Scott, David Meerman. The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009. ISBN: 978-0-470-37928-8. Meet the Author David Scott Meerman is an award-winning marketing strategist, best-selling author, conference speaker and seminar leader who is best known for writing this book: The New Rules of Marketing & PR (published first in 2007, then updated in Read More …
Trends
Review of Flickering Pixels (#0014)
Hipps, Shane. Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith. Zondervan, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-310-29321-7. Meet the Author Shane Hipps is a pastor with a unique perspective on technology and media. In his first career he was a strategic planner in advertising. Shane walked away from that profession and entered seminary when he realized he was spending his life perpetuating the consumer culture that was inconsistent with his beliefs. Since 2005, he has served as Read More …
Ministry and Modern Technology (#0013)
In the July/August edition of Collide, Stephen Presley writes a thought provoking article: A Biblical Definition of Ministry in a Technological Age. Presley defines ministry as "a personal commission from God that labors toward the reconciliation of others to Christ through the gospel." He suggests it includes both personal and interpersonal elements, but that while it involves people its purpose is communicating the gospel. As technology continues to change and is utilized Read More …
Review of Who Stole my Church? (#0011)
MacDonald, Gordon. Who Stole my Church? What to do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century. Thomas Nelson, 2007. ISBN: 978-0-8499-2153-7. Meet the Author Gordon MacDonald is a well respected pastor, teacher, and author. In thirty-five years of pastoral ministry, MacDonald's served five congregations. He has been an adjunct professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary for many years and is also a sought after speaker. Read More …
Review of Quitting Church (#0006)
Duin, Julia. Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do about it. Baker Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8010-6823-2. Meet the Author Julia Duin is the religion editor for the Washington Times. She has a master's degree in religion from Trinity School for Ministry (an Episcopal seminary) and has covered the beat for three decades. Duin has won numerous awards and been nominated twice for a Pulitzer. Book Basics "It's no secret that the percentage Read More …
The Church on Facebook (#0003)
Lenora Rand's article in the June 30, 2009 Christian Century is titled The Church on Facebook: Why we Need Virtual Community. This article helps one consider the role of the online world in creating Christian community. More specifically, what how can facebook be utilized as a resource toward that end. Facebook is a popular social networking site. According to statistics from the site's press room. facebook has: Over 200 million users Over 100 million users who log in at Read More …
Changing Beliefs (#0002)
Survey Says A recent study by the Barna group found that 71% of U.S. adults develop their own religious beliefs rather than accept the teachings of a particular church or denomination. That statistic goes hand in hand with 45% who are "willing to try a new church" and 64% who are "completely open to carrying out and pursuing your faith in an environment or structure that differs from that of a typical church". So What? These statistics suggest that we are living in a Read More …