The Digital Sanctuary » Drew Goodmanson

Story Inspires Us To Become Historytellers

Cynthia — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:48:47 +0000

Special thanks to Tim Schraeder for his impressions / interpretations of some of the concepts / dialog / challenges our session raised at Story 09. And thank you to the participants who came to our breakout. Were you there? You’ll see some of your comments and input here in Tim’s notes.

Social Media Pulse What are churches current social media patterns?

We are living in a world people dreamed of.
There used to only be a computer at work… then it went home… then to your lap… now to your hand.
Mobile ubiquity, where everyone has a phone, presents challenges and opportunities for the church.
There’s an embedded value system in social media [public/participatory, new media].
There’s value in it that it’s instant.
Everyone is an equal creator… it’s user-generated content.
We’d rather buy something someone tells us about than what we are told by businesses or corporations.
Users have a voice and are able to generate content.
In a relationship economy, what people say matters deeply.
We now have greater accessibility to information.
Churches might move from having “please have your phone off” signs to “please have your phone on” signs.
The media is affecting our small group communities and the way that they interact.
We’ve torn down the boundaries of distance; there’s now a worldwide conversation going on that anyone can participate in.
The definition of “presence” is changing.
We HAVE to think through these things theologically.
Is physical presence necessary for you to be a part of and “be” the church.
Social media allows customization [personalization].
One size does not fit all … [MySpace, my reviews, my favorites, etc.]
My can be consumer oriented, but it reflects the fact that media is in the hands of every person and every person has the ability to create media.
Everyone is a content producer.
We now watch TV on our own terms [TiVo].
New generations are being raised with these new ideas embedded in their everyday interactions.
As technology becomes cheaper and more effective, the Church is confronted with one of the greatest opportunities along with one of the greatest challenges of how to steward it.
The Men of Issachar were able to see the times and were able to know what to do.
Let’s go to the next level… let’s find out what we are capable of doing and how are we able to frame it in a Biblical context?
The word of our testimony is the critical story we have that’s a powerful conduit [Christianity is viral] to reach someone we may have not been able to reach any other way.
We’ve moved to a digital age.
It will be normal for us to connect online, first and then meet in person.
43% of churches say social media is one of the most effective ways for them to communicate and engage with people.
Church websites are the front doors to churches.
77% of people say the church website was an important part of why they chose to go to church.
If people can’t connect to your website they may not go to your church.
People make judgements about a church based on what the church communicates across their website.
It’s a missiological issue.
John 17:18
Facebook is the 4th largest nation in the world if you look at the number of people that are on it.
Non-Christians do not go to your website.
Your website is primarily visited by believers looking for information about churches.
20% of all data people are accessing on church websites is information for new visitors… that’s a significant portion where you should invest your time.
Use the web to help people new into the church to get deeper into community.
Your web strategy should be looked at as an Internet Presence Management.
What are you communicating online?
How are you connecting to where people are talking and engaging?
Where are you present? Where are you absent?
Who is responsible for your church’s online presence?
What does it mean to be the Church online?
How do you define presence? What’s your theology of presence?
We need to recognize that participatory media is decentralized.
It’s unregulated.
We have a lack of control.
We have to look deeper at our theology.
A mobile, extended presence can be used missionally.
Is virtual community real community?
What is Biblical community?
We need to define Biblical community before we define online community and if it’s possible to have church online
We need to ask if we can use an online presence to build real life community?
We need to intently be on the internet, it’s a mission field.
We, the Church, are called to be counter-culture… what does that mean at this technological crossroads?
We are willing to be transparent online, but vulnerability is not often seen online.

Top Social Media Sites

Facebook
Twitter
Private Member Portals [ MemberHub, Monk, Tangle, Unifyer, etc ]
GoogleGroups
MySpace

Greatest needs online: events, post prayer requests, get connected, finding small groups and ways to connect throughout the week, integration with their church website and resource sharing.
Churches are wrestling with how to use participatory technologies.
The Cobblestone Community Network is a tool that’s been developed to help churches have private communication that’s integrated into social media channels.
If you don’t set a strategy you’re going to have a difficult time pulling it together later.
What is your strategy for the community online?
Pick a horse.
If you don’t lead your people, they will find their own way and go their own direction.
This is something we need to pay attention to but we don’t need to know the mechanics of it; you can find volunteers or someone on staff to help manage this.
Things are easier than they were before.
There are challenges and effort required but it’s more centered on your strategy.
Let people tell you how they want to be contacted… be platform neutral.
Let people choose how the content gets to them.

If You Liked This, Check Out…

Tags: Cynthia Ware, Drew Goodmanson, Story

Christian Web Conference Speaker List

Cynthia — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:23:02 +0000

Today is a “Mass Blogging Day” for those of us who are meeting in Los Angeles at Biola University on September 11 – 12 for the Christian Web Conference. If you have any interest in the dialog about online faith communities (can digital be incarnational?), this will be the place to have your questions explored.

One of the highlights of the conference is a debate on the virtual church taking place between Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi) and Matthew Anderson of Mere Orthodoxy.

Since I’m never one for debate, thank you Andrew for representing the affirmative argument.

But The Great Debate is only the beginning…. check out this who’s who of a speaker list and their topics! It’s gonna be incredible:

Tim Challies: Tweeting the Truth with Love

John Mark Reynolds: Christian Ideas in a Hostile Environment

Jon Acuff: Three Ways Satire is Changing We Talk About Faith Online

Charles Lee: New Media and the Development of Compassionate Justice

Joe Carter: Medium-Sizing the Message

Abraham Piper: Serving Your Audience by Getting Out of Your Own Ideas

Mel McGowan’s walking tour: Walking in Walt’s Footsteps

Drew Goodmanson: Internet Strategy: What does the gospel have to do with Social Media?

Anne Jackson: Changing the World One Blog at a Time

Marcus Goodyear: New Ways to Listen?

Rhett Smith: Twitter: Collaborate, Connect, and Resource via Your Story

Paul Watson: What will it take to plant the Gospel in every population segment represented online?

Dr. Dave Bourgeois: Developing a Philosophy for New Media Ministry

John Carley: Seven Successful Strategies for Web 3.0

Yours Truly: Envisioning the Future of Faith Online

And here’s a partial sponsor list:

Torrey Honors Institute

High Calling

Desiring God

VOXBIBLIA

Monk Development

Internet Evangelism Day

Cobblestone Community Network Launches

Cynthia — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:18:31 +0000

While a few people are still debating the merits and validity of “online church” the wise folks at Monk Development are powering forward with the newest addition in their stockpile of well-designed tools. Highly regarded for their beautiful, effective and innovative products, like Ekklesia 360, Monk always delivers. I myself, have used Ekklesia 360 for my church website and was blissfully happy with it’s UI and simplicity. Here’s their newest happy client – Denver Seminary.

This week marks the public launch of the Cobblestone Community Network, a powerful (I mean really powerful) new resource for astute churches looking to collect, nourish and empower online communities within their church. This means, of course, the ability to reach far beyond the actual church walls, since virtually everyone is connected now online.

Cobblestone is customizable & private, thus your church can use the internet to build connections & relationships with a secure, personalizable tool. The Cobblestone Community Network won’t be limited to churches either, since eventually non-profits, schools, and all organizations will want to enrich their online communities. And they’ll want to develop ways to organize and strengthen connections so everyone can get the best out of being part of their community.

As powerful web application, Cobblestone automates many of the processes that allow the people in your church to focus on relationships rather than administration. For example, you can use Cobblestone to connect new members to helpful support & care groups located nearest them. Or use Cobblestone to manage events on both the church public website and within your community site. As importantly, you can push events into third-party social media sites such as Facebook.

Learn how Cobblestone can help your church:

Assist people in finding opportunities to serve
Connect people in community
Manage church events
so much more

Beyond the Web 2.0 Noise: How to use the Internet to Disciple & Create Real Community

Cynthia — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:41:04 +0000

Earlier today I co-hosted an online webinar with Drew Goodmanson of Monk Development entitled Beyond the Web 2.0 Noise: How to use the Internet to Disciple & Create Real Community. We had so much to cover that we didn’t exactly get as specific as we will need to in order to provide the best resources for churches to actually use the internet to disciple individuals and create & nourish online communities.

But, we got a good start, particularly for surveying the landscape and for setting the stage to interpret the additional data that will be compiled. I remember having a conversation with WP Developer Cory Miller a couple of years ago and we pondered together “who is compiling the data” besides Pew, Annenberg, etc.? Now I know.

Here’s how it was billed:

Are we tired of hearing about Web 2.0? The noise of social networking and private virtual communities continues to grow. Yet, we are still very early on in understanding what churches are doing effectively online in these areas. Are churches really able to gather people, create community and foster discipleship? Do you want to know what is working and what is a waste of time? Come learn from a 2009 study on “The State of the Church Online: Social & Community Networks” involving over 500-hundred respondents and numerous church-focused products and social network sites. Learn what churches are doing effectively and what they are doing that may actually be counter-productive to being the church. This session will equip you with practical strategies in the social & community network space.

I made opening remarks about internet values and Drew presented the earliest data being compiled about internet usage patterns among those who participated in the recent survey The State of the Church Online: Social & Community Networks.

Some key findings include:

* Facebook was the most used Church Web Media strategy.
* Of the Christian Social Networking sites reviewed 82% of respondents had no awareness that they existed.

Top 5 Requested Features/Functionality sought:

1. Ability to find, register, and/or get details for events.
2. Ability to post prayer requests or needs.
3. Ability to find serving opportunities at the church based on interest or gifts.
4. Ability to join and interact with home/bible study groups.
5. Integration with existing church website.

If you were part of the webinar and want to weigh in, please do. The questions we are getting will shape the presentation of the next webinar.

Here is a link to the site where the pdf/results are accessible:
http://www.churchtechreview.com/christian-social-network/churches-christian-social-networking-study/

Top 10 Website Features on Church Websites

Cynthia — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:09:48 +0000

Top 10 Church Website Features/Activities

Recently I invited readers to participate in a church website survey to determine how church websites are really being used. The survey, The State of the Church Online, Part 1, is beginning to produce new, concrete data about church website use.

What do people say are the most important features/activities they would like to engage on a church website? So far, according to early survey results assessing 100 church websites, here’s what people are saying they want to do on a church website:

(out of 23 activities on the use of Church Websites by Attendees survey)

Highest Rated =

1.   Find service information (times, directions, etc).
2. Listen to/download Sermons (audio recordings).
3. Learn about the church’s Beliefs/Mission/Values
4.   Connect with other members.
5.   Read/download Sermons (text transcripts).
6.   Join and/or interact with a home/bible study group.
7.   View weekly information/calendar/news/events.
8.   Find serving opportunities at the church.
9.   Post prayer requests or needs.
10. Read articles or other content.

Guess reading a pastor’s blog doesn’t score in the top 10. Check out more by keeping track of Drew Goodmanson’s personal blog.

The State of the Church Online Part I: Social & Community Networks

Cynthia — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:42:06 +0000

Just before I left for Innovation3, I was contacted by my friend, Drew Goodmanson of Monk Development (and elder/pastor at Kaleo Church in San Diego). Drew is someone I really respect, both as a Christian leader and as a savvy business person. He was one of the first people I discovered who was using the Internet (and SEO) to reach people for Christ. You can read his story elsewhere online but I’m inviting you to help him & those who are studying social media and the Church by taking this simple 5 minute survey. Here’s an overview….

Are churches using the internet to gather, disciple and build community?

In the last couple years a number of new private church community networks have been launched in addition to numerous social networking sites. We are still very early on in understanding what churches are doing effectively online.

We invite you to participate in this first survey of several that examine the State of the Church Online. This survey in particular begins by examining what churches are doing with social and community networks. How pervasive are the use of these web applications?

Future surveys will expand to examine what Christians are doing with social networks, how churches are using their websites and other online strategies. Our prayer is that these studies help bring clarity and guidance for churches to pursue excellence online to the glory of God.

This survey is being led by Kevin Ring. Kevin brings years of experience from Bainbridge Consulting leading qualitative research projects – designing and executing customer/competitive research and analysis across multiple industries, focused on Fortune 500 companies including Google, Yahoo!, Citibank, Hewitt Associates, Gallup, Bank of America and others.

The survey is free and takes very little time to complete. Feel free to leave your name here (below in the comments) if you participate.

Link to it here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bQWu6K2vXJyKE1aGHWr8_2fg_3d_3d

Monk Development’s New Ekklesia 360 Website

Cynthia — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:43:15 +0000

Beautiful new web site rolled out by Monk Development for their ekklesia360 CMS. I'm a big supporter of ekklesia360 and have used their content management system myself.

Plus, I'm impressed with Drew Goodmanson and what he has done to support the planting of San Diego Churches via innovative online means (i.e. SEO). I've visited his church, Kaleo, and blogged it here.

Another pastor, Fabio Chen, and myself were privileged to have dinner with Pastor Drew last year and hear his vision for planting churches (see Acts 29 Network), growing the Kaleo movement and resourcing churches.

Monk has a substantial portfolio of churches, denominations, and businesses they have worked with. And, as I said before, I can testify to their service, efficiency and professionalism. A great user interface all around.