I wish I could have been there this morning with the crew at Church Tech Camp, but since I couldn’t, it was great to watch it live and participate.
Props to Tony Steward for putting on the “unconference.” And props to #churchtechcamp making the Twitter trends today and making it on the Twitter blog.
Check out some of Tony’s thoughts on the day.
Check out the live blog from Church Tech Camp today as well.
You can see my question on the live blog that I posed to the audience.
11:22
[Comment From rhettsmith]
I’m wondering if we move more and more towards open source in the Church…what role do you see the pastor taking?
There was some lengthy discussion about my question and what I meant. But in general, I wonder with the ability for congregations to quickly self organize and communicate without having to go through the pastor, the hierarchy, etc., what role will the pastor take in the future? I think many pastors are nervous about losing power, status and position that has always been afforded them from behind the pulpit, so what if they are no longer needed? And by that, I don’t mean they won’t speak, preach or teach, but what if their particular brand of one person leadership is not needed? Will they become more of a facilitator? Are the traditional vocational roles of the pastor in jeopardy (as in paid staff)? Lots of questions I am asking.
But what I’m really thinking is that the decentralization of the pastor is actually a great thing for a church community, and it places the pastor in a role that I think he or she was meant to be in. That of shepherd, facilitator, etc. Someone who leads from within….not above or out in front.
P.S. Thanks to Rich Kirkpatrick for being my voice in person at the conference when I was actually in Dallas. He helped better finesse and define some of the questions I was having trouble articulating.
