The Christian Web Conference last week at Biola University was part of the ongoing effort to educate interested parties about the trends, developments & predictions about faith-based organizations using the internet for ministry purposes.

Much more on the details of the conference later but here are a couple of quick photos.   Tim Challies, author of what ranks as the number 1 Christian blog site (and a really nice guy), addressing some of the participants below….

And a shot of our discussion “The Future of Faith Online” which should be uploaded later in the week.

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