Friday is the day I often point to scholars who specialize in the study of media & the church.  This series of Friday posts entitled, Blog of the Weekend, is designed to cover a broad spectrum of world class teachers, researchers & scholars who assess the impact and influence of technology/media on Christianity.

This week is no different.  Today I feature Anthony Coppedge, someone I respect as a friend, colleague and resource for all things media-related involving the Church.  I have used Anthony’s expertise as a church consultant and on complicated issues he has registered his professional opinion (See his comments on my post: Viva La Vida – Did Secular Music Get Saved?).  Additionally, following meeting him last year at the Echo Conference, I’ve more closely followed his blog and work.  However, I completely missed a key project Anthony has been developing and thankfully he’s brought it to my attention.

The Reason Your Church Must Twitter, first draft e-book is currently available online.  When Anthony sent me an advance copy for review, I was amazed at it’s depth, detail and exhaustive all around thoroughness.  E-books are fantastic, instant, cheap resources that can’t be beat (I’ve written for several) and The Reason Your Church Must Twitter is highly recommended for those interested in harnessing participatory media’s value in ministry.  Two of my personal friends have already reviewed it…. see Jim Walton’s blog review and also Mary Beth Stockdale’s blog review.

Also, later today is the launch of a new website called Twitter for Churches. com.  Anthony will spearhead the site and some of us who use microblogging regularly have been asked to guest author.  There’s a progression of adoption  that most most people go through (whether you’re a maven or a luddite!) when it comes to new media.  Anthony quotes Rohit Bhargava, Senior Vice President at Ogilvy, in describing this progression.

Denial
“I think Twitter sounds stupid. Why would anyone care what other people are doing right now?”

Presence
“OK, I don’t really get why people love it, but I guess I should at least create an account.”

Dumping
“I’m on Twitter and use it for pasting links to my blog posts and pointing people to my press releases (or stuff about me).”

Conversing
“I don’t always post useful stuff, but I do use Twitter to have authentic 1-on-1 conversations.”

Microblogging
“I’m using Twitter to publish useful information that people read AND I converse 1-on-1 authentically.”

Collaboration
“Actual, meaningful relationships and collaborations have occurred out of my usage of Twitter.”