Friday is supposed to be the day when I point you to an academic resource to support your exploration of technology/media use within the Church.  But, my blogging routine has been messed up for two weeks.  Nevertheless, I will be presenting you with fresh academic links next Friday.  In the meantime, I’m gonna remind you about the new visual media narratives popping up on the web.

Recently, when I was in Dallas for Innovation3, I saw the billboards for “I am Second“,  which has become a wildly popular campaign.  Originally designed to reach non-believers, the originators of the site have been blown away at how many Christians have used the site for sharing stories about their lives and for accessing the testimonies of others.

Now I want to introduce you to another powerful video website, Deidox.com.  This site has been brought to my attention 3 times in 3 weeks….. beta…. and I will find out much more in 2 weeks when I’m at The Idea Camp because they will represent there.

Visual narratives will grow in popularity as the web embraces video ubiquity.   And check out the Deidox webcast link because I think theirs one this very morning…..

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

Good thing we’re all wearing name tags!  The place is packed with people whose teachings we watch on tv, or whose books we buy, whose blogs we read and those we know virtually, etc.  It’s confusing to keep everyone straight.

It’s pretty well known that conferences, in general, are becoming increasingly unpopular.  The reasons are numerous.  But the one thing that conferences do offer is the real world contact that invigorates us with face to face conversations.

In addition to the 100+ presenters, here are some the bloggers and/or twitterers who are with us today and tomorrow at Innovation3.

Tony Morgan tonymorganlive.com
Greg Atkinson gregatkinson.com
Rhett Smith rhettsmith.com
Camron Ware visualworshipper.com
Jaime Jackson jamiejacksonxp.com
Charles Lee charlestlee.com
John Atkinson http://johnatkinson.typepad.com
Jason Curlee http://jaycurlee.blogspot.com/
Kent Shaffer churchrelevance.com
Scott Williams www.bigisthenewsmall.com/
Mary Beth Stockdale http://marybethstockdale.wordpress.com/
Bobby Greunewald swerve.lifechurch.tv
Dave Gibbons davegibbons.tv
Dave Ferguson daveferguson.typepad.com/
Mark Driscoll theresurgence.com
Ed Stetzer edstetzer.com
Todd Rhoades toddrhoades.com
Dave Travis davetravisnow.com
Sherry Surratt sherrysurratt.com
Geoff Surratt geoffsurratt.com
Eric Swanson ericjswanson.com
Marc Payan http://marcpayan.com/

There’s a lot of excitement today as Christian leaders from all over gather in Dallas to celebrate the 25th year of the Leadership Network.

Leadership Network fosters church innovation and growth through strategies, programs, tools and resources consistent with their far-reaching mission: to identify, connect and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact.

Leadership Network’s “DNA” is to work directly with pioneer churches who are testing and implementing the new ideas that will drive the Church in the future.

Many churches that participate in Leadership Communities become teachers themselves, taking what they have learned to a broader and larger audience.  As innovation spreads, the Church better fulfills its mission to expand the Kingdom of God.

Leadership Network is fully committed to the multiplication of innovative ministry.  They partner with the nation’s top innovative churches, then share the best ideas, practices, concepts, advancements and thinking with others in the Church.  Innovation³ is the culmination of 25 years of fulfilling their mission at Leadership Network.

Leadership Network is proud to bring us Innovation³ a gathering of about a 1000 Christian leaders with presentations by 100 innovative leaders.

You can check out the Leadership Network website at Leadnet.org.

As Innovation3 approaches I’m looking forward to hearing from a handful of the most innovative female Christian leaders we can gather all in one place as Dallas hosts the Leadership Network’s Innovation3 Gathering!  Since, I’ve been invited to live blog the event along with Tony Morgan and Carlos Whittaker, you’ll hear more details soon.  But for now, I want to focus on the amazing list of female Christian leaders coming to Innovation3.

From Nancy Ortberg, founding partner of Teamworx and author of Looking for God, and Unleashing the Power of Rubberbands, to Laurie Beshore, Pastor of Outreach Ministry at Mariners Church that engages over 6000 volunteers in service to the poor and needy in Orange County, CA and around the world, you’ll learn from and interact with some very sharp women, all in one place, the Innovation3 Gathering!

In addition to Nancy and Laurie, you’ll meet:

• Bambi Encarnacion, Director of The Encore Ministry at First Evangelical Free Church, Fullerton, CA
• Missy Hannon, Executive Pastor and Director of The God Network at Living Hope, Seattle, WA
• Jennifer Lefforge, Experience Architect at Irving Bible Church, Irving, TX
• Linda Slaton, Release Pastor at Fellowship Bible Church, Little Rock, AR
• Teresa McBean, Director of Recovery Ministries at NorthStar Community Church, Richmond, VA
• Dawn Nicole Baldwin, CEO of Aspire One
• Anne Jackson, Author and Pastor at Cross Point Church, Nashville, TN
• Wendy Ferrin, Women’s Ministry Director at Salem Alliance Church, Salem, OR
• Claudia McGuire, Women’s Ministry Director at Chase Oaks Fellowship, Richardson, TX
• Sibyl Towner, Spritual Formation Pastor, Willow Creek, Chicago, Ill

You will also network with other great women leaders, like Sherry Surratt (Director of Women’s Initiative at Leadership Network, previously Central Support Pastor at Seacoast Church), for example, who can inspire and challenge your ministry.

Sherry and I are hosting a tweet up so if you’d like to join us for dinner on the Monday night before the event, simply contact us at http://twitter.com/sherrysurratt or http://twitter.com/cynthiaware.  Of course, you don’t have to twitter to come, but once we’re done with you, you will.

There is still time to register online: Innovation3 – register online if you are anywhere near Dallas.

Browse the entire list of 50 reasons to attend Innovation3 Gathering as the count down continues…

Yesterday I watched a brief interview with Larry Osborne, pastor of North Coast Church in Vista, CA.   The webcast was hosted by Linda Stanley of Leadership Network and was designed to help promote and publicize the upcoming Innovation3 gathering later this month in Dallas, Texas.  I’ll be blogging from that event.

Dr. Larry Osborne, who is the author of Sticky Church, a book about “closing the back door” at church, elaborated on the book’s premise.  Sticky Church helps leaders remember that getting people to attend church or visit periodically isn’t really the goal.  If we really want to fulfill the Great Commission, then we must be mindful of our discipleship strategies and keep people around long enough to disciple them.

Additionally, Larry has a new book coming out entitled 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe that looks at spiritual cliches and misinterpretations and gets specific about the rules & regulations we often believe that really don’t have a base in scripture.

Larry is one of nearly a hundred featured presenters at Innovation3, to be held at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship.

If you missed it, check out the other Leadership Network webcasts this week with these innovative leaders:
Dino Rizzo — Tues, Jan 6, 4 PM EST

Dave Gibbons — Wed, Jan 7, 4 PM EST

Dave Ferguson — Thurs, Jan 8, 4 PM EST