Tag Archive - GodblogCon 2008

Getting Outside Our Villages

September 25, 2008 in Uncategorized with 4 Comments

I said something earlier this week about my appreciation for GodblogCon and their attempt to be more “missionally minded.” I know that when they brought the conference to Vegas from the campus of Biola not everyone was happy about it. In fact, I think many decided not to come to Vegas because it was….well Vegas. “Sin City” as it has been dubbed.

But I think that was the smartest move that could have been made, and I’m hoping that GodblogCon continues more and more to integrate its ideas, values and thoughts on social media into the rest of the Blogworld and New Media Expo.

I think that we can all learn from each other, and unless Christians and non-Christians (or those who have a practicing faith and those who don’t) continue to dialogue and listen to one another, then I think we all miss out on what we all have to offer.

I like what Diva Marketing says below:

Last year some of my greatest learnings came from sessions outside of my comfort zone – military and sports blogging. This year I sat in on a God Blog session and listened intently to the Andrew Jones, Tall Skinny Kiwi, tell his story about faith blogs. He begin with a light hearted joke .. You might be a faith blogger if .. My favorite .. You’re a faith blogger if your prayers are 140 characters or less because that’s all Twitter allows.

My big take away from Andrew’s talk (slides) was ~

A blog should not be a well. It should be a spring. ~

Although Andrew put it into a religious context, his concept makes perfect sense to me not only for blogs but for social media in general. Think about it .. a well contains stagnant waters. Stagnation occurs when there is no new flow of water. Blogs, social networks, wikis and all the other tools/tactics allow for and encourage fresh water or new ideas to flow.

Sidebar: I often say that the blogopshere/social media is comprised of many, many villages. There is the business blog village where Diva Marketing resides and then the mommy blog, golf blog, healthcare blog, beauty blog, race horse blog “villages” and more. The God blog/faith blog village is one of the most active. Skip over to the interview I did with Lead Pastor of the National Community Church – David Batterson – for some insights into this most interesting “village.”

I wholeheartedly agree. Some of the best times at the conference, and some of the greatest things I learned is when I ventured outside my village and comfort zone and saw what others had to offer. I look forward to next year. It a unique conference.

As Chris Brogan said in reference to Blogworld and New Media Expo:

Rick’s event brought diverse people like religious, military, sports, and political bloggers, and I liked that.

Cool, but Surreal

September 20, 2008 in Technology-Social Media with 7 Comments

I walked into the convention center today and saw this sign sitting at the front of the bookstore next to our book. Very cool, but pretty surreal seeing it next to books by Guy Kawasaki, Tim Ferriss, etc. Especially since I only have a chapter in the book, and it’s not a whole book I wrote myself. But it’s a good start.

Liveblogging: Andrew Jones on “The Missional Church in the Internet Age”

September 20, 2008 in Ministry-Theology, Technology-Social Media with 4 Comments

10:44am: Andrew Jones is setting up for his talk….people are beginning to stream in the room..everyone looking for power strips. haaa

10:50am: #bwe08 is one of the best conferences to be at in my opinion. Where else do you get such diversity in the tech world (i.e. politics, military, ministry, tech, etc.)

11:00am: I’m chatting with Brett McCracken from Still Searching. Check out his blog…sweet stuff.

This quote is sitting up on the screen. I’m supposing Andrew Jones is beginning his talk with it…maybe.

“Let this observation be a safeguard against sinning: let us each note and write down our actions and impulses of the soul as though we were to report them to each other.” Athanasius, Vita Antoni, 4th Century

11:05am: Dustin Steeve is up introducting GodblogCon to everyone and welcoming them. Dustin and his team of volunteers have done a great job. Kudos to them.

11:10am: Welcome Andrew Jones…probably my favorite blogger there is, and definitely one of the smartest out there in the new media. He has been blogging for 11 years. Yeah, how many of you even knew there were blogs 11 years ago….

11:12am: Hilarious. Andrew Jones asked someone to come up and help him with the PC Powerpoint..awesome, Mac guy doesn’t know how to use the PC.

11:15am: Andrew Jones is giving us “you might be a faith blogger IF…..” You can see it on his blog here.

11:18am: Jones says the cyberchurch vs. the traditional/modern church is a false dichotomy. The “Church has always been virtual.” He’s using the story of the woman at the well to share the importance of our praise (which means to publish, share with others) in the new media world online.

11:20am: “blog your whole life. don’t be scared.” Jones is talking about how your sermons might be great, but your children and grandchildren are going to know what kind of cereal you want to eat. what’s your favorite color.

11:25am: “A blog should not be a well, but a spring.” It shouldn’t be a container for thoughts, images, etc, but should reflect the life given image of Christ in me, etc.
Andrew Jones blogging journey, and some milestones in blogging: Geocities–then he went to Blogger and loved the archiving. Then comments came, and changed the one way conversation that used to exist in blogging. Andrew is sharing about how he used to get emails back in the day before comments, and how he used to cut and paste emails and put them in the blog post. Then tags came. Then widgets came, and we are able to bring everything together….Twitter, Facebook, etc.

11:27am:

11:32am: Andrew is starting to talk about life streaming now. Blogging is just one component of life streaming/life streaming.

11:35am: Andrew talking about how to drive traffic: tags, history, etc.

11:45am: Andrew Jones on Len Manoviceh’s 5 Principles of New Media: 1) Numerical Representation 2) Modularity 3) Automation 4) Variability 5) Transcoding

Jones: In regards to the Church “We are talking about transcoding and not just translating….we don’t go native enough.” The Church just too often translates and not transcodes.

11:50am: Jones says if you want to see how the church is being formed look at the new media (i.e. collaboration, crowdsourcing, etc,) Jones says that Church is going to be more modular, not singular. We won’t be going to one church anymore where we have everything. We will have a worship service somewhere. A bible study somewhere else. A prayer meeting somewhere else. Something online. A conference, etc.

11:55am: Andrew is talking on the idea of a “gift economy” in the blogging, and new media world. Amazing stuff. You can see his thoughts on this issue at his blog, here.

Lots of good questions for him, and not enough time for him to talk. He is awesome. Great way to kick off the day.

Check out our interview with Andrew Jones.