Talking with the Online Generation

Online, the medium creates a cultural expectation of interaction.  If we insist on using a broadcasting or narrowcasting strategy within a conversational medium, we will have very limited success.
Offline churches use a broadcasting strategy in their Sunday morning services.  A few, very innovative churches, cloned this approach online.  In Second Life, they bought land, built [...]

How Groups Function Online

Many people mistakenly see ‘Facebook’ or ‘MySpace’ or other social media services as groups or communities in an of themselves.  I hear things like, “The Facebook community…” or “The MySpace community…”  Truth is, Facebook and other social media services are more like online megacities - many diverse communities gathered into an online space.  But, unlike [...]

The Wrong Question

People ask all the time, “Can people really experience community online?” or “Is that REAL community?”
I’ve supplied different arguements for online communities, but I had a recent realization - it really doesn’t matter whether people experience REAL community online or not.  That determination isn’t important.  
What is important is that there are lost people interacting [...]

The Power of a Tweet

A friend of mine tweeted:
[My daughter] is in the recovery room… Trying to wake her up, but she’s SO SLEEPY!
Obviously I was alarmed.  I picked up my phone to text him back and figure out what was going on.  In the middle of my text, my phone vibrated.  Another tweet from my friend.  This [...]

Common Objections to Online Spiritual Community

Carlos Whittaker of Ragamuffin Soul posted this on his blog today:
Barna states by the year 2010 over FIFTY MILLION AMERICANS will get rely on the internet for their religious experience.
Talk.
What does that mean for us?
Los
Carlos is a great blogger, and I’m glad he brought this up for discussion.  His readers had some good thoughts and [...]

What Squidoo Lenses Have to Do with Church

The church has a hard time contributing meaningfully to conversations online.  Most church websites scream, “ME, ME, ME!”  or “WE, WE, WE!” without considering the millions of people who don’t have a reason to care the church thinks.  Consequently, most people tune the church out.
I believe the church can get back into meaningful conversation and [...]

One Thing Leads to Another

Tonight I’m participating in a chat with members of a community I found on Plurk.  The group leader read my blog, asked questions, and liked what I had to say.  This is the second time I’ve interacted with them in a private chat environment.  I participate in the discussion as I have things to contribute.
The [...]

The Unwritten Rules of Talking About Your Faith Online

I’m starting to get an idea of how and where I can talk about Jesus online. I nudge the boundaries and note when and how people respond. Sometimes they accept what I’m talking about. Sometimes they push back. Here are just a few random observations.
Twitter and Plurk are great places to [...]

Eight Signs of Online Community

When I hike around the internet, I’m looking for one thing - community. Gospel planting is most effective when you work with existing communities. The alternative - extracting people from one community and cobbling another - creates loads of problems that consume chunks of time. Many problems in the church come from [...]