Just a few hours ago, I was a part of something fascinating. I was watching buddy Chris Forbes of MinistryMarketingCoach.com talk with a San Francisco radio station about Facebook for Pastors.
Yes, I was watching Chris and his co-hort, Jeff Wilson, the Communication and Innovations Pastor at Henderson Hills Baptist Church (wow what a title for a church! Alot of you in small biz need to consider having staff dedicated to such efforts). It was a great conversation about using the amazing tools and technologies of today to reach people. Here’s how the different media tools made it happen:
1. I heard about the LIVE event because I saw Chris tweet about the event – @cforbesoklahoma
2. I went to Chris’ Facebook page to learn more and saw that they were also streaming live video via Mogulus.
3. So we listened live to the streaming audo on the radio station, but then I just ended up watching Jeff and Chris on Jeff’s Mogulus channel – it was much more fun than just listening to the radio!
4. On Jeff’s Mogulus channel, I was able to chat live with Chris, Jeff and a bunch of others who joined the online chat about the topic – cool to connect and build community with a number of new people. We exchanged Facebook and Twitter addresses.
Yes, I am fascinated by the technology. But more than that, I am thrilled at the way technology affords connection, content and community. I learned new things tonight about using Facebook and Twitter and even Texting to communicate with more people. But rather than a one-sided lecture, I enjoyed not only seeing Chris and Jeff LIVE (for those who still need to at least to know the face of the person they are connecting with over the internet . . . more than a profile pic!), but I loved connecting with other like-minded people in the chat area.
Sharing. Exchanging ideas. Learning. Growing. Meeting.
That’s how community becomes real . . .
-Randy
I meant to put this in – but forgot. My Portland friend, Matthew Scott, makes a case for how churches are setting the standard for the use of new media:
http://site.lifesworkgroup.com/blog/2008/12/15/new-media-churches-are-kicking-our-secular-ass.html
Randy,
It was great meeting you last night. Thanks for participating in the LIVE broadcast. I also agree with you, using technology for Kingdom purposes is exactly what God would want us to do in this day and time. I look forward to meeting you Face to Face, hopefully soon.
Jeff
@jeffwilson –
it was indeed alot of fun to participate. Again, taking what could have been a 1-dimensional observation event for me (listening to you guys on the radio – ) and making it multi-dimensional (radio, web, interactive chat and now you are over here on my site). That’s community building – and community strengthens all of us for greater good, more effective and efficient resource allocation and so much more ….