs – communications director
Will You Twitter Your Church or Ministry?
Posted by: | CommentsTwitter is an awesome tool!
It allows us to communicate in a way that is totally different from traditional websites, blogs, and e-mails. You can tie in Twitter with your FaceBook account, send voice mesages to Twitter using your phone, TwitPic your photos, and even synch it with your Google iCalendar. The applications are many and you should consider using it for your church or ministry.
Anthony Coppedge (whom I’d love to meet and have missed at a few conferences) launched a website called Twitter for Churches (www.twitterforchurches.com) and offers a PDF book called “The Reason Your Church MUST Twitter” for only $5.00! Having read Anthony’s posts in the past, I think this is going to be a great read and recommend checking out his new website.
Twitter could help your ministry to communicate more efficiently or carry on conversations with people in your community. Don’t miss the boat.
Using Facebook To Announce Your Church Events or FB Spamming Your ‘Friends’
Posted by: | CommentsI don’t like to rant on blogs, especially this one … but now I’m irritated enough to do one.
Here’s the deal … I have over 600 friends on Facebook. I love that I can connect with a bunch of people through it.
I try to be pretty selective with who I add to Facebook besides I use it as a ministry tool also to connect with our college kids. Typically, though, when a minister or someone connected to one of my “ministry friends” adds me as a friend, I usually add them automatically – thinking there’s some watered down discernment factor there.
But lately – in the last couple of months – I’ve been barraged (spammed) with “grand opening” or church announcement messages from some of those.
So much so that today, I actually removed one as a friend.
Hot tip for pastors and ministers using Facebook: Find a way to build momentum for your church without spamming me, or, uh, other ‘friends’ who live thousands of miles away from your church, quite content with their own home church, and get extremely irritated when they have to delete your notification and consequently remove you as their friend.
It’s spam. Don’t do it.
Instead, create an opt-in Facebook Page, Group or event … ask people to sign up for those, in which they know, understand and commit to getting your email updates.
Rant over.
