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• Ben’s parents didn’t let him see the Star Wars movies.
• He didn’t know the plotlines, stories, characters, etc.
• He realized he missed a significant part of American culture.
• He asked his mom why she didn’t let him see the movies… her answer was “the force.”
• There is a force at work in ministry that we tend to sweep under the carpet.
• It doesn’t seem spiritual to credit our success to something other than God.
• We are all champions and advocates of causes.
• Oftentimes when we experience success we say, “well, God is just blessing us…” and when we respond like that, we silently condemn people who have ministries that are struggling.
• We overlook “the force” that’s at work that makes or breaks our ministry causes.
• Those forces are socioliogical in nature… critical mass, momentum… that proceeds our cause.
• Donald McGavern was a missionary to India and noticed the social caste systems that deeply divided people.
• Donald started individual churches for specific caste groups.
• The specific churches began to grow because people felt comfortable in a church that was meant for their social class.
• Was that spiritual victory or intellectual/socioligocal enlightenment?
• Our causes are really only effective when they are laid upon social movements/forces that can carry them.
• Just because there hasn’t been an epiphany moment in my ministry doesn’t mean that God isn’t in them.
• Those who struggle with their causes typically launched them in a vacuum; those who experience success tend to launch them into a social movement.
• There’s socialogical groundwork behind every successful ministry and organization.
• Great causes are launched in social momentum.
• Matthew 13:3-9, the Parable of the Sower
• If the seed fails, it’s not the fault of the seed, it’s the fault of the soil.
• The Gospel seed is powerful and potenet, and if it doesn’t take root, spring to life and bear fruit, it’s the fault of the soil.
• We all have a cause and its success relies on the context/soil in which you release it.
• If we chose to cast our seed where there is no social movement, our seed is as good as bird seed.
• The troubling thing about social forces is that people like to make decisions in herds, in packs.
• People would rather be safe in their decisions than right.
• People don’t care about your cause, they only care about causes other people care about.
• We often look at what people respond to (i.e. how many views on YouTube, etc.)
• People would rather go through life making easy decisions, decisions made by the social acceptance of others.
• We deal with social conventions every single day.
• Social conventions influence the thoughts and decisions we make every single day.
• If you have enough critical mass you can break through social conventions.
• Jim Collins talks about momentum, a giant concrete flywheel… eventually it will start to move and spin, and as it does it becomes easier and easier to push.
• If you don’t have momentum, you’ll push for a long time before you see fruit.
• We oftentimes give up.
• The thing people don’t tell you about is that oftentimes, momentum works against you.
• John Maxwell wanted to breakthrough and reach influential business leaders, so he wrote a book and purchased thousands of his own books to get it on the NY Times Bestsellers list. Thus, gaining attention from business leaders… boom, there you go.
• We have to create momentum out of momentum that already exists.
• Great moves of God in the past have been moved forward by sociological forces.
• George Whitfield was not just a spiritual phenomenon, he was a sociological phenomenon.
• It’s not just great moves of God where we’ve seen causes laid upon social movements. It’s in the Gospel, at Pentecost.
• God moved in Acts 2 in the midst of a major social movement.
• As it had its impact, people traveled back to where they came from and the message of the Gospel advanced.
• Social entrepreneurs have a divine naivety… be it good or bad, so we’ll be courageous enough to try to do what He’s put on our heart.
• If we haven’t laid a sociological foundation that can carry our cause, we’re throwing our seeds at the wind.
• The Gospel is connected to the word “go.”
• Acts 8:4 – they preached the Gospel wherever they went.
• The Gospel needs social movement and if we don’t go, God will oftentimes at our own peril, cause or create things to compel us to go.

How do you create a groundswell?

1. Understand your target community. Don’t be an outsider. Be indigenous to the people you are trying to reach. Know what they like, what they care about.  Before you can become a disciple-maker, you have to be a multitude maker.
2. Understand what your platform is. Learn how to use your platform to give people value, pour into them, and keep them coming back. Your platform can be anything… a blog, Twitter, speaking, etc.
3. Do it consistently and keep on doing it, persevere. Time will accrue a following.
4. Leverage your influence. As you gain it, take calculated and strategic moves to increase it.

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• We have to get to the heart of why we do what we do.
• Regardless of where you fit, we’re here for a common reason: we are all storytellers.
• We take different approaches to how we do it and tell different aspects.
• Storytelling is always ministry.
• Storytelling at its core is community.
• The purpose of storytelling is getting vulnerable and into the details so people on both ends are transformed.
• Real storytelling is community, therefore, storytelling is ministry.

If we’re all here because we’re called to tell God’s Story, than why doesn’t it always work?

• The stories we tell will change people for the better or for the worse.
• Storytelling is ministry; and ministry is surgery.
• Ministry is the act of looking at someone who doesn’t know Jesus and carefully, strategically and intentionally love the “cancer” out of them.
• We wield sharp blades whether we know it or not.
• The purpose is to see the cancer in others and to help it out.
• The problem isn’t that we don’t care, it’s that we don’t realize or accept the fact that we are wielding blades.
• We treat storytelling like it’s a erasable pen, when really it’s a sharp knife.
• Maybe it would work more often if we realized that.
• Part of the problem is that we don’t get what a story is for.
• All Jesus did was tell stories.
• “All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world’s first day.” (Matthew 13:34-35, The Message)
• To be a profound minister, you have to realize life is not fiction, but it’s non-fiction.
• How do you replace fiction for faith and maturity that have to be real?
• Where do the young side and mature side collide?
• We’ll still tell stories people want to hear, that are supposed to be true, we don’t do it on purpose, but it will happen because we haven’t balanced our fictional flights of fancy with God’s non-fictional truth.
• God ‘s eyes are looking for a heart that are completely His.
• We’ve spent so much time trying to figure out what it’s like to come as Him as children that we come to Him as a whippersnapper… the way an old person perceives children.
• A child sees no line between the story they fictionalize and their non-fiction life,
• It’s all the same. It merges.
• We’ve lost the art of making our story life our real life.
• Our real life deeply influences our story.
• Stories invite criticism, assessment and eyeball.s
• It’s easy to say what we think we need to say and how we need to say it without it being linked to who we really are and what we’ve really experienced.
• It’s easy to let it be about the calling, skills, and the gifts… but often those don’t work.
• What’s missing?
• We’ve pulled our real life, our non-fiction story, away from our calling, our gifts and the stories we’ve been meant to tell.
• We’ve held back the most real and vulnerable parts of who we are… our real-life story, and replaced it with a story we think people want to hear.
• We’re more concerned with the skill set and the approach than the reason for it in the first place.
• The passion for telling God’s Story has been tainted and tampered.
• We’ve got to re-learn what it means to tell God’s story.
• It requires vulnerability.
• It requires risking being an active participant of people’s healing.
• It requires being a part of helping them tell their stories.
• It’s not enough that we know… we have to dig into the vulnerable places that causes the non-fictional places of who we are to mesh with the storytelling so every story we tell is able to to attack the cancer in someone else’s life because we’ve addressed the cancer that once ate away at our lives.
• Our stories need to get personal.
• “Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” (Gal 5:25-26)
• They need to be more than our opinion.
• Our story, our cancer and how God has redeemed us from it, has to be woven into our art.
• Genesis 19, Lot was used to where he was at and did not want to leave.
• They fled to Zoar.
• God told them to flee BEFORE… he told them to run away and not look back when it was completely feasible to do so.
• They waited until the last moment and the worst scenario to leave… as a result, Lot’s wife was killed.
• They went the small town… so small, its name means small.
• In this town, horrible things happened to Lot and his family. So bad, that they fled to the mountains.
• God made a place for Lot, but the mountains are rough… it was a long run, harsh terrain and a difficult place to live.
• It wasn’t the easiest, but it’s what God had planned for them.
• God has given us a mountain… a difficult place in our calling and our skill… that he needs us to go all the way to.
• Your heart and your ministry may be all the way to the mountain, but Zoar is where you left your calling.
• We’ve not brought what He called us to do all the way with us.
• Taking the job, doing it for the right reasons is not all that’s required… the hardest part of us isn’t there yet… our cancer, our history, our story, our life, the way we were transformed and changed… what God has done. The journey, the pain, we have to bring IT into our story.
• You have to bring who you are at the deepest core into your story.
• There are a many people telling a lot of stories, but they aren’t changing people.
• People with cancer can’t reject their cancer until they can see that their cancer has been rejected before.
• People can’t believe in God’s transformation until they’ve seen it happen in your own life.
• “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.” (Matthew 10:38-39)
• Stories begin where they transformed the teller.
• If you want to transform people with your stories, you need to tell the story of what transformed you.
• Use art to tell about your transformation so someone else can be transformed.
• It takes the competitive nature of what we do off the table… we are all unique, we all have our own story.
• There are people who are not going to transform until they hear your story.
• Tell YOUR story.
• “That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” (Gal 5:26, The Message)
• We’ve got a calling and we’ve got skills… which God needs to transform the world… but it all means NOTHING if you don’t see that Christ made us uniquely and wants us to tell that non-fiction story in the flights of fancy in our art.

A former staff member of Big Idea Productions [creators of VeggieTales] and Willow Creek, Dawn Nicole frequently contributes to today’s leading-edge thinking of integrating Christianity and culture but is best known as a change agent who is intent on stretching imaginations, connecting people and making a difference.

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How Texting Works

• Think of your phone as a tool for connecting with your audience in an intentional and controlled way.
• Texting is permission based.
• We have to think differently about texting than we do any other communication channel (i.e. direct marketing, email, etc).
• We need to be intentional and keep the special privilege and relationship we have with people.
• Some people say texting began in 1989 with a Motorola beeper.
• Japan first adopted text messaging; America is a bit behind.
• Texting the Great Debate. Texters in all countries use “lol”, “u”, “brb” and “gr8.”
• ~(_8^(\)   – Homer Simpson
• When American Idol used texting for voting, we got it.
• In the 3rd quarter of 2006, over 12 billion texts were passed through AT&T’s network.
• 87% of the US population has mobile phones.
• Over 110 billion text messages are sent every month (up 1,000% from a few years ago).
• Adults send/receive 357 text messages per month on average; compared to 204 phone calls.
• Teens/young adults send 1,742 text messages per month.
• Texting is a communication channel of the future.
• 87% of 13-27 yos send text messages… 73% of 15-37 year olds… 44% of 28-39 year olds; 18% of 40-49 year olds.

Textology Terms

• SMS – Short Message Service
• Shortcode – Your “address” … hard to create/approve with all carriers.
• Keywords – tell the system what to do. There’s more flexibility with keywords.

Applications of Texting in Church

• Text-to-Screen – user initiates contact. (asking questions to the pastor, etc); allows church.

1. Granger Community Church did a whole weekend called “Ask Anything” where people could text in their questions to the pastor.
2. Park Community Church does Q&A in every service. (that’s me!)

• Surveys & Polls – allows people to share their opinion and gets people engaged so they can participate, not just listen.
• Text Alerts – church initiates conversation with their church. Churches set up texting groups to alert them about upcoming events and news.
• Promos - an opportunity for an audience to engage and win something… think radio content.
• Bouncebacks – get people specific information about events/opportunities. (Example, you have a BBQ… you can have people text the word BBQ to your shortcode and a message bounces back to them with info about the BBQ).
• Two-Way Messaging – think ChaCha. Example: During church service times, you could allow people to text questions and have someone respond to them personally. (Mental note: We need to do this at Park!) It’s a great way to give them next steps… can change the way you communicate.

Bottom line… you need to check out Jarbyco!

I’ll post Drew’s notes on this when I get them, they will be more accurate than mine!

Are church websites effective tools for outreach and evangelism?

• John 17:18… as you have sent them into the world so I have sent them into the world.
• Facebook is now the “5th largest nation in the world.”
• The world is online so we need to be.
• 64% of wired Americans have used the internet for spiritual or religious purposes. – Pew Research Study
• 0.17% (1 person) said they were not a Christian and influenced to go to the church as a result of visiting the church website.
• 60 million Americans say they use the Internet to make big decisions.
• 6% of churches have Gospel presentation on their websites.
• At present, church websites are ineffective tools of evangelism.
• One possible reason… if you’re not a Christian, you’re not going to go to a church website to learn about God.

How are people finding the church website?

• On average, 25% are on a search looking for it.
• 43% are direct.
• 30% are clicking on a referral.
• What does search hits mean? Non-Christians are finding your site.
• Direct traffic typically means its people in your church, who know.
• The search represents the content of your site and how well it’s laid out.
• The higher the direct traffic, the higher the community involvement
• Referral means your online presence elsewhere.

During usability studies, 88% of web users went to a search engine first to accomplish a task.

Traditional church marketing has its message and you hope it connects with the person’s situation… online searches allow us the opportunity to be a “just in time” church based on what people are searching for.

• Life change – reach people when they need the church the most. (depression, marriage, health, death, illness, transition).
• Think about your town and how you can optimize the life changes people face in your community.
• People stay on a page for about 45 seconds… what are you going to do with that time?
• What are you going to do with the traffic that comes to your web? (Wherever it comes from!)
• Church websites are an effective tool for reaching Christians.
• 16% of people say that the church website is the first time they heard about the church
• #1 area people went on websites for information for new people… how are you thinking for that population?
• Many churches are creating websites for internal purposes, but what are you doing to connect people on the outside.

There’s three populations of people who visit your church website: visitors, beginners (3-6 months), and regulars (6+ months).

• 30% of people who were new to the church said the website is where they learn about the church.
• 77% said the church website was very important in making the decision of whether they were going to visit your church or not.
• A church’s website is people’s first filter to find a church.
• Spend your homepage connecting with first-time visitors and new people to your church.

Triperspectival Design

• Normative
• Existential
• Situational

• What do you want to communicate about your vision?
• What behaviors do you want the visitors to imitate?
• 82% of beginners say the website was important in their participation in the church community.
• 45% said it was important for their spiritual growth.
• 73% said the website was helpful in their evangelism efforts.
• 76% of regulars said the web was still important in their involvement in their church community.
• 47% said it was an active part of their spiritual growth and discipleship.
• 52% of regulars said it was important in sharing their faith.
• 82% of regulars visit the church website at least once a week.

Web Development – Developing a Church Web Strategy

• Internet Presence Management – how and what is your presence online? We have to develop a strategy and lead our people that way, or people will be all over the place. Where are your people online? What are they using? Is all your info on Facebook? Google Groups, etc? Think about the principal issues and how you’re going to accomplish them.
• Website Development - what behaviors do you want from people?
• Community Development - how are you going to engage your community? How do you create space for community online and use Facebook missionally?
• Church Management - online donations, event registration, etc.

Does the church leadership conversation focus too much on innovation, just enough, etc?

CW: We’re not focusing enough on it because our culture is changing so dramatically and rapidly.  People aren’t aware that the first-time visitors to church come to their websites. People consider hiring a great lead pastor, worship pastor, etc and not invest in their website and staffing in areas of media and technology. By using technology doesn’t mean using it for the cool factor, it means, evaluating where culture lives and what part we can and are called to redeem. If we can be were people are and use technology to drive forward the Kingdom, we need to.

LW: We need to be careful, as the Church, to not innovate for the sake of innovating. What’s the purpose and role of the local church in your community? And how can you innovate with that goal in mind Churches get ahead of themselves when they try to innovate for the sake of innovation.

BG: Collectively, the Church doesn’t understand or focus on it at all. There’s examples of churches that lose sight and think that how you use technology replaces why you do things. Technology is a tool. The “why” behind it is not to use technology, we use technology to build the church. We don’t understand how to live in a culture of change.  It’s easy to create a change but difficult to have a culture of change. People need to anticipate change. People need to learn to lean into change.

What are your sources of inspiration for creativity, innovation, connection, etc?

CE: Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill through The City; Andy Stanley, and John Piper.

CW: For tech and media, she gravitates towards people who are asking deeper questions. Carefully weighing what we’re doing it, why we’re doing it, and where’s the Scripture to back it. (Ill: John Piper vs Twitter). There’s a lot of polarization between pro and anti tech people. Beyond that, she believes we’re  just beginning to see the earliest iterations of what online community will look like. She looks to people like John Dyer and Shane Hipps.  We need to find our theological underpinnings to make sure what we’re standing on is what we should be standing on.

BG: In terms of online church, there’s a book called SimChurch that pulls together thoughts and questions about online church. A guy in France named Eric… who runs evangelistic websites that are specialized to different cultural website. Have seen over 1.2 million people come to Christ through their websites.  The thing he personally learns the most from is understanding why people use technology.

LW: Leaving the church world and diving into the coaching world, he’s inspired by the churches that people don’t know about that are doing things that are out of the box. (Ill: Shawn King and Courageous Church in Atlanta built via Facebook.)

SH: We have a tendency to look up, churches that are further ahead than we are. He’s looking at churches that are just starting that are taking risks and making quicker decisions than larger churches can. People like Shawn King, Pete Wilson and Carlos Whittaker, Dave Gibbons, etc.

Are there any current media tools trends that get you excited?

SH: Most excited about leadership and tools like Twitter that enable access to people you didn’t have access to before. And tools  that allow for people to create influence and learning. Also, through using Jarbyco, people are enabled to ask questions they would never ask. They’re getting questions people would never ask and are also able to see what their people care about.

LW: With the transition from church work to coaching, video chat is enabling face-to-face connections. It’s changing the way you can pour into leaders.

BG: Most excited about Carlos’ coaching network. Hehe. Running GoogleAdWords that are intersecting what people are searching for (porn, etc) and redirect them to their online church services. (Ill: Looking for Naked Ladies? Try church online instead.)

CW: LifeChurch.tv’s innovative tools… YouVersion.com, ChurchMetrics.com, church online, etc. And Jarybco… the ability to text and maintain connection with their congregation.

CE: Doing coffee and conversation, and allowing people the opportunity to ask at least five questions during the process of the message.

SH: Interesting that all of the things mentioned are not about broadcast, but about conversation and engaging people in conversation. It’s all about interaction.

How do you create a culture of change?

SH: We’re an 85 year old church and we are the story of that change. The change we needed was a cultural change… not a change of music, style, etc… it was a change of their DNA. There’s a difference between transition and change. Change typically has to do with the outer things we’d change (music, style, etc) – transition has to do with people’s hearts (how they think, what they feel, what they believe).  Churches have a real challenge with change. But if you think about who God is, He’s unchanging, but He’s all about changing us. It’s a journey. We tend to not talk about change and wonder why people are inflexible towards change. God is constantly changing us.  We want to be able to continually morph and change and make that culture of change a part of who we are.

LW: In Andy Stanley’s talk “Don’t Be That Couch” he talks about the “ugly couch” everyone hangs onto… for whatever reason. But sometimes we need to get rid of our ugly couches and replace them with something new. That marked a change from doing KidStuff once a week to once a month at NorthPoint.

CE: We must always be ready for change. We mustn’t hold on to things too tightly.

Complete this sentence. I like it to see when churches use media/technology to ____________.

CE: Drive home a spiritual truth.

SH: help reshape people’s perception of the Church and Christianity. We have a perception problem. The world’s problem isn’t so much with Jesus, but it’s with Christians and Christianity. We need to be wise with how we use technology… like Christian television… we can take it in the wrong direction. Or, we can be intentional about how we use it to celebrate and tell stories.

LW: create followers of Christ who weren’t followers of Christ. (Ill: LifeChurch.tv’s online campus’ “click the button if you’ve accepted Christ.”)

Evangelism on the internet; can it happen, how?

BG: It does happen. So it can happen. How is through all sorts of means… through the places we intersect with people online. Sometimes we overlook the most basic elements… it’s not about significant technology or websites, it starts with you. One of the most significant touch points they have online is their online prayer feature. It’s a one-on-one convo with someone on their team or volunteers. Prayer transcends space and culture, it has no barriers. What’s interesting about the web is that a lot of the criticism of it is the anonymity it creates, but the reality is that all of us walk around with emotional facades all day. Sometimes when the physical facade is removed it makes space for real, deep conversation.

LW: Asked people on his blog what church they go to, and someone responded “this is my church.”

Where do you draw the line on spending for tech excellence vs going towards others missions?

CE: It’s mission vs machine. When you look at a tech issue, is is going towards the mission of your church or the mission of the machine? Work towards the mission… reaching people for Christ. If the technology facilitates the mission, go for it. If it’s majoring on excellence to please people in the room, don’t.

SH: Hopefully they both try to accomplish to reach others.  Technology gives us an amazing tool to let people know what’s going on in the world around us. One of the biggest issues the church faces is ignorance. We need to help our people become more aware… awareness leads to us becoming agitated… and when we’re agitated, we’ll be moved to action.

BG: Answer will be different for everyone. It depends on what God has called your church to uniquely do. The answer lies in your calling… who are you called to be and called to reach? You have to make a choice of where you are going to land on the curve of quality and cost.

CW: There’s the hardware, technology in the room, the software, etc. Online technology is different. Many online services are free. So is Facebook. So is Twitter. Video streaming. Their are applications galore that people in our congregation have access to. The largest mission field in the world is online.

How do we leverage skills/ideas in other churches to connect us and minimize the duplication of effort?

LW: Churches have to get beyond competition and we’ve got to learn to share.

CW: The web makes collaboration simple and makes connection possible. It’s sometimes easier to connect with a pastor online than in person.

BG: VideoTeaching.com is an example they’ve developed… mainly formed out of relationships they’ve established with different pastors and church leaders. Sharing relationships is a way we can help other churches.  We need to learn to leverage the relationships we have.

SH: It comes down to intentionality of sharing an idea that worked.

What are some things that any church of any shape or size could use to leverage technology?

LW: There’s a 16 year old kid in your church that knows more about technology than all of your church staff. Find them and get them plugged in and involved.

CE: From the beginning they’ve had a young intern from Dallas Seminary and have now decided they need to technology pastor to explore the intersection of technology, media and theology.

BG: The emerging generation are late adopters of technology.

SH: So much of it is already developed… we just need to learn how to leverage it.

CW: Pull other people into your dialogue. Sometimes your most obvious errors are not apparent to you.

Is the role of technology in church services changing?

LW: One church in Phoenix is going to move from teaching via preaching to story telling through video.

SM: One of the least interactive times of people’s week could be when they sit in a church service.

CW: The interaction we need to create in our church services needs to be interaction between the people and God. The connection and interaction needs to lead them towards Christ.

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• Just for fun: John’s full name is John Charles Dickey Dyer
• One of the worst things you can do is imagine that technology is neutral.
• There’s to camps… tech lovers and tech haters.
• Both sides use the word “change”
• Tech lovers say it will “change” for good.
• Tech haters say it will “change” for the worse.
• It’s hard to balance our use of technology.
• Humans make tools…. our tools make us.
• What we create has influence back on us.
• We become the things that we behold.
• Psalm 1 … if we sit with those who are righteous we become righteous.
• We tend to believe that about many things, but not about our use of technology.
• Technology is an extension of humanity.
• Technology can be an amputation of humanity.

Evolution of New Technology

• Excitement – “YES! I got a shovel!”
• Difficulty – After you use it, you get blisters
• Transformation – You get stronger as a result of using it.

What kind of tool do you want to become?

Technology often has unintended effects. Most of us don’t think a lot about those effects. We just use what we’re told to use… whatever comes along and what’s new. Do we really need it?

Ages of Technology

• Oral – community memorizes common information.
• Print – logical individuals. (aka… The Bible is true. The Bible says God exists. Therefore, God exists). Many of our beliefs rest on rationale before faith.
• Image – emotional story tellers. We are surrounded by images… we tend to think of how to emotionally convey things with story, instead of logic. That’s the technology we use today.
• Machine – tireless producers. We became what we beheld… machines worked hard, we should work hard.
• Computer – data gatherers.
• Interwebs – loosely re-connected community?

There’s a world of disconnection and reconnection that happens with technology. If someone bothers us, we can block or unfriend them. We have switches.

What the Scripture says about Technology

• The story moves from the garden to the city.
• Who made the stuff in the city?
• Our human creativity is written into the story.
• What we create plays into the story.
• The First Technology in the Bible: clothing (Genesis, Adam & Eve).
• Rebels against God – expresses Imago Dei
• God’s Imago Dei is reflected in our creativty.
• Redeems the effects of the Fall – Foreshadows His return.
• Cain and the City – Cain builds a city, a place that’s alternate from the garden. (Gen 4)
• All the people who made tools and art came from Cain’s city.
• Jesus and the Cross – Jesus was a carpenter. From his job we get the word “technology.” The very tool He worked with was the tool He died on.
• God and the new City – God recreates everything and redeems it.
• God redeems human works.
• We offer redemption through what we create but it can’t compare to what God will give us.

New Testament

• Paul constantly expressed his desire to be with people.  (2 Tim 1:4)
• John didn’t want to use technology, but he did! (2 John 1:12)
• They used technology when they couldn’t be present with people.

Technology should help us stay connected when we can’t be face-to-face with people. Being face-to-face matters. Community sometimes sucks. Being face to face means you have to have a commitment to people you don’t decide to be with. Online community is a different kind of community.

Using Technology without Technology Using You

1. Deny the premise. You can’t use technology without it affecting you.
2. Experiment with Technology. Do something different. (Ill: Don’t take a Bible to church, just sit and listen… experience it differently.)
3. What do I want to cultivate? What do you want to get? What does it require for me to be “good” at it? Is that something you want?
4. Work both through and against technology. Jesus came as a Jew… he fully absorbed the culture to be with them. At the same time, He worked against them, He condemned things they do. We have to be incarnate like Jesus was… meaning we work through and against our technological culture.
5. Use technology as a means, not an end. We use a car as a means to get to an end. Or, we get a crazy awesome car… and use it so owning it is the end, the goal.
6. Create for a new world. All we create, all we do should be for eternity… for something that’s lasting.
7. Become a tool. Influence others for the glory of God. Be a tool He can use.

Phil Cooke is the Founder and Creative Director of Cooke Pictures in Burbank, California. Many of the largest and most effective Christian organizations in the world ask for his advice, and his ideas are changing the way people of faith use media to communicate with the culture. Christianity Today magazine called him a “media guru” and you’ve seen him on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and numerous national magazines. His blog at philcooke.com is a highly respected resource on media, faith, and culture and Phil’s workshops are a rare glimpse into the future of media and entertainment. His new book is “The Last TV Evangelist: Why The Next Generation Couldn’t Care Less About Christian Media… and why it matters.” Phil is also a founding partner in TWC Films, an award winning TV commercial company in Los Angeles that produced two spots that appeared during the 2008 Super Bowl.

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• The open Media Revolution will dramatically shift everything we do.
• We used to have media that we turned “on and off”
• Media is always on.
• Media has become culture in the world we live in today.
• Communication does not begin with words; it begins with connection. – Jedd Medefind & Erik Lokkesmoe, The Revolutionary Communicator
• A brand is a compelling story that surrounds a product, person or organization.
• The big question we need to ask is: What do people think of when they think of you?
• What does our community  think of when they think of our church?
• That’s the key to getting your message heard.
• You don’t see most company’s brand statements.
• Nike’s brand statement is all about the spirit of the athlete.
• Difference between Nike and other shoes is the story that they tell.
• Starbucks brand statement is a “great coffee experience.”
• Everything they do comes out of their brand story.
• It matters because of choice… and we live in a world filled with choices.
• How do you stand out? What makes the difference?
• Is Jesus a brand manager?
• Jesus controlled His perception in every stage of His life.
• Came to earth in a different way. Preached a different message. Did things differently. He left big crowds. He let Himself be arrested. He decided which questions to answer.
• Who controls our perceptions?
• Will you control your story or let other people do it?
• What’s your Story?

The Branding Big Four

• What’s the point? What do you do this? Why do you get up in the morning? What drives you?
• What makes you, you? Who you are matters, it makes up the perspective you have.
• What are your skills and talents? What are you good at right now? Not what you want to do, what you hope to be better at… what are you good at right now?
• What makes you different? The world is looking for unique and different.

We are in the middle of the greatest shift in our culture since the inventing of the printing press.

• We need to pop the bubble… too many of us live in a Christian media bubble.
• We discovered the Christian audience is a buying audience and stopped speaking to the world and started speaking to each other.
• We’re not impacting culture anymore, we need to pop the bubble.
• We don’t need “Christian media” we need Christians who make media.
• We live in one of the most cluttered times in the world of history.
• We receive 3,000-5,000 media messages per day.
• Average TV is on 8 hours and 18 minutes per day.
• How do we get our voice heard in a world filled with different voices?
• First public buildings to open in Afghanistan after the war were movie theaters. That’s the power of media.
• Old media was a one-way conversation; today’s media world has created a two-way conversation.
• We have a voice in the media.
• This generation wants a voice.
• The audience needs a way to talk back.
• This generation picked the next American Idol by texting in their votes… they want a choice.
• Today’s audience wants to be a part of the story.
• Generation after generation of pastors and Christian leaders get it wrong. They believe our only responsibilty is sharing the message.
• “When you find yourself in a hole stop digging.” – Will Rogers

10 Things to Remember…

1. In a media driven culture, visibility is just as important as ability. Get noticed, get seen.
2. You can’t brand a lie. Be who you say you are. In a media-driven culture, what you took up a lifetime to build up can be taken down in an instant. Google is not a search… it’s reputation management. Manage your online presence. If you Google yourself and nothing comes up, you need to get into the digital age. The future is about findability, if you can’t be found, you don’t exist.
3. Being different is everything. Be different. Be unique. People who are unique get noticed.
4. Stop thinking “mass” and start thinking “niche.” We can’t be everything but you could be something unique. Be the best you can be in an incredibly narrow word.
5. Understand the Power of a Name. Names matter because they are the first thing people see, and in a media-driven world, that’s how they will judge you. Be careful where you put your name. In one year enrollment doubled at Grand Rapids Baptist Bible College… now known as Cornerstone University.
6. Speak the language of design. Does your style and media choices reflect the audience you are trying to reach? If you have a flag, a dove, a globe or a flame as images in your church, GET RID OF THEM! Be careful about how you use the cross. The early church never used the cross as a symbol of who they are until after the last person who had seen a crucifixion had died. Images have power. This generation doesn’t get the cross.
7. Lose the Lingo. We’ve created a language no one understands but us. (See my post on Christianese.)
8. Culture is more important than vision. Create a culture where vision can happen.
9. Find the over-arching theme for your life and work. What are you all about? If you cut yourself… what would you bleed?
10. What drives you nuts? The problem that drives you crazy is usually what God is calling you to fix.

It’s not just who you are, it’s how you are perceived that counts.

Influence your own perception, or you will spend your life at the mercy of other people who will.

Phil is actively developing new ways to integrate faith and storytelling through his new creative shop, Jellyfish Labs (JellyfishLabs.com). Phil captured the breathtaking rise—and heartbreaking fall—of Big Idea Productions in the book “Me, Myself & Bob.” He is also the author of the popular children’s books “Sidney and Norman” and “47 Beavers on the Big Blue Sea.”

Phil’s latest Jellyfish Labs project is JellyTelly — an interactive, online “mini-network” for children that is scheduled to launch in fall 2008. This web-based platform is a natural starting point for a wide variety of original programming geared toward helping kids grow in their Christian faith.

Phil lives with his wife Lisa (aka Junior Asparagus) and their three kids in
Wheaton, Illinois. For more information, visit PhilVischer.com.

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• We’re here to talk about the use of media for the propagation of the use of technology for the advancement of the Gospel.
• Phil’s great=grandfather pioneered a radio ministry in Omaha in the early 20′s… that ran from 1923-1964, one of the longest-running radio shows.
• He was ambivalent about the use of technology for the advancement of the Gospel until he heard from someone that accepted Christ as a result of listening.
• He was questioning whether the Holy Spirit could work through technology, turns out it could.
• “Unction can be transmitted!”
• VeggieTales sold over 50 million videos… outsold any other children’s videos/media in the late 90s/early 2000.
• Top 10 most-watched videos on college campuses!
• VeggieTales was spoofed by Saturday Night Live and was parodied 3 times on The Simpsons.
• Phil learned early on that the only thing that mattered is what He did for Christ and wanted to get moving doing stuff for God’s Kingdom.
• He recognized his ability to tell stories through film.
• In 1993 created the first VeggieTales film.
• It was originally made big by viral marketing, word-of-mouth.
• Decided to get busier by creating more… videos, movies, shows, products, books, etc.
• By 2000, they employed 300 people… one of the largest video production studios between the coasts.
• Momentum was gained, but cracks started to surface.
• Realized he needed to do something: let people go.
• From there, it basically fell apart.
• He got an email from a random lady before it all started to go downhill that said, “be careful and watch your pride.”
• What does it mean when God gives you a dream… then it comes alive… and dies?
• 2 Kings 4 … story of the Shunammite woman.
• Elisha told her that she’d have a son… she’d have someone to take care of her.
• Her response to him shows the deep-seated dream she had to have a son.
• A year later, she had a baby… and it died.
• Elisha brought the child back to life.
• That’s the story of the Shunammite woman.
• He who has God plus many things has no more than he who has God alone. – CS Lewis
• So what’s the point? If God gives you dream and breathes life into it, and then it dies, it could be God wants to show you what’s more important to you… Him or the dream.
• Once you see that, the dream might come back, or it might not, but that’s OK because you’ll still have God.
• Abraham had a dream and a promise… and was asked to give up Isaac.
• Anything you are unwilling to let go of is an idol, and it’s a sin.
• When people in the Bible didn’t know what to do, they do nothing. They just wait for Him.
• We misinterpret Proverbs 29:18… it’s not for a lack of VISION that people perish, it’s a lack of revelation.
• For lack of revelation… when people don’t have revelation from God… a word form God… they throw off restraint and do whatever feels right to them, in their own eyes.
• It’s not because we don’t have large enough programs, media, etc. It’s because we’re not focusing the people of God on the word of God.
• If you don’t know what God wants you to do, wait on Him.
• God calls listeners and waiters.
• Noah was 500 when he got revelation for the ark when he was 500. What did he do before? He walked with God. (Gen 6:9).
• The world learns about God by watching Christians… not our programs, media, etc.
• God knew who to call because He knew who was listening.
• As Phil “died” to his dreams he found new life… and less of a desire to make an impact and more of a desire to know God.
• “God could have spared me from the pain of Big Idea’s collapse… but He didn’t.”
• It was all about death to his ambition and his dreams… it was about him and God.
• Why is waiting on God so important? If I’m not waiting on God I don’t know what He wants me to do.
• We need to be quiet enough to hear God’s whispers, His direction.
• If we make His directions more important than Him, we’re useless to Him.
• The impact God has planned for us doesn’t occur when we are pursuing impact, it comes when we are pursuing God.
• The most important thing in our lives and at this conference is not the work that we can do for God, the most important thing is to make God the most important thing.
• Do you dream of the work you can do for God? Do you carry ambition for changing the world for His name?
• When you’re willing to let that die, relying completely on your relationship with Him, you’re ready to be used by Him.
• Dreams have specific outcomes. Dreams can make us do terrible things. Hitler had a dream.
• Callings don’t have specific outcomes.
• When we start with an outcome, we’ve started off track.
• You don’t learn things when you succeed, you learn things when you fail.
• Dreams are deep longings.
• Often we graft our dreams onto God’s calling. And that’s when we get them confused. And that leads to bad decisions.

Dawn Nicole Baldwin is a strategist with a passion to help churches reach people more effectively. She lives this out as founder and lead strategist of AspireOne and as a senior partner with Jarbyco, a mobile communications firm specializing in live events that works with organizations such as Park Community Church, Lifechurch.tv and Youth Specialties.

A former staff member of Big Idea Productions [creators of VeggieTales] and Willow Creek, Dawn Nicole frequently contributes to today’s leading-edge thinking of integrating Christianity and culture but is best known as a change agent who is intent on stretching imaginations, connecting people and making a difference.

About Cynthia Ware
Cynthia Ware is a consultant with an in depth expertise in two areas: online technologies and strategic church development.

Equipped with two decades of pastoral ministry and a Master’s Degree in New Media, Cynthia helps Christian leaders develop online communication strategies to compliment their ministry goals. She consults pastors, churches, ministries and non-profits in how to use their online presence to enrich and expand their ministry reach.

Besides consulting, she is an active public speaker & writer. This year she has presented at Biola University, the Internet Ministry Conference, Willow Creek’s Group Life Conference, the Dynamic Church Conference, Innovation3 and The Idea Camp.

Her personal blog, The Digital Sanctuary, encourages Christian leaders to explore, embrace and employ participatory media technologies to serve the Kingdom of God. Additionally, she is a co-contributor to several other online sites including Digital, the Leadership Network’stechnology blog. She is also an officer for many online Christian networks, websites and internet resources.

Since 2001, Cynthia and her husband Bob, an associate pastor, have lived in the greater Los Angeles area with their two teenage children and a lot of computers.

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Social Media – a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many).

• The church has existed as a monologue.
• We don’t want to be talked at, we want to be talked with.
• We don’t want to be talked to, we want to be talked with.
• We cannot project what our trajectories will be like through social media.
• Christianity is spread virally.
• Technology is opening a new door and opportunity for the church.
• Check out a new book called SimChurch… not released yet, about the number of people Christians are reaching online.
• Social media allows us to connect hubs and connect people with like-mindedness and passions and connect them.
• People now drive and author content.
• We need to shift our mindset in how we think how we should communicate.
• Facebook, Twitter, Web, YouVersion have changed the way we communicate.
• 250 million people are on Facebook.
• 4.6 million people are on Twitter.

What does that mean for us?

1. We can avoid it.
2. We can realize it’s already there, already happened, it’s free, and figure out what can we do with it.

Facebook

• The connections that happen online become far more tightly connected and woven than it used to through social media (e.g. when you post something to Facebook and people respond to it.).
• It’s not about publishing your sermon, it’s about finding places for people to connect in real and authentic ways (even though it’s virtual).
• Websites should not be static, they should be dynamic and link to social media.
• Use social media to start conversations.
• Key to Facebook is the number of people that are on it… the most vital dimensions of ministry are often on the edges.
• Courageous Church was pioneered via Facebook.
• Found an ad blast on Saturday is more effective than an ad a day.

Free & Paid Services

• File sharing is critical to new media.
• Flickr and YouTube are free, most people have accounts there.
• If your website is connected to YouTube or Facebook, there’s a high likelihood your website will be used as a “place” not just a “space.”
• Free spaces created interconnectivity.
• Ning is a great social media tool to use.
• Most churches pay per user for services like Unifyer, Cobblestone, etc which give churches a level of control and moderation. And they give a “safe zone” for members.
• Where you put your money is where your investment will be.
• Most churches see the web as being a vital part of their ministry, but don’t fund to staff and manage it.
• First-time visitors will come from your webpage first.
• If you opt for a private online community, connect it to Facebook, don’t abandon it.

Interactive Tools & Services

• Tokbox – video calls.
• Jarbyco – text messaging.
• Cover it Live & UStream – interactive chats.
• Usually the church is being seen as “slow” when it comes to these things. But, the Church seems to be blazing the way in thinking through how we can leverage these new social media platforms.

Churches to watch: LifeChurch.tv, Park Community Church (right on!)

• Each church has an opporutnity to innovate in their own way in accordnace with their own calling.
• That’s different than jumping in on other people’s  ideas.
• Salt loses its seasoning… it becomes like another instead of being it’s own unique flavor.
• Who do we want to reach? What do we want to accomplish? And how can technology help us get there?
• We need real life touch and connection but not miss the free connection points technology allows us.
• Go to where people are already at.

iCampuses

• Many churches are launching internet campuses.
• There’s not a “one size fits all” approach.
• Community is key.
• iCampuses to watch: LifeChurch.tv, New Hope, North Point, Flamingo Road

7 Deadly Sins of Social Media

• Lust – loving your audience is great, but take it slow. Don’t stalk or overwhelm your audience.  No one wants to be spammed by their church.
• Gluttony – don’t bite off more than you can chew.  Start slow with a few things instead of trying to do it all at once.
• Greed – it’s hard to shake hands while you’re reaching for someone’s wallet. Don’t pressure people to volunteer… don’t stalk people to do things they haven’t asked. Texting is permission based. Treat those relationships like gold.
• Sloth – avoid the temptation to “set it and forget it.” We need to be intentional!
• Wrath – there are a lot of people out there itching fora punch in the nose, but don’t be the one to give it to them. Be careful what gets posted in any social media channel.
• Envy – don’t be dissuaded by other people “doing it better than you.” Stay focused on the mission God has set before you.
• Pride – stay humble, rock star.

Questions to Consider When Diving into Social Media:

• What’s the goal?
• What is the best tool?
• How much does it cost?
• How will we create buy-in?
• When will we evaluate?
• How will we measure success?

It is worth it to experiment. The goal is to use the technology, not the technology using you. It’s a tool for enhanced communication. What works best for you might not work for someone else.

Key things to watch are GLOBAL and MOBILE.

Your congregation should be moving to paperless.

Churches should not have “turn your phone off” signs, they should have turn your phone on signs.”

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Monk Development and a number of other faith-based media outlets are sponsoring a study of the Church online… looking at how churches are using and interacting with social media and the web. [Check out Drew's blog for more.]

Some results they found…

• 51% of participating churches are on Facebook
  - Churches are using Facebook as an extension of their church.
  - More informational, used more as communications vehicle, less of a community building presence.
• Limited use of MySpace, Second Life, GoogleGroups, etc.
• 21% on Twitter
• A small number are using a members portal or private community site (Unifyer, TheCommon.org, 360Hubs, etc).
• 82% of surveyed churches didn’t even know about the different products out there.
• Encourage your church to register your church name on different social media outlets so you have rights to your name.
• Church networking and community sites have made little inroads into the church.
• A problem with all of the different avenues out there is that there’s not a collected, central spot to communicate from… especially if your church is not leading the way and providing a consistent platform for people to use.

Social Media Desires
What feature/funcationality are people in our churches looking for from our church websites?

• Event Sign-up/RSVP’s.
• Post Prayer Requests.
• Connect People to Service Opportunities.
• Connect with Small Groups.
• Integration with church website.
• Resource sharing.
• Ability to access TV/phone directory.

Congregations didn’t care about:

• blogging
• ability to post classifieds
• ability to post photos in photo galleries
• ability to post jobs

Most mainstream social networking sites do no offer churches the seamless solutions they seek.

Questions to Ask on Building Community

1. Is virtual community real community?
2. What is Biblical community? How are we living out Biblical community in a real way?
3. How can technology assist in this process? It can assist, but it cannot replace. It must drive people into real relationships.

Discipleship

1. How many of you feel like you have been discipled online? Online discipleship is a dangerous thing when it’s done outside of real life relationships. It’s more than courses, training and learning… it’s about relationships.
2. How can technology assist this process? There are tools and resources we can use to communicate and enhance discipleship.

Most church online media is used for communication, contact, event and small group management, etc. Primarily focused on “us” and not focused on the individual and not contributing to building community, connecting people, etc.

Top challenges of using social media in churches.

• Amount of effort required
• Identifying appropriate goals/ROI
• Fostering real community
• Cultural resistance from congregation or church leadership.

For more information about the State of the Church Online Study, click here.

Also, check out the Cobblestone Community Network, a new tool designed to help the Church be the Church, online… designed by Drew + his team at Ekklesia360.