Over the first four decades of my life I had the opportunity to participate in worship in around 30 different communities of faith (not counting those I joined on special occasions or for events other than their normal weekly services). Most of my adult life was spent serving congregations in a variety of lay and pastoral positions. Over the past twelve months I have participated in worship in over 30 different communities of faith in Texas during one of their normal Sunday services. Read More …
video
Sermon Preferences (#1292)
According to the latest survey by LifeWay Research, most Americans prefer in person preaching to a video sermon when attending worship at a church. About a third (35%) indicated they will only visit churches with services of worship that feature live sermons. Strikingly, less than 1% prefer viewing a video sermon. So What? I have only attended one service of worship that featured a video recording of a pastor's sermon. Prior to that experience, I disliked the idea. Read More …
Internet Technologies for Discipleship (#0563)
Kelly Walsh, Chief Information Officer at the College of Westchester and seasoned IT professional, recently updated his list of ten internet technologies about which educators should be informed. Walsh's current list has changed dramatically, including only five items from his original list. The new list, in order, follows: video and podcasting resources, digital presentation tools, collaboration and brainstorming tools, blogs and blogging, social networking tools, Read More …
Demand for Intelligent Internet Video (#0412)
TED is "is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading." TED conferences "bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less)." Writing for Mashable, Sarah Kessler shares the story of how recordings of these talks have now been viewed 500 million times: When Director of TED Media June Cohen shopped around the idea for a television show featuring lectures from the organization’s famously elite Read More …
Your Church’s Facebook Page (#0395)
Eric S. Anderson, Minister of Communications and Technology for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ recently posted an excellent guide to creating and effectively utilizing your church's Facebook page. He encourages those congregations that have not yet created a presence on Facebook to do so, especially in light of recent research that shows the majority of Americans age 12 and older now have Facebook accounts. Newcomers will benefit from his step-by-step Read More …
The Christmas Story: Creativity + $500 = 400K+ views (#0230)
On this the second Sunday of Christmas, I invite you to watch one of the best Christmas videos you may not have seen. The video was created by St. Paul's Church in Auckland, New Zealand to market their annual Carols by Glowstick event. According to Joshua Cody, who interviewed one of the creative folks behind the project, the church spent only $500 to produce the video since "everything else was supplied by the individuals, families and businesses of St. Paul’s. That goes Read More …