Marcus Cylar, itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is seeking your help with his Doctor of Ministry project centered around the question: "What are the characteristics and benefits of an effective, life-giving online pastoral support group in a social media setting?" The working title for this project is Examining Social Media's Role in Community Building and Spiritual Formation. Get Involved Marcus is looking for 30 participants of all ages (3 groups of 10) Read More …
Social Media
Tweeting at Quality Matters (#1194)
This week I have been in Nashville, TN attending the Quality Matters annual conference. According to their website, Quality Matters "is a leader in quality assurance for online education and has received national recognition for its peer-based approach to continuous improvement in online education and student learning." It is the standard Hodges University has chosen to adopt, and will soon be implementing. As has been the case at all of the professional conferences I have attended Read More …
Liking = Protected Speech (#1183)
According to a court decision made last week, clicking "like" on a Facebook post or page is now considered to be free speech protected by the First Amendment. This ruling by Judge Traxler of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA overturns the earlier ruling, and has significant implications for employment (the matter at hand in this case) and beyond. So What? The online world has grown and evolved at a rapid rate. Laws developed before the internet expansion often do not Read More …
Why People Share (#1179)
Ipsos, the world’s third largest market research company, recently published the results of their global survey on social media sharing. The reasons people share include: 37% - to let others know what I believe in and who I really am, 30% - to recommend a product, service, movie, book, etc., 29% - to add my support to a cause, an organization or a belief, and 26% - to share unique things. So What? Social media managers and others tasked with overseeing the social media presence of Read More …
The Value of a Blog Post (#1177)
Rob Jenkins, a community college professor, recently wrote a blog post for the Chronicle of Higher Education in which he questioned the value of blogging. Most who teach in higher education are involved in a world that requires them to publish in order to retain their livelihood, yet blog posts are often not counted as published material. Since blogs have the power to shape how people think about issues, Jenkins asks important questions: Which ultimately does more good—an article or Read More …
Social Media & Approaching Death (#1164)
Paul Bisceglio, a freelance journalist who edits the literary digital magazine Land that I Live, recently wrote an article in The Atlantic suggesting that social media is changing how people approach death. While the proliferation of social media and increasing use of such to speak about personal experiences with end of life is easily documented, how this shift will impact how people view death and dying is not yet known. So What? As people of faith, we have always viewed death Read More …
Your Social Media Voice (#1161)
Phil Cooke is a nonprofit marketing guru. He has written numerous books on the topic, including Unique: Telling Your Story in the Age of Brands and Social Media (2012) and Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Non-Profits Make a Difference and Other's Don't (2010). Recently, he suggested that "finding your authentic voice in social media isn’t that different from traditional media." In order to find your voice, Cooke suggests you don’t say things on Read More …
Taking a Break (#1151)
Time for a Break A great deal has changed in the world of blogging since I started writing on a daily basis nearly three years ago, and much has changed in my own life as well. What Next? Over the next few weeks, I plan to gather input from many sources. I encourage you to leave your thoughts as a reply to this post. More specifically: What about this blog do you find most helpful? What type of content would you be most interested in reading in the future? When you think of Read More …
Mormons Go Social (#1143)
Late last month leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a shift in missionary strategy. More specifically, the church will increasingly encourage missionaries to leverage social media rather than the traditional door-to-door approach. This change is significant for several reasons, including: the recent lowering of the minimum age for missionary work ( from 21 to 19 for women and from 19 to 18 for men), the old rules that limited Read More …
Sermon Prep (#1142)
Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, recently facilitated a Twitter poll asking pastors to share how long they spend preparing a sermon. The results show that most pastors take between 10-18 hours to prepare each message. More specifically: 70% prep between 10 and 18 hours, 15% prep between 7 and 9 hours, 10% prep for 6 hours or less, and 6% devote 19 hours or more to prepare each message. So What? Sermons vary widely in many respects, Read More …