Sometimes, I wonder how what I’ve said can be misunderstood until I get a fresh perspective from someone else to re-read what I’ve said. And then it hits me: “Ooooh. What I meant was…”

I’ve learned that email is a poor communication medium for conveying emotion, sarcasm or subtlety. What I’m continuing to learn is that with social media – and the 140 characters of Twitter, in particular – it’s important to re-read what we say before we have it hit the web.

This happened to me tonight, and it took me a while to understand what the hub-bub was all about. Here’s what I tweeted:

“PASTORS: Please use Twitter & Facebook to share your life instead of spamming scripture. We’ve already got YouVersion.com.”

What I Meant Was…

I intended to help pastors understand that while tweeting scripture is OK, you’ve gotta do a lot more than send lots of verses our way if we are to get to know you. So, my intention was to help them think about sharing more personal stuff and less about multiple verses a day making up the bulk of their tweet stream. So, I used some humor (or, attempted to) to say that we’ve got lots of scripture opportunities online already with YouVersion.com (online Bible tool).

What Happened Was…

I had some people read what I wrote as making scripture look unimportant, or, worse, less important than sharing their personal insights. So, as a way to set the record straight, I then sent a second tweet out on the heels of the brewing controversial tweet:

“REVISED 4 clarification: Instead of spamming scripture, share life application & revelation, not recitation. Share the impact of the verse!”

From my perspective, one of the best benefits of Twitter/Facebook is the ability to gain insight into what you think and how you receive revelation. To me, a tweet that illustrates the application, truth and real-life moments of scripture are – usually – more insightful to me than seeing a litany of verses tweeted ad nauseum. Sure, the Word never returns void, so tweeting scripture is good, but it’s not the only thing you should tweet.

Step out from behind the pulpit and show me your sermon illustrated in how you live life. Help us understand how scripture comes alive in your life, your actions and your thinking!

So, we good? I hope so!

The lines between our ‘work lives’ and our ‘personal lives’ have been blurred due to the interchange of social media and technology. Though not anonymous, there is a certain sense that because we’re not looking directly at someone when we share something electronically, our status update is somehow still limited to a semi-private audience.

What we say is both a reflection of who we are and what we represent. Beyond a personal sphere of influence, church staff and lay leaders are physical representatives of the character, culture and convictions of the church they serve. Therefore, what is shared or made available through status updates, pictures and blogs needs to be filtered through the lens of the church ethos.

A couple of years ago pastor Tom Lane of Gateway Church in Southlake, TX, asked me to write up a social media policy for his review. In the end, I created a framework instead of a policy since I’m only a volunteer at the church and am not privy to the entire staff culture or administrative oversight and boundaries over staff. Tom took this framework and modified it to fit the ethos of Gateway and infused his own gentle yet firm wisdom into what is now the Gateway social media policy. I’m thankful that Tom shared with me the final version, as it gave me insight into what he and the leadership believe and expect. The result of the combined effort sent me back to the drawing board to rethink the framework I originally wrote.

I won’t share Gateway’s policy because I fear many churches would simply use it as-is, when what they need to do is think through how their own ethos should modify the policy. Instead, taking cues from the venerable and wise pastor Tom Lane, I’ve copied and pasted the text from my new “Church Social Media Framework”, with HTML formatting, for use in your churches.

NOTE: This document (content) is made to be changed. It’s a framework, not a policy, and has obvious places where churches will need to add, modify or take away. I’ve intentionally not made it copy-and-paste “instantly use-able” because I really want you to think through what you believe, why you believe it and how it will impact your church staff. Simply copy and paste the content below and modify it for your church. This is provided free to all Christian churches.

Church Social Media Framework

CHURCH NAME HERE

Social Media Communications FRAMEWORK

DATE HERE

Introduction and Purpose

Many individuals and departments are interested in using digital communication services beyond email, such as text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, etc to maintain contact and to send important, but unsolicited, messages to members and contacts of theirs and of CHURCH NAME HERE: for example, to all members, all staff, department leaders, or to some combination of these large segments of our data file.

Email systems and email addresses, cell phones, and computers are provided to the employee to be used primarily for ministry purposes.  We believe that ministry by its very nature is relational so use of digital communication to expand and develop a sense of community is a valuable tool for reaching people but needs appropriate guidelines.

The goals of all CHURCH NAME HERE communication are these:

1. To promote member and community awareness of ministry initiatives and opportunities.
2. To support ministry efforts by targeted promotion and timely interactive feedback.
3. To provide relational points of connection and response through blogs, social networking software, church ministry websites, email and text messaging.

This policy sets forth boundaries for using these digital forms of communication by employees and leaders of CHURCH NAME HERE.

Electronic Communications Policy

When sending a mass email to members of segmented groups of the congregation the email should be run through the DEPARTMENT NAME HERE for timing and coordination.  For further details, reference the CHURCH NAME HERE Email Policy.

All communication through any electronic form is subject to public scrutiny and can represent a reputation risk to the individual as well as to CHURCH NAME HERE.  Therefore, it is important for each person to consider carefully the information shared through these mediums.

• Opinions expressed could be unintentionally interpreted as representing the position of CHURCH NAME HERE although they are communicated through a non-CHURCH NAME HERE source like Facebook or Twitter.

• Personal information that is shared through these mediums can present yourself, someone else, or the church in a bad or compromised light. Most often when it comes to images and words of communication, perception becomes reality. Therefore, we must be careful with both what and how we communicate so that our motive is not misunderstood.

• Pictures and information posted on personal sites are public with world-wide exposure and therefore can have work implications related to reputation risk.  For further details reference the CHURCH NAME HERE Outside Interest Policy.

Philosophies to Consider when Communicating

• CHURCH NAME HERE’S Social Covenant declares INSERT HOW THE CHURCH VIEWS THE VALUE AND IMPORTANCE OF RELATONSHIPS AND WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE SOCIAL COVENANT WITH THE CONGREGATION, therefore communication should be positive and honoring so as to not violate the Social Covenant.

• We believe that integrity is necessary for ministry therefore we cannot communicate confidential personal or sensitive information about people through these public digital sources.  Reference the CHURCH NAME HERE Privacy Policy for further guidelines.

• When using text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, and other similar digital forms of communication to contact CHURCH NAME HERE members preference should be given to “OPT IN” opportunities for members to participate rather than assuming that since we have the capability to communicate with the individual that they will want every bit of communication we can give them. Over-communication or communication to the wrong target audience is viewed as “spam”.

• Each employee must realize their responsibility for appropriate online communication behavior both with content and contact. It is our responsibility to maintain boundaries for our communications that are appropriate and righteous as they reflect CHURCH NAME HERE and, more importantly, the Lord.

Content Topics

Appropriate text and posting topics include, but are not limited to:

• Timely departmental and ministry updates.

• Specific information to parents or family members related to completion time of ministry events, arrival time from trips, and prayer/ministry updates from events.

• Administrative announcements that are specific and time-critical.

• Personal information that enables individuals to feel connected with you as a leader of an area of ministry or the church and which enables them to get to know you at an appropriate social level.

• Invitation for participation or involvement in departmental ministry.

Inappropriate topics include, but are not limited to:

• Any message whose content goes beyond your departmental mission or your appropriate personal data.

• Any discussion or presentation of sensitive CHURCH NAME HERE organizational or ministry information that has not already been made public.

• Any solicitation for personal benefit.

• Any message that includes improper or discourteous content or abusive language (including sexually-suggestive content, profanity, racial or sexual slurs) or that is otherwise not consistent with CHURCH NAME HERE’S core teachings and beliefs.

Communication with Minors

Based upon applicable law, the church considers anyone under eighteen (18) years of age to be a minor.  Great care should be exercised when communicating with a minor. As an employee you should avoid any communication which:

• Would potentially allow the minor’s personal information, address, phone number, picture or similar personal information to be available over the Internet or to third-parties not having a proper church-related purpose.

• Violates the church’s children/youth policies or would violate the policies if communicated in person rather than in a virtual or digital format.

• Requests the minor to agree to or participate in an activity or undertaking which requires parental consent or that would customarily be understood to require parental consent. All contact and communication must respect the parents authority with their children.

• Suggests the minor meet with you for any kind of activity not part of regular church events or a church-related purpose.

• Would be considered as child abuse or neglect as described by the church’s policies and applicable law.

If your ministry lay leadership is in contact with minors as part of their duties, the DEPARTMENT NAME will provide a non-staff email address (FIRSTNAMELASTNAME@CHURCHNAMEVOLUNTEER.ORG) and the necessary steps to set this up with a free email service such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail. The purpose of this email address is to provide a non-private email for lay leadership to connect with minors that is filtered through the CHURCH NAME HERE email servers for oversight and accountability. See DEPARTMENT NAME for further details.

Online Communication Methodologies

The term “online” is continually being updated because of new technologies. Therefore, the following is representative of the current technologies available today.

Email

The policy of the church requires the employees to respond to emails in a timely way. A timely response is defined as taking place within a 24-hour period. For other details related to emails, refer to the CHURCH NAME HERE Email Policy.

Text Messaging

Text messaging is one of the fastest ways to connect with the cell phones of our congregation. We are responsible for our own text activities and the amount of text information we send out.

It is recommended that text messages are sent only to those who request to be updated via SMS text. Not everyone has a text messaging plan, so we do not want to force our members to incur charges for texts if they do not have a text message plan.

Minors use text messaging on cell phones far more than they use cell minutes to talk on their phones. Though this is an obvious means of communication with minors, great care must be taken to establish specific boundaries and guidelines for texting with minors that relate to both content and time of day the texting takes place. All lay leaders that text with minors must agree to and sign our Texting Policy document that allows CHURCH NAME HERE the right to request and view all text messages with minors.

Ministry Group SMS Text Messaging

Reaching the cell phones of our members, volunteers and lay leaders is one of the best ways to share urgent information and event reminders. Unlike email, text messaging requires short, concise messages with actionable items. We encourage our staff to find ways to leverage text messaging to specific people-groups as an effective means of communication.

Various tools exist for text messaging and need to be evaluated for consistency with the existing privacy policy and for opt-in availability. There are to be no private departmental tools for group communication or data base management.  The tools for text messaging communications are to reviewed and approved by the IT Department. All data entered about members and attendees of the church and are to be entered into the CHURCH MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE NAME HERE or other software approved through IT. Therefore, use wise judgment about which text messages need to be copied and into the member record for unique or urgent issues.

Personal Social Networks

Some of the newest and least understood tools are online social networks. Ranging from simple, personal connection points such as MySpace and Facebook to group-wide, affinity-based social groups such as Ning, to the text message based service, Twitter, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each tool in the context of sharing information. Most important is remembering that all of these mediums are public to one extent or another. Therefore, staff is cautioned to be very careful when updating private information with these tools.

Facebook

Facebook allows both individuals and organizations to create profiles for sharing information, pictures, experiences and even videos on a large platform. Though some levels of security exist, the church Privacy Policy and Communications Policy guidelines need to be adhered to as boundaries for online community tools.

Each ministry may want to create a specific “Group” on Facebook as a way to share pictures, calendar updates, event details and unique, ministry-specific information. All church-sponsored Facebook groups should include links back to the church website and/or church website ministry pages.

Twitter

Twitter is unique in both its ability to allow each person to learn and share with others (those they ‘follow’) and to share and update information with those interested in you or your ministry (‘followers’).

Twitter is considered a valuable tool that can be used for staying connected to church members. As such, personal interaction and sharing certain aspects of your personal life are encouraged as a part of building community. However, never forget that even your personal Twitter accounts are representing the church and your actions are reflections of the church as a whole.

For the development of community, if a ministry staff person is on Twitter the IT department will put links to Twitter accounts on the church website as an additional method for people to connect and get to know the leaders of the church and be able to follow a particular ministry or ministry team member.

MySpace

Each department must decide if a church-sponsored MySpace page is warranted due to the fact that the advertising displayed on MySpace cannot be controlled.  Individual MySpace accounts for ministry staff are discouraged.

Church Website

The church website is created, maintained, and serviced by the CHURCH NAME HERE (DEPARTMENT NAME HERE). Departmental and individual websites created by staff should be reviewed and approved by the DEPARTMENT NAME HERE.  For further details reference the Church Website Policy.

Blogs

Blogs (also called Weblogs) are a popular way of sharing resources, thoughts, links, and stories in a format that can vary from paragraphs of text to audio recordings (podcasts), and video recordings (vidcasts). Overall, blogs are an incredibly helpful way to share “beyond the website” in a format that’s typically casual, personable and freely accessible. Blogs should be presented to the DEPARTMENT NAME HERE for approval and inclusion on the main CHURCH NAME HERE website.

The church policy on confidentiality applies to blogs. Personal information shared can present yourself, someone else, or the church in a bad or compromised light. Most often when it comes to image and words of communication, perception becomes reality, so we must be careful in regards to what and how we communicate so that our intention is not misunderstood. An abundance of caution and common sense is required.

Church Blogs

It is expected that churches sponsor blogs be on the church website as micro-sites (i.e. pastorsblog.churchname.com). This allows for greater search optimization and easier navigation for site visitors.  When these blogs are presented to the DEPARTMENT NAME HERE, they will, as a part of the approval process, be included on the main church website.

Personal Blogs

Privacy concerns for sharing confidential information must be maintained. Each department and individual must operate within the guidelines of this policy regarding the content of their personal blog. When a ministry staff person has a personal blog it needs to be declared on the Outside Interest Declaration form to their Executive overseer.  For further details reference the CHURCH NAME HERE Outside Interest Policy.

There will undoubtedly be technological advances in the future that are not specifically described under this policy. Each employee should use their best judgment to assume that the overriding concerns for security and privacy expressed throughout this policy apply to such new technology and the employee’s adopting and using new technology are expected to bring such advances to the attention of the church’s DEPARTMENT NAME HERE for evaluation and the Human Resources Department for consideration related to updating this policy.

Church Oversight

As a staff member of the church, your online activities are a reflection of the church and represent your ministry. Therefore, your opinions expressed can be taken as representing the position of the church, although it is communicated on your own personal communications tools online.

Account Access

The IT Department will determine which accounts have a master password and email address associated with the church. In this way, accountability and protection of church communications, even those shared through “personal” accounts, will be monitored by the IT Department and reported to church leadership.

Privacy Expectations

All church communication equipment (computers, telephones, network, servers, etc.) belong to the church and are ultimately subject to being inspected or reviewed by appropriate church personnel.

Utmost care should be taken not to publish or make publicly available, directly, or by virtue of links, passwords or employee personal information such as social security numbers, drivers license numbers, home address or other information that should reasonably be held confidential.

For further information on privacy issues reference the CHURCH NAME HERE Privacy Policy.

Online Public Statements

Care must be taken to not speak on behalf of the church. All public statements and interactions on behalf of the church or its ministries will be coordinated through the DEPARTMENT NAME HERE to the press, both offline and online. An employee is not authorized to make any public statement regarding: church policy organizational structure, management, governance issues, or regarding any alleged liability of the church to any third-party that has not already been communicate through the DEPARTMENT NAME HERE or from the pulpit in a worship service.  Employees are instructed to direct all questions on these issues to the DEPARTMENT NAME HERE.

Digital Communication for Commercial and political activities

CHURCH NAME HERE is a nonprofit entity. If it engages in commercial or political activities, that nonprofit status can be threatened or expose the church to tax liabilities. Employees should avoid or limit any situation in which commercial or political links are established between the church’s communications and third-parties. If there are such links, the church could be considered to be a sponsor of those advertised commercial activities or an endorser of a political candidate could lead to liability for the church. The church can take positions regarding matters of public policy or regarding social issues so long as it meets the following criteria:

(a) It does not become an endorsement of a particular political candidate or party.

(b) It does not advocate specific legislative change such that the church is viewed as being involved in lobbying.

Any issues not declared above need to be brought to the attention of your direct supervisor for review with the church leadership. This policy exists to provide accountability and security for staff and lay leadership.

A reasonable expectation to privacy. With the online world intersecting more of our lives on a nearly daily basis, do we have really have a reasonable expectation to privacy?

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. That’s one type of privacy that, at least here in America, we can expect. But beyond denying someone access to things in our homes, cars on wallets, are our lives really private?

I submit that we’ve willingly sacrificed privacy for immediacy.

We share our lives out loud. From GoWalla or FourSquare telling me exactly where you are, to Twitter and Facebook telling me what you’re up to, and blogs telling me what you think, to out of office email messages, we’re providing an unprecedented level of access into our daily lives.

It used to be we had work lives and personal lives. No longer. The lines between our work life and personal life have been blurred due to our propensity to share. Though not anonymous, there is a certain sense that because we’re not looking directly at someone when we share something, our status update is somehow still limited to a semi-private audience.

Though it is possible to use multiple accounts and limit networks to only a few followers – I do this myself with a ‘family-only’ Twitter account – the reality is that anyone can choose to re-post anything I say in a very public fashion. You see, privacy today is limited only to the extent that I control what I share and when I share it.

We seem to have forgotten that what we share, say, post and do online is stored, forever accessible, cross-indexed, referenced and cached. I wonder how many young people looking to advance in a career 10 or 20 years from now will have what they’ve shared today come back to haunt them? And here’s another thought: our kids and our kids’ kids will have more than a photo album and grandma’s memories to find out about good ‘ol granddad.

Do we have a reasonable expectation to privacy? I think we have a very limited expectation to privacy when we share so freely. What say you?

I am not the provider for my family. I am not the provider for my family. I am not the provider for my family. I have to keep repeating that to myself from time to time as a reminder that all – ALL – provision comes from the Lord. It’s a lesson that has taught me to rely on God for my daily bread, regardless of where my income comes from. I can be an instrument of provision, but the provision is the Lord’s alone.

Having said that, I’m asking you to be an instrument of provision for someone – TODAY – who needs our help.

An Urgent Need
This morning, I received an email with a humble but urgent plea from a very Godly husband and father; a man who 28 months ago lost a baby boy to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). They are financially devastated and are asking for help.

Having gone through a financial devastation myself, I know exactly what this man feels like. The difference is that he had the guts to post his need online so that the body of Christ could be a blessing to him and his family.

$10 – We All Have $10
Since our financial whirlwind, we’ve come out on the other side rebuilding and are now faithful to a new budget that represents our diligence to fully recover and honor God with our stewardship of finances. Yet, even with our tight budget and commitment to being debt-free, we can give a little to help this family.

He’s asking for each of us to send whatever we can to SIDSAMERICA.org as a support for them and their ministry. $10 bucks is something everyone I know personally can donate to this family. If you can do more, that’s great, too.

I’m reminded of the story of the widow in 1 Kings, chapter 17, who gave the last of her oil and flour to Elijah. From her obedience and generous spirit, the Lord kept the oil and flour from running out for THREE YEARS! I’m also reminded of the woman in Mark, chapter 12, who gave 2 mites – a very small offering – but who Jesus said gave more than the many who were rich had given.

Will you be an instrument of provision and bless this family today? I’ve never asked for any of you to support anything before, so I believe you will see the opportunity to serve another member of the body in a tangible way.

To donate to this family who has been generous and responsible stewards, please go to SIDSAMERICA.ORG.

I’ve made his entire email plea available so you can read for yourself the integrity and heart of this Godly man who is calling upon the body – the “Big C” Church – to help them in a time of need, if you so desire. Just click the “more” link below.

- Anthony

–
SIDS America
www.sidsamerica.org

Recently I saw a tweet from pastor Randy Cochran that asked: “Who is the mentor that has had the most influence on your life?” A name immediately popped up into my head, but I decided to think about it and weigh the first thought against my many memories of people who have mentored me throughout the years. At the end of my pondering, I realized that my first reaction was not only correct, it was immensely justified.

I can’t explain it any other way: The favor of God has been upon me in unique ways, one of which is in the quality of my network of friends, associates and colleagues. I remember being a 23 year-old kid teaching at my first conference. I had no business being there teaching, but I was someone leading in media ministry at the time and that was seemingly enough. I’ve since taught for 16 years straight at various conferences. Along the way I have had the privilege of meeting some incredible people. A few of them have mentored me and I am grateful for those men who have held that position in my life. Yet it’s only been in the last three years that I’ve been mentored in the most influential and profound way by one man: pastor Marcus Brecheen.

I met Marcus because I wanted and needed someone to help me in my marriage. On that first day, along with my bride, I with him at the Gateway church offices, listening as he spoke kindly and accurately over, about and to us. 90 minutes later, I left there determined to get to know this man of God who had so hammered me with a gentle mallet. Oh, I’ve been to some good counselors and have met many a solid pastor throughout the years, but Marcus was different.

Over the next few weeks and months, Marcus came to know everything about me – everything, including my most significant failures, my biases, my issues and, perhaps most importantly, my heart that desired to be free from the yoke of condemnation. But what started out as marriage counseling parlayed into a series of insightful, tough and riveting questions that have altered the path of my life. So that you know I’m not exaggerating, here are just a few “Marcus-isms” that have rocked my world:

“You can be right and still lose your marriage.”

This one set me back and has continually shaped me as a Christ-follower and husband.

“Jesus died first and exampled that we, too, must die to ourselves.”

I almost don’t like this one! But I’ve had to come back to it again and again (and again).

“Ephesians 5 says to wash your bride with the Word, not to beat her over the head with it when she’s wrong.”

When I first met with him, my intellect was in the right place, but my heart was in another. He never cut me any slack and has been a master carpenter shoring up the foundations of my marriage for the building that God has done since that first meeting.

Marcus: “I didn’t have time for ‘social media’.” Me: “But you’re using it now. What changed?” Marcus: “I love people. I want to meet people wherever they’re at.”

Marcus is not only a great teacher, he’s an excellent student. When I presented to the executive staff at Gateway Church about the need to embrace social media fully, he respected my opinion but saw social media as another distraction. Over time, God revealed to him the truth and passion that you see in that above snippet during a recent conversation I had with him.

We’ve transitioned our relationship over the last three years. He’s gone from counselor to pastor to friend, though he’ll always be a mentor. Recently, we were able to talk about multi-site church and the ramifications it has on the culture of each campus. Through our dialogue, we found common ground in the need for the Word to be delivered seamlessly and for each campus to have a duality of being a part of the same church body, but unique to each community.

Not many people have the ability, position or relationship (let alone all three) to shape a person’s life. Yet I’ve been blessed by a man who has done all three and added in a fourth, essential ingredient: time. In the many, many lunches, meetings, coffees and discussions I’ve had with him, I’ve not only learned about me, I’ve learned about him. He’s a flawed guy who’s living in grace and entering the throne room of God’s presence with a lifestyle of worship with consistency, passion and humility.

I have the privilege to ‘do life’ with this mighty man of God, this friend, this mentor named Marcus Brecheen.

I thought I’d lost my voice. I’d sit in front of my laptop and stare at the blank white page with the blinking cursor. Nothing. After much prayer and many moons without a new blog that got me excited, I asked God to show me why I lacked the inspiration. What He revealed was not what I expected, nor at a place I would have thought could reveal the answer.

I recently attended the Echo conference, which is really a cool, hip conference for designers, creatives and communicators from the church world. My friends Rob Thomas and Jeff Parker have created something special with Echo and it showed with the incredibly talented, and mostly young people speaking and attending the conference. As I write this, I’m 39. That’s not “old” unless it’s in relation to 20-something creatives that saturated the Echo conference. After two days of watching young, passionate, burgeoning leaders teach and share, I realized I was no longer tethered to this kind of conference. Since my own 20-something age (23), I’ve spent the majority of those years teaching at conferences that drew the kinds of crowds that Echo has attracted. Yet God spoke clearly to me at Echo and severed the tether of my desire to be a part of that space as a leader.

What I’ve learned is that God needed me to set aside my past experiences and “career” and start with a fresh, blank page. Instead of blogging about the things that used to consume my work, He’s breathing into me a whole new book, not just a new chapter. Some of the things that I was exploring have matured and are now ready to go to the next level, but the audio/video/lighting techie-focus has been put away.

Replacing the years of consulting and technical writing is a new heart bursting with new ways of thinking about processing change, paradigm-shifting and innovation mapping.

For this new season of life, I’m called to serve an old friend and mentor, Jeff Hook, at Fellowship Technologies. For those unaware of this company, Fellowship Technologies is the company that launched Fellowship One, which is a web-based church management software solution for churches. In my current role as Director of Communications, I’m working with a talented team of people that are redefining the way this fast-growing company is affecting the church marketplace. As anyone who knows me can attest, I’m a guy who lives for communicating vision, telling compelling stories and motivating real, tangible change.

My new writing voice is focused on three things: processing change, paradigm-shifting and innovation mapping. I don’t think those are three real titles, but they do articulate a maturing of the things I’ve been saying for a while in the midst of my tech articles and blog posts. In essence, I desire to be a catalyst and instructor in helping churches rethink and even re-answer the most important question of all: “Why?”

For example, while most churches are trying to get up to speed on social media by jumping head-first into Facebook and maybe Twitter, I’m helping to refocus efforts on first evaluating the “what” churches are doing and asking them to stop and ask the simple question “Why are we doing (insert ministry/activity/thing here)?” Again. And again. Across the board, from weekend services to each department to all of the ministries throughout the church, it’s not safe to assume; it’s time to re-align to the unique God-given vision of each local church.

I feel that my work at Fellowship Technologies as an innovator in a team of thought leaders is a great place for me to exercise this new voice. It’s also allowing me to refine my messaging and blog about things well outside of the company I work for, all while being faithful to that which I know I’m called to do: serve church leaders.

When I sit in front of the blinking cursor today, I no longer see a blank screen – I see a new chapter and a canvas upon which I can creatively share my passion. I have once again found my voice.

With consumers searching, researching and buying online at an exponential rate, the advertising industry has realized the need to change from “shotgun marketing” to “laser-focused marketing”. The concept is simple and the application for churches is intriguing.

Put simply, since people are searching and looking in specific places more often, it’s possible to provide the right ad to the right person with greater frequency and accuracy than has been possible before.

Not too long ago you’d buy a billboard ad, for example, in the hopes that some small percentage of people would see what you had to say and respond to it. This “shotgun” approach worked the numbers game; high traffic areas meant more eyeballs and more eyeballs meant the greater chance of reaching the right person who liked or resonated with the ad. You still see this approach online with banner ads on websites that do a slightly better job of targeted by being placed on specific sites with unique topics. Better, but still a virtual shot in the dark.

Today, more of us are logging into sites – even retail sites – because we get a discount or some other benefit of shopping while logged in than if we just skim the website. Ad firms realize this and are working like crazy to be the behind-the-scenes engines that handle that log-in information on behalf of the merchant so that they can not only report on buying and traffic patterns but because they want to engage – often in real time or near real time – with the person while they’re online. For example, a woman named “Beth” might use a trip planning website to look at possible destinations for a vacation. The site, recognizing she’s logged in and tracked that she’d last searched for flights to Scotland, might pop up a question like “Hey, Beth, we thought you might like to know we found a great deal on airline tickets and a cozy bed and breakfast for a trip to Scotland. Click here to watch a 15 second video and see more details.”

Because they knew she’d been looking at that kind of information in the past, along with her basic profile information, it’s safe to make an educated guess that she might like to stay in a bed and breakfast once she arrived. Laser-focused ads are served up based on previous interactions, potentially providing “Beth” with something that she’ll want to buy. Taking it a step further, when “Beth” answers the question and chooses to watch a 15 second video from a major airline, she can earn points for virtual currency, Facebook credits, drawings and more.

With Facebook striking deals left and right with advertisers and businesses, it’s common knowledge that advertisers are tying into these websites with Facebook integration, providing even more accurate predictive targeting opportunities. Customization that’s tailored to our tastes and budgets all because we simply use the sites we’re on and we share information – a lot of it – through social networks.

Ignoring the obvious privacy implications (that’s being addressed on multiple fronts and is not the focus of this thought train, though the reality is that most people don’t realize just how public their life becomes with how much they share online), the thinking I’ve had since reading about this has been on how this applies to churches.

Today, churches don’t “sell” very much (mission trips, summer camps and maybe concerts being reasonable exceptions), so how does this behavioral marketing apply? Simple: people use your website and often log-in when you offer a way for them to stay connected (online calendar, volunteer reminder, small group leader reporting, online giving and contribution statements) to their life within the church. It’s not unreasonable to think that missions organizations or non-profit organizations would take advantage of this and potentially offer to tie into church websites.

On a more practical, we-can-do-this-today note, it’s also possible to consider that churches may want to be diligent and strategic about using analytics on their website, in combination with data in their church management software, to see where people click, what they fill out (or don’t complete), which videos they watch (or don’t) and begin creating a trend analysis to look for opportunities to improve the value and functionality of their websites. Beyond that rather simple measure, the communications options available to churches today mean it’s possible to utilize multiple methods and channels of communications. In effect, churches can move from a “shotgun” to a laser-focused approach by developing a strategic communications methodology that includes personal (face-to-face), phone calls, email, text, website, announcements, print materials and social media to develop a targeted communications campaign.

Regardless of the whiz-bang future predictive ad-serving or the more simple analytics analysis, this will first require church leaders to sit down with some knowledgeable folks (possibly inside their church) and take the time to understand their goals, develop proper strategies and apply the best tactics to more effectively connect and reach their people.

What say you? Please share you thoughts below.

I’m amazed at the sheer number of church conferences in a single year. Catalyst. Orange. Story. Unleash. Uprising. Exponential. WFX. C3. Innovate. The list goes on and on.

There’s a reason that there are so many offerings for church pastors, leaders and volunteers: there’s an undercurrent of need for the local church to be more effective and less stagnant. More often than not, the guys and gals up on the stage speaking to these crowds are people who experiment often and fail quickly.

I’ve visited hundreds of churches and seen just about every variety of style and format of church. An interesting thing that I’ve noticed at the most dynamic and healthy churches that I’ve visited: they don’t look or feel like every other church. They’re distinctly unique and passionately focused on their vision. Moreover, the staff shares the vision of the house.

Where there is an unrelenting focus on vision and unity of purpose, there is freedom. Freedom to try. Freedom to fail. Freedom to succeed. Freedom to do it all over again.

I wonder how many ministry opportunities are not merely missed but altogether avoided because we’re afraid to experiment with a new idea, a new model or a different way of doing something? I wonder how many church leaders are really willing to lead and not just sit at the helm of low-risk management? How many will truly evaluate their current teams, processes and results and be willing to cut things – even good things – to make way for the possibility for great things that resonate with the harmonics of a God-sized vision?

Then again, are church leaders listening to the plurality of influencers instead of the singular voice of the One?

I shouldn’t be, but I am still surprised when I meet someone for the first time and we both know a lot about each other. This happened a few weeks ago when I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Will Mancini, respected author and church consultant, for a couple of hours. Though we’d never met in person before, we both have followed each other on Twitter and read each others blogs, so our first meeting ramped up into significant conversation without the usual ice-breaker small talk necessary to establish rapport. Another win for social media, but also an important distinction in connecting with people you resonate with. But I digress.

Talking with Will face-to-face was insightful because I got to peek inside how he thinks by following his train of thought in conversation. Will’s a very bright man, to be sure, but what impressed me most was that he obviously disciplines himself in the art of conversation. Much like my friend (and CEO/boss) Jeff Hook, Will doesn’t ask an idle question; he’s got a motive behind his question that is strategically two steps ahead. During our discussion about everything from family to church consulting to technology to strategic processes, Will quite naturally shared about what is obviously his gift: he truly understands churches and has a near-consuming passion to help them focus on their unique vision.

Will’s self-proclaimed title is Clarity Evangelist. I love this title because it fits Will, as was evidenced as he brought – yep, clarity – to points of our discussion. As a strategic thinker myself (one of my top 5 Strengths Finder results), I am intrigued by people who have this capacity. Will has it in spades.

I highly encourage my pastor friends to connect with Will. His company, Auxano, offers on-site consulting, remote CO::LABs and workshops to help churches understand and leverage their unique vision.

Take it from me: Will will help your church in real, tangible ways. But, be warned: he’ll be two steps ahead of you the entire time!

Having worked with technology in churches for just under two decades, I’ve come to understand that churches have the potential to use technology in three ways. Independently, they’re all good, but together, they’re exponentially greater. Generally speaking, I believe that church technology really can be brought together under the mantle of support, efficiency and impact.

Here’s how I define each one:

• Support: providing the necessary resources to enable a ministry or event to function
• Efficiency: a high result to effort ratio based on the scalability of the technology and process
• Impact: have a strong effect upon the recipient/user

I believe that, applied on their own, they end up missing the mark.

KINDA LIKE THE LONE RANGER

It’s very common for churches to leverage a single aspect of technology; sort of like trying to do it all as the Lone Ranger. For example, a church might decide to support every ministry event with technology. Unto itself, this is probably a good idea. However, if efficiency was part of the plan (cost savings, personnel time savings, etc.) and impact was part of the goal (was technology transparent to the delivery of the message; how was technology leveraged to produce action after the event), the result could be maximized.

Think of it this way: how often has your technical arts team been responsible for setting up and manning an event, but never asked to participate in the planning, coordination or communication of the event? I’d imagine that happens more often than not, mainly because when media & tech are viewed as support only, the greater opportunity is missed.

However, if each event leveraged technology and the planning process and follow-up activity of being efficient (cost savings, personnel time savings, etc.) and impactful (was technology transparent to the delivery of the message; how was technology leveraged to produce action after the event).

GET ON THE RADAR

Quite often, ministry leaders are simply unaware of the opportunity and ability your team can bring to the table. Get on their radar! Tech arts leaders need to have friendly conversation with ministry heads to help look at the calendar of upcoming events, services and communications. By taking an interest in what they’re doing, you stand a very good chance of helping them leverage all of your team’s strengths. Remember, people generally don’t understand the time commitment involved with much of our world. Bluntly, that’s not their job or concern; it’s yours. But when we help them by providing options, plain-language understanding and a helpful attitude, they’ll respond by giving you more heads-up, more time and even more support on their end.

There are other adverbs that can be used to describe the activities and value of church technology, but when we focus on the big three (support, efficiency & impact), we can bring greater value to our churches.

What say you? How does your church leverage technology to maximize ministry?