The most prolific author in the field of Christianity & Media Studies, Dr. Quentin J. Schultz, has edited a new publication, Understanding Evangelical Media.  Dr. Schultze is a Professor at Calvin College, a media consultant and co-founder of the Gospel.com Community.

Understanding Evangelical Media is co-edited by Robert H. Woods, Jr., an Associate Professor of Communication and Media at Spring Arbor University in Spring Arbor, Michigan. 

The compilation includes the work of nearly 100 authors.  The blogsite will offer both essays and podcasts.

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Although very few churches can afford to have a digerati team support their internet presence, most all can put up and maintain a web site online.  With some direction, every church can develop an internet strategy for beginning web-based ministry.  Here's a book for newbies.

Web-Empower Your Church: Unleashing the Power of the Internet for Ministry

Author: Mark M. Stephenson, Director of The Web-Empowered Church

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Summary: Harness the power of the internet for Jesus.  The internet is opening up new possibilities for all aspects of church ministry, from daily administrative tasks to worldwide evangelism and discipleship.

This book is about web-empowering your church ministries.  Learn the practical steps, techniques, and ideas needed to develop an excellent and effective web ministry that increases your efficiency and effectiveness.

Mark Stephenson, Director of CyberMinistry and Technology at Ginghamsburg Church, shares his experiences with starting and now leading a large and active church web ministry.  Ginghamsburg's website is now over 4000 pages in size, and averages over one new visit every half minute, 24/7.

Whether your church has a website or not, this book will help you grow you internet ministry and take the next step to fully web-empower your church ministries.

Here's an email offer I got last week (sorry for the delay - I'm still not finished with the new theme) that I want to forward on to readers who are interested in both receiving & blogging some good books.   It's from Mike Morrell for those of you who know him…..

"We're Looking For A Few Good Bloggers!"

The Ooze, the Web's most prolific 'emerging church & friends' website, is looking for 50 participants in a unique partnership with quality publishers. You will be mailed books for blog review on an every-other-month to quarterly basis, free of charge.  These are books on culture, theology, church history, justice, faith & science, global issues, spirituality, novels - you name it.  The Ooze pre-screens each title brought up for our consideration to ensure you that it is a book of singular distinction.

Interested?  Well, if you're an off-the-beaten-path, thoughtful blogger (you don't have to identify yourself with 'emerging church' conversation per se, though it's certainly fine if you do) who enjoys blogging about the above-mentioned topics, and you have a Technorati authority of 50 or higher, you're an ideal candidate.  Just send your name, blog URL, authority ranking, and snail-mail address by March 25 to zoecarnate [at] theooze.com.  (Please do not leave this info in the Comments section of this post.)  Then I'll send you a more detailed email as to what this entails and we can go from there.  Feel free to post this invitation on your own blog as well.

Thanks for your interest!

Mike Morrell

PS: This partnership is primarily intended for bloggers in the US and Canada - alas.  But if you're elsewhere and you have a readership that will make Mike just pass out upon witnessing it, let him know and they will consider you… just ask TSK (Andrew Jones).

I'm happy to post this email for Mike.  I only regret my delay (although I'm sure it's not too late to get in on this offer) as he's always been ultra-gracious in mailing me provocative books that I could never afford to add to my library any other way.  Last month, for example, it was Becky Garrison's Rising from the Ashes and a beautiful hardback copy of N. T. Wright's Surprised by Hope.  Thank you, Mike.  May your bloggers emerge.

Last year, I only interviewed 3 book authors at The Digital Sanctuary.    

• Margaret Feinberg - The Organic God

                    Delightful & prolific author in love with the pure nature of God

                    Read the interview here, part 2, part 3

• Shane Hipps - The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture

                    Fuller Seminary degreed Anabaptist pastor, webcaster, author

                    Read the interview here

• Eric Michael Bryant - Peppermint-Filled Pinatas

                    Staff pastor serving alongside Erwin McManus at Mosiac

                   Read the interview here 

And I reminded you that ''reformed Baptityrean'' (don't even try to wikipedia this) Tim Challies' first book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, has just been released.   What I forgot to post on is his blog tour - and it runs for only a few more days.  Tim is both challenging and edifying, unique for a blogger, huh?  The calendar looks like this starting with today:

Jan 14 - Jollyblogger
Jan 15 - Between Two Worlds
Jan 16 - TeamPyro
Jan 17 - Michael Spencer
Jan 18 - Church Matters

   The Wikiklesia Project, 

    Voices of the Virtual World:

    Participative Technology and the Ecclesial Revolution,

   Wins Award  of Merit!

All of us Wikiklesia Project authors are celebrating the 'Award of Merit' given to us in Boston last week from the Society for New Communications Research.  The SNCR, as it's called, is a global think tank dedicated to the advanced study of new communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, and their effect on traditional media, professional communications, business, culture and society.

Our book, Voices of the Virtual World: Participative Technology and the Ecclesial Revolution, is a set of reflections about how emerging technologies are impacting the Church.  It includes the work of 40 diverse authors, including Dr. Scot McKnight.

You can buy it as an e-book or paper version. You've got to buy the book in order to read my article: Technology and the Virtual Church as our publishing agreement  stipulates that we will not individually republish our work for 1 year.  That way, we're assured that all the book's proceeds go to the Not For Sale Campaign designed to draw attention to the global slave trade.

"Uttered like a prayer retrieved from the year 2030, spoken in a new tongue, a new form. Listen!" - Kevin Kelly, Co-Founder / Executive Editor WIRED Magazine

speaking about Voices of the Virtual World: Participative Technology and the Ecclesial Revolution

Evangelical uberblogger, Tim Challies, is about to publish his first book, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (Crossway Books, January 2008). The book is designed to explore the subject of spiritual discernment, a term Tim defines as the skill of understanding and applying God's Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong. Written for the general reader and in a way that is suitable for a wide audience, the book teaches people to think biblically so they might act biblically. It appeals for discernment, teaching the importance of this discipline in guarding the good news God has entrusted to us.

Regardless of our theological stance or denominational affiliations (Tim is a reformed Baptist), sharpening our spiritual discernment should be every Christian's pursuit.  Tim's views are widely read and respected and his goal in authoring the book is to train readers in how they can apply scriptural tools, principles, and wisdom so that their conclusions about everything—people, teachings, decisions, media, and organizations—will be consistent with God’s Word.

Click here to purchase it directly: 

The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment

Oh, and Happy Birthday, Tim! 

Time to help another PhD student studying Faith and Technology…..

Dear Ms. Ware,

I am a PhD student studying human-centered computing at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA. For the past 2 years I have been exploring how technology is used to support religious and spiritual practices. I began by interviewing  church pastors about how they use information and communication technologies. Wanting to gain a broader and deeper understanding of different faiths I worked with a team of students and developed a mobile phone system to prompt Muslims to their daily prayer times. Recently I have become interested in how media is used in Protestant Christian worship services. I just finished reading Eileen Crowley's "Liturgical Art for A Media Culture."

In it she suggests that there should be more opportunities for church members to collaborate in the production of media used during Sunday services. Are there any existing software systems designed to support this?  My assumption is that most of them are developed so that a single person or small team, rather than involving a many church members.

Yours is one of the many church and technology blogs I regularly read. They have all been extremely helpful - thank you. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, Susan Wyche

Readers, what sayest thou?  "Dr.-to-be" Susan can be found on facebook, of course. 

And while we're at it, let's celebrate the recent PhD status of friends (and co-Wikiklesia authors for that matter) Dr. Heidi Campbell (blog) and Dr. Stephen Garner.

Addendum:  Wow…lots of readers have reported to me via email that they can't access Susan's fb page - try this:       

http://git.facebook.com/profile.php?id=12809534&highlight

or these: spw23@cornell (dot) edu or spwyche@cc.gatech (dot) edu

Excitement is mounting for Imagine - Foursquare NextGen Summit '07.

The goal of the Summit is to spiritually awaken students so they are empowered to change their world today, both spiritually and physically.

More details here at the Foursquare events homepage.   In the meantime, think about this:

More importantly, come and pledge support for the Not For Sale Campaign like we did with the proceeds of Wikiklesia: Voices of the Virtual World.

LifeChurch.tv pioneers web technology that makes the Bible interactive, and that's just the beginning.  

The alpha version of YouVersion has gone beta (the public launch is next week) and here's a bit more about what you can do with it…. 

Read it. Share it.

A revolutionary online Bible that enables community and collaboration like never before. Now you can easily share your journey anyone you’d like!

Tag & Star.

Tag - Mark references with tags that make sense to you, and find what you want, when you want. It’s like your own personal concordance.

Star - You can star anything you'd like to remember.

Reflect.

You can journal about what you’re reading, as you’re reading it. And even better, what you write is linked directly to what you are reading so you can easily reference back to those special passages.

Focus.

“Customize” your Bible to focus your walk. Filter for specific things you’re reading about, or share with others what you’re actively learning.

Share.

Exercise who you are as a member of the Body of Christ. Contribute to the discussion about the Scriptures. Share what God’s Spirit is showing you, and read how He is moving in the lives of others.

Connect.

Connect with other people and to collaborate with them in new and exciting ways. Engage with others as you share your thoughts, feelings and reactions to the Bible.

Be Heard.

Create original audio content and attach it to the source of your creativity. Share it, or simply use it in your personal relationship with God.

Illustrate.

Create original images, or collect meaningful graphics that illuminate your understanding of the Bible. Keep it personal or share it.

Video Magic.

Online videos can inspire, explain, or entertain you. Create new video content, or locate existing content, and link it directly to the verses it applies to.