Tag Archive - GodblogCon

Technology and the Future of the Church

September 23, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 3 Comments

There are a lot of amazing things happening in the world of ministry and technology. So much so that it’s hard to keep up with all of it. Some churches are on the leading edge of innovation, while others are still trying to get a website put together. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, below are four links that might interest you from this past week.

First:
Author, blogger, video guru and Church 2.0 leader Greg Atkinson has a great post which basically introduces the Digerati Team from LifeChurch.tv, SPOTLIGHT: LifeChurch.tv’s Digerati Team. Many of you don’t know that there exists such a team on a church staff. But I think that trend is changing, and as you read the article you will definitely see their fingerprints all over the world of ministry and tech.

Greg says:

You might be wondering: “What in the world does “digerati” mean?” To get to the bottom of something, I go to Wikipedia. Wikipedia reads:”The digerati are the elite of the computer industry and online communities.” From what I know of my friends Terry Storch and Tony Steward (and the rest of the Digerati Team) this fits them very well.

Maybe you don’t recognize the team, but you may recognize their work. Here is what the Digerati team has been up to and is responsible for:

* YouVersion (Web, Mobile, and iPhone)
* OPEN
* ChurchMetrics
* Internet Campus
* LifeGroups
* LifeShare
* OnePrayer

Second:
If you can make it to Pasadena, CA this Friday, then you need to so that you can attend Church Tech Camp. It’s the first in what I think will be a growing group of church leaders who are on the innovative edge of integrating technology and ministry, especially as it relates to social media, web 2.0 tools. If you can’t make it, then watch the live stream of the get together. Not only is the technology and its use in ministry innovative, but the organization of the camp itself is on the leading edge. Check it out and you will see.

Third:
Check out Andrew Jones’ Powerpoint presentation from his talk at GodblogCon, The Missional Church in the Internet Age. You can listen to Andrew’s podcast as well at Podcasts of Godblogcon 2008, as well as all the others from there.

Fourth:
Godbloggers Prepare to Invade ‘Sin City’

Blogworld and New Media Expo & GodblogCon

September 22, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 2 Comments

This last weekend was a great time at Blogworld and New Media Expo, and GodblogCon.

It was my fourth year at GodblogCon, and my 2nd time at Blogworld.

I have some thoughts about the conference and I will be posting them this week, but just a sampler of some things that stood out to me.

  1. Moving GodblogCon to Vegas last year to be a part of Blogworld and New Media Expo was a great choice.  I would actually be interested in exploring with the Godblog people some ways that we can integrate even more, so it’s not two separate conferences.


  2. Huge, huge props to John Mark Reynolds, Dustin Steeve and the crew from Biola’s Torrey Honor’s Institute for putting together a great conference.  They are some of the most amazing and hospitable people there are, and I’m glad to be a part of such a great group. Thanks Dustin and crew.


  3. Missional thinking: The connection between the two conferences this weekend was tech, new media, social media, etc.  As Christians we need to do a better job of finding our common ground with others, with the world, build relationships, etc.


  4. New media and tech people seem to be very accessible, patient and easy going to me.  The Church can learn a lot from them, especially how they collaborate with one another, communicate from decentralized positions/relationships, etc, etc.  I was super impressed with how accessible all the big speakers were, and how they spent a great amount of time talking to people. Chris Brogan, Andrew Jones and Guy Kawasaki come to mind.  This conference doesn’t seem to have the speakers that roll in at the last minute VIP and then leave.  The speakers are great.  Very participatory feel.  Again, something Church conferences can learn from.


  5. It’s great to see friends at the conference who are involved in Church-land, but who get new media technology and are using it.  I’m thinking of people like Matt Singley, Andrew Jackson and Lars Rood.

Again, I will post more this week on some more specific issues.  But before I do I have a question.

GodblogCon seems like it’s on the verge of becoming more integrated with Blogworld.  And it probably can take some more strides.

Are there any other major conferences where we can bring together the Church and the non-Church world, using our common interests to unite us, but allowing our differences to teach and learn from one another?

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.

Twitter Hash Tags to Follow This Weekend

September 18, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 0 Comments

Blog World and New Media Expo: #bwe08

GodblogCon: #gbc08

Couple of Great Conferences…

August 14, 2008 in Technology-Social Media with 0 Comments

I will be heading over to ECHO Conference  (if not tonight, at least tomorrow and Saturday) at Watermark, and I’m super excited to hang out with Cynthia Ware, Scott McClellan, Tony Steward, Greg Atkinson and others.  I’m sure my head will be exploding with ideas and thoughts after some time with them.

Oh yeah, and Donald Miller will be one of the speakers.  If you are in Dallas, it’s not too late to walk on up and register.

 

Then on September 20-21 in Las Vegas I will be attending GodblogCon and will have a small role with some of the other authors in our new book, The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging and Podcasting for Christ.

 

  • GodblogCon, September 20-21st at the BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Las Vegas NV


  • Registration prices increase on August 22nd so sign up ASAP


  • A limited number of seats are still available for our opening night dinner and we will begin registration for GodblogCon’s Sunday Gospel Brunch and the House of Blues.


  • GodblogCon is presented by Biola University and the Torrey Honors Institute and is proudly sponsored by the Family Research Council, Desiring God Ministries, the High Calling, the Acton Institute, Stand To Reason, and the Mars Hill Audio Journal.


  • More information including schedule, sponsors, events, and registration is available at GodblogCon.com
     

Andrew Jones (aka Tall Skinny Kiwi) interview

August 13, 2008 in Technology-Social Media with 2 Comments

I had the privilege yesterday of interviewing Andrew Jones along with Andrew Jackson, Cynthia Ware, Matthew Anderson and Marcus Goodyear.

Jones has some great insight into the history of blogging (he’s been blogging since 1997/1998) and ministry. Some really good thoughts on setting boundaries online, as well as a church’s need to have a sense of integrity of what they display online and what it’s like in real life.

Check out the interview here.

Where are you going to be on Sept. 20-21…Here!!

August 12, 2008 in Ministry-Theology, Technology-Social Media with 0 Comments

Come join me and many others at GodblogCon this year.

Many exciting speakers.

Two Conferences to Put On Your Calendar

May 20, 2008 in Ministry-Theology with 0 Comments

There are a lot of conferences out there, but here are two that I will be talking about more, especially as time draws closer.


DRINK–CollegeLeader Conference

September 4-7, 2008 in Southern California!

DRINK: The reservoir of college-age ministry resources is no longer dry. It’s no secret that it’s been bone dry for years, but we thought we would provide a little refreshment! Come and join us for a time of learning, brainstorming, discussion, networking, and talking about church-based college-age ministry over cups of coffee.

The conference doesn’t stop with leaders though! This weekend will also be for students. We can all drink from the fountain!

Speakers include Chuck Bomar, David Kinnaman and others.


GodblogCon: A Gathering of Christians to Advance the Kingdom Through Blogging + Internet Technologies

September 20-21 in Las Vegas at Blog World & New Media Expo

I will definitely be at GodblogCon again. I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones…looking forward to meeting Andrew Jones. That’s worth the cost of travel, hotel, food and conference.

Great News for GodblogCon

February 29, 2008 in Technology-Social Media with 3 Comments

As a lot of you know, I have been invovled with GodblogCon the last few years, last year speaking on New Media Ministry to the Myspace- Facebook Generation: Employing New Media Technologies Effectively In Youth Ministries. I will be doing something this next year at it (speaking/leading a group–not sure yet), so that’s why I’m so excited about this news.

Andrew Jones (aka Tall Skinny Kiwi) will be speaking at the 2008 GodblogCon on the topic of the Missional Church in an Internet Age

Sitting around after the conference last year, Andrew Jones was one of those people that we knew we needed here.

I also hope to see Abraham Piper again from Desiring God ministries. We had a great time last year hanging out. Speaking of him, check out his new blog Twenty Two Words. It’s awesome. Here is how he describes his blog:

22 Words
Exercises in getting to the point (or avoiding it) by saying what I have to say in twenty-two words, not counting titles.

I hope to see all of you in Las Vegas next year for the GodblogCon at the 2008 Blogworld and New Media Expo.

Save the date: September 19-21.