Jed Davis is an avid blogger that I found serendipitously while making my rounds on the blogosphere. What caught my attention was his free eBook titled “The Social Media Guide for Churches: What You Need to Know and Why You Need to Know It”. We connected up and had a quick conversation on this episode of Social Media Church, about his eBook, his work as a church consultant, and how he manages social media.

Show Notes

Connect with Jed Davis on Twitter @thisjed + Facebook facebook.com/thisjed
+ blog thisjed.com

#ebook The Social Media Guide for Churches: What You Need to Know and Why You Need to Know It #free

#blog #post Let’s Take A Look Behind My Motives

Peter McGowan (of Media Social and Plain Joe Studios) sat down with DJ Chuang for an lively conversation about church and culture on this episode of Social Media Church. We covered topics like stewardship, creativity, storytelling, social media engagement, online church, innovation, divergent thinking, long-term projects, leading culture, the human condition, and much more. This is the most important anddisruptive episode ever recorded to date.

Announcement: This episode marks a special occasion as Social Media Church launches its new partnership with Leadership Network to cross-post these conversations with church leaders about social media at the Leadership Network blog! Thank you Leadership Network for lending your platform to spread the innovative ideas emanating from the conversations here at the Social Media Church podcast. And a warm welcome to all the new listeners! 

Show Notes

Connect with Peter McGowan at fb.com/plainjoe

Plain Joe Studios –  communication design group experienced in strategic ideation, interactive media, and environmental design

Media Social – a Facebook App that provides a broadcast social TV Channel through the internet

OnlineChurch.com, the Internet campus of Community Bible Church (San Antonio, Texas), powered by MediaSocial.tv

Online Campus of Granger Community Church (Granger, Indiana), powered by MediaSocial.tv

#article Lego Boosts Sales And Brand Loyalty With Revamped Marketing Strategy (going from $1 billion in debt to $14.6 billion in a decade)

Van Baird launched Relational Equity to help cultivate meaningful relationships through social media, though he’d prefer to use the word media instead of social media. He explains why on this episode of Social Media Church; we also talk about how to listen well, show love, and tips for launching a podcast.

Show Notes

Connect with Van Baird on Twitter @vanbaird

Van Baird’s podcast is recorded on internet radio businessradiox.com + the show is called Emerging Enterprise + the first episode is posted

March 13th (2014) in Atlanta GA – SocialEcclesia micro-conference is a one-day event where church leaders “will learn best practices, balance, strategy and how to fully utilize modern tools which can be used to advance our mission in Christ” – follow their tweets #SocialEcclesia

#video Another Perspective on #Ashtag Selfies – Matt Kilmurry of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)’s Department of Communications

#article Questions and answers about Ash Wednesday (RNS)

Ashes To Go ashestogo.org – taking worship to the streets

Kent Shaffer is the founder of ChurchRelevance.com and OpenChurch.com. Kent met up with me (DJ Chuang) in-person during his road trip through Orange County, California and we sat down to talk about how he got into social media, his spiritual life and dynamic journey in recent years, going from LifeChurch.tv to an inner city missional community, his nomadic lifestyle with a young family on the road in an RV, how to best understand the top churches lists that he curates, how sermons are like lifehacks, church communications, and of course we talk about how churches are using social media.

Show Notes

Connect with Kent Shaffer on Facebook facebook.com/kentshaffer + LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/kentshaffer

ChurchRelevance.com (resources and lists for creating relevant & effective ministries)

OpenChurch.com – free downloadable resources + ideas from the global church, helping disciples of Jesus collaborate, learn from each other, and share resources

#list Top 200 Ministry Blogs (as of 9/2013), in which DJ Chuang is #83

#list Top Ranked Churches in America (in the areas of church growth, size, innovation, church planting, influence, and overall)

#list 108 Great Church Logos

#list 40 Great Church Websites of 2013

Church Conference Calendar List (@ churchrelevance.com)

The Big List of Theological Seminaries, with sortable info by denomination, tuition cost, and location

Clint Schnekloth wrote this new book titled, “Mediating Faith: Faith Formation in a Trans-media Era“, and is lead pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (Fayetteville, Arkansas). He joined the Social Media Church podcast for a conversation about the back story of his new book, how social media is used in his church community, and his experience of joining others for worship in the virtual world of Second Life, and, of course, we do talk about the book too.

Show Notes

Connect with Clint Schnekloth at http://ClintSchnekloth.com + on Twitter @Schnekloth + on Facebook fb.com/Schnekloth+ his blog http://lutheranconfessions.blogspot.com

#post 11 Reasons I’m Proud to Pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

#transcript Interview — Mediating Faith: Faith Formation in a Trans-media Era by Clint Schnekloth on the #chsocm blog by Meredith Gould

#podcast Meredith Gould of #ChSocM : Episode 30 @ Social Media Church

#video Interview with Clint by Abigail Letsinger

#interview Fortress Press Author Q&A for Mediating Faith

#meme #bookselfies #mediatingfaith – photos of people with the Mediating Faith book

Social Media Church has a lively conversation with Justin Wise, author of a brand new book, The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication, just released 1 week ago and the print edition was already sold out on day 1 and it is still temporarily out of stock. But good thing the Kindle edition never runs out and you can buy it instantly! Get the back story of how the authoring and publishing experience went for Justin, how they decided to focus the book’s big idea on the “why to” rather than the “how to”, how Justin is training and coaching churches and entrepreneurs to be more effective with social media, and listen for the special offer for Social Media Church listeners. By the way, Justin Wise is currently a professional social media strategist, based in Des Moines, Iowa, a city that he’s very proud of.

Show Notes

Connect with Justin Wise at justinwise.net and on Twitter @JustinWise

#podcast Justin Wise: Episode 33 of Social Media Church (prequel to authoring the book) goodies from Justin Wise:

• #book The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication by Justin Wise
• #website the Social Church book website socialchurchbook.com
• #ThinkDigital Podcast
• Think Digital Academy thinkdigital.co – 8-module social media coaching program
• #certificate Social Media Certification Course for Churches
• #discount socialchurchbook.com/offer
• #new 4-Hour Social Church Online Intensive on March 27th, 2014

#video [raw recording session] Google+ Hangout on Air with Justin Wise for this very episode

#video #SocialChurchBook Hangout – book launch day Google+ Hangout with Justin Wise and Clark Campbell

#post Vision is Viral: Talking Social Media & Church with Justin Wise (churchmarketingsucks.com)

#review of The Social Church – Kevin Hendricks (churchmarketingsucks.com)

#post Social Media: Another Greeter for Your Church by Jane Halton

#mentioned Scott Stratten @unmarketing of unmarketing.com

On this special episode of the Social Media Church podcast, listen to keen insights from Brandon Cox — church planter, social media enthusiast, and author of a new book, REWIRED: How Using Today’s Technology Can Bring You Back to Deeper Relationships, Real Conversations, and Powerful Ways to Share God’s Love. Recorded before a live online audience via Google+ Hangout on Air.

Show Notes

Brandon Cox is Pastor of Grace Hills Church in northwest Arkansas

Connect with Brandon Cox on Twitter @brandonacox + on Facebook facebook.com/pastorbrandoncox +brandonacox.com

#book Rewired: How Using Today’s Technology Can Bring You Back to Deeper Relationships, Real Conversations, and Powerful Ways to Share God’s Love by Brandon Cox

Rewired book website is rewiredbook.com + on Facebook facebook.com/rewiredbook + on Twitter @RewiredBook

#list The Ultimate List of Social Media Policies for Churches & Ministries #resource

#book The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication by Justin Wise #mentioned

Social media management dashboards #mentioned: Buffer, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck

#video [raw] Social Media Church Live with Brandon Cox

Mei Ling Starkey is the Media Relations/Social Media Director at The Rock Church in San Diego, California, founded & led by Pastor Miles McPherson. She connected with us on the Social Media Church podcast while en route between one thing and another; we talk about Rock Church’s approach to communicating through social media, how to integrate volunteers into the flow of their church’s social media, engaging people on their online campus, a newly-launched video devotional app, and more.

Show Notes

Connect with Mei Ling Starkey on Twitter @mlstarkey

The Rock Church is on Twitter @therocksandiego, Facebook fb.com/therocksandiego, Instagram instagram.com/therocksandiego, YouTube youtube.com/therocksandiego

Rock Live – Watch The Rock Church services live online

Miles A Minute – The 60 Second Daily Video Devotional app – Every day for a year with Miles McPherson

#new Real-time dashboard of the most popular church Facebook pages

DJ Chuang pontificates on where to get content for feeding social media, Christian podcasts produced for podcast listeners, and what every church website needs to make plain and simple. More importantly, he wants to hear from you! Call 949-354-3216 and leave a message with your feedback or email me@socialmediachurch.net with your burning question.

Show Notes

#blog post by Josh Burns – Your Church’s Problem in Social Media

Josh Burns was featured on Episode 21 of Social Media Church; Josh is Director of Web & Social Media at Park Community Church (Chicago, IL)

browse the Christian Podcast Directory at SocialMediaChurch.net

#post Mapping out a DC Christmas Tour 2013

Pete Mitchell and Peyton Jones together publish the Church Planter Magazine and host the Church Planter podcast – both are great resources by church planters for church planters. How they do all that they do I don’t know, but they made time to talk for this episode of Social Media Church podcast, and how social media and texting work for church plants and connecting with the next generation.

Show Notes

Read + Subscribe to Church Planter Magazine, a free digital publication, and the Church Planter podcast

Connect with Pete Mitchell on Twitter Bustoutbigguns (Pete Mitchell is the Chief Marketing Mercenary at Big Guns Marketing) and publisher of the Church Planter Magazine and the Church Planter podcast

Connect with Peyton Jones on Twitter @PeytonJonesPunk (Peyton Jones is team leader of Refuge Long Beach and founding coach ofNew Breed Church Planting UK/USA. He also authored the book Church Zero: Raising 1st Century Churches out of the Ashes of the 21st Century Church.)

#church Refuge Long Beach on web refugelongbeach.com, on Twitter @RefugeLongBeach, on Facebookfacebook.com/RefugeLongBeach

#video raw recording of this video conversation – this extended recording also includes Peyton’s answer to the question “So who is Jesus Christ? Is He the son of God or is he God in the flesh?” and the recording for Church Planter Podcast episode #34: the one about social media with DJ Chuang

#article Why church planters must use social media by DJ Chuang

Jason Curlee is a campus pastor at Bay Area Fellowship (Corpus Christi, TX) at their Kingsville Campus and also launching out as a social media coach to train church leaders & small businesses to use social media more effectively. On this episode of Social Media Church, hear how their church is using social media, how he reached over 1 million impressions in a week, and listen for an exclusive $20 discount for one of his online courses, just for Social Media Church listeners. According to Jason’s bio, “With over 7,000 followers on his twitter, to over 100,000 views on his youtube account, to 2,500 friends on his personal facebook, he’s learned how to utilize various social media platforms to help others achieve the life they dream.” 

Show Notes

Connect with Jason Curlee on Twitter @jasoncurlee + his blog jasoncurlee.me

Take a look at his campus’ Facebook page facebook.com/bafkingsville and his church’s Facebook page facebook.com/bafchurch to see how they post engaging content 

#article Can The Church and Social Media Exist Together by Jason Curlee

Jason Curlee’s Facebook Boot Camp (14-day online course + coaching) and Social Media Boot Camp To Startup Your Business (28-day online course + coaching)

#video raw recording of DJ Chuang’s conversation with Jason Curlee, via Google+ Hangout on Air

‘Twas the night before Christmas and I had some extra time during holiday vacation to launch a Christian Podcast Directory. Yes, consider it my Christmas gift for you listeners of the Social Media Church podcast.

I squeezed in recording this shorter episode while in transit during holiday travels, so it’s kinda like a soundseeing tour, except where I was going had nothing to do with the topic of this episode.

Thanks for sharing a few holiday minutes with me, and I hope to be having more good conversations here in the new year! Call our listener voicemail # 949-354-3216 and leave a message to join the conversation!

Show Notes

Church Podcast Directory – just launched for Christmas 2013 #MerryChristmas- intentionally only listing podcasts that are produced specifically for a podcast listening audience, not for sermons or syndication of radio or TV shows (because podcasting is better for on-going conversations than one-way broadcasting)

#article Can The Church and Social Media Exist Together by Jason Curlee

Connect with Jason Curlee on Twitter @jasoncurlee + his blog jasoncurlee.me

Intro + Outro music courtesy of Gene Gajewski via Soundcloud: O Tannenbaum, Christmas Is Coming

This live recording of Social Media Church podcast features a conversation with Jason Morris, Innovation and Technology Pastor, of Westside Family Church (Kansas City). We talk about how Westside made its decision for launching an online campus, what they’ve learned during the past 3 years of doing ministry online, how they’re innovating, and the 3 burning questions that every church has to (eventually) answer about doing church online.

Show Notes

Jason Morris – blog, Twitter @jasonandmaria, Facebook facebook.com/jcmorris

Westside Family Church in Lenexa, Kansas, and its Online Campus, powered by the Church Online platform; Westside’s YouTube channel youtube.com/user/westsidefamilychurch

#article Westside’s use of Google AdWords, $10k worth of ads for FREE to churches – Church Using Free Google Ads to Transform Internet Campus via Leadership Network

Christmas music on the outro: Saxaphone by Delton Hanley, Living Christmas Tree 2004 from  Seaview Full Gospel Church (ht: hermann-uwe.de’s list of Creative Commons Christmas Songs)

#raw #video live recording of this episode with DJ Chuang and Jason Morris

#podcast Social Media Church Episode 11, also with Jason Morris

#article Churches take to YouTube, Instagram to spread holiday gospel (Reuters, 12/16/13) ~ mentions Social Media Church podcast, Kenny Jahng (on Social Media Church episode #1) of Liquid Church and Jay Kranda (on Social Media Church episode #19) of Saddleback Church

#research Interview Transcript – Westside Family Church: Jason Morris and Brad Mann (pdf) —  This interview was conducted in 2013 and features Brad Mann, the Speedway Campus Pastor, and Jason Morris, the Online Campus Pastor.  Together, Mann and Morris have been instrumental partners in establishing Westside’s multi-site operations.  Interview questions primarily focus upon the logistics of shifting an independent single-site church into a multi-site church, and how each of Westside Family’s current campuses function (including the Lansing Campus).  The end of the interview focuses upon Morris and his role with the Online Campus–a new, if not cutting edge, approach to running a church in an age with incredible technological capabilities. [citation] Stratton, Emily., “Organic. Authentic. Relevant.(An Introduction to Church Planting in Kansas),” Religion in Kansas Project, accessed December 17, 2013,http://ksreligion.omeka.net/items/show/1011.

This episode of Social Media Church features a conversation with Dusty Craig, the Lead Pastor of WC Online. WC Online is the online campus for White’s Chapel UMC (Southlake, TX). We talk about how the church decided to launch its online campus, hear about their strategy, what they’ve learned during the past few years, and discuss the timely topic of the UMC moratorium of online sacraments, since they’re 1 of 3 United Methodist churches that run an Online Campus, with the 4th one being Central United Methodist Church (Concord, NC) that’ll launch end of this year. There are certainly other UMC’s with livestream video of their worship services, and if there are other UMC’s with Online Campuses, please do let us know + add a comment here. Oh, I did find one more: Engage Online, an online campus ofNorth Naples United Methodist Church in Florida.

Show Notes

Connect with Dusty Craig on Twitter @dustycraig and his blog dustycraig.com
WC Online wconline.tv + on Facebook facebook.com/whiteschapelonline

White’s Chapel UMC on Facebook facebook.com/whiteschapelumc + on Pinterest pinterest.com/whiteschapelumc

Moratorium, study urged on online communion and Should churches offer Holy Communion online? (UMNS)

#article COB and Wall Street Journal take on online communion (The United Methodist Reporter)

#article Church’s Online Communion: Sacrament or Sacrilege? North Carolina Church’s Virtual Plans Run Afoul of the United Methodist Hierarchy (Wall Street Journal 11/15/13)

#article Online Communion? Methodist Church Debates Offering Virtual Service (Huffington Post, via RNS’s “Can online Communion be a substitute for the real thing?”)

What About Online Church Communion? (churchm.ag) – #video of Eric Dye and Kenny Jahng talking about Online Church Communion

Drone Communion actually solves the problems with Online Communion (HackingChristianity.net)

Online Communion is “For Real” (URLoved)

Online Communion: Is It Cutting-Edge or Heretical? (Phil Cooke)

“Cyber Worship and Online Communion” (The Outlaw Monk, a Lutheran member’s perspective on this matter

Book Review: The Churching of America 1776—2005: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy by Roger Finke and Rodney Stark (2005)

“Churches grew in the early years of the country due to the aggressive and tireless work of fervent devotees. Examples of this would include the rise of Methodism and the Baptists through itinerant preachers, revival meetings, camp meetings, tent meetings, public prayer meetings and interior missions groups. This was truly an evangelistic effort focused on winning souls for Christ and it had an enormous impact on the landscape of the society.”

#podcast A Blast from the Past — Methocast with Leo Laporte (Jay Voorhees)

David Housholder is a Lutheran pastor at Robinwood Church in Huntington Beach, California, and on this episode of the Social Media Church podcast, host DJ Chuang sat down with David to talk about how his church has strengthen relationships through a Facebook group, how social media is changing the organization and institution of the church, and more.

Show Notes

Connect with David Housholder on Twitter @LibertyHous + at davidhousholder.com + his Life & Liberty podcast

Blackberry Bush – online course designed to serve the evangelism and discipleship of normal-sized churches

Think Digital Academy, an online course for organizations to learn how to effectively use social media, by Justin Wise, who was on Social Media Church episode #33

Dr. Lawrence Terlizzese is a research associate with Probe Ministries. Dr. Terlizzese’s recent commentary on the social media revolution gives us insights on how we communicate today and the contrast from traditional media. Thanks to Probe Ministries for permission to post the audio commentary on this Social Media Church podcast episode.

Show Notes

#article The Church and the Social Media Revolution by Dr. Lawrence Terlizzese

Probe Ministries produces content and programs “to integrate faith and learning through balanced, biblically based scholarship, training people to love God by renewing their minds and equipping the Church to engage the world for Christ.”

Connect with Probe Ministries on Twitter @ProbeMinistries and on Facebook facebook.com/probe.ministries

DJ Chuang, host of the Social Media Church podcast, checks-in with listeners after catching the tail-end of the iMinistry 2013 conference, held at Lake Pointe Church near Dallas, Texas. I introduce the idea of innovating without a budget and describe how this podcast is an example of running a project with $0 operating costs. Reimagine what you and/or your church could accomplish if money didn’t matter.

Show Notes

This is a roster of people who were at iMinistry 2013 and were featured on past episodes of Social Media Church (I hope I didn’t miss anyone):

• Shamichael Hallman: Episode 59
• Darrel Girardier of Brentwood Baptist Church: Episode 57
• Nate Merrill of Lake Pointe Church: Episode 47
• Oscar Soto of Christ Fellowship: Episode 46
• Elwood Matthews of Zion Church: Episode 38
• Dana Byers of BlueDoor.tv and LifeChurch.tv : Episode 29
• Jan Touchberry of Christ Fellowship McKinney: Episode 25
• Episode 19: Jay Kranda of Saddleback Church
• Episode 14: Alan George of LifeChurch.tv
• Episode 13: Jason Caston of iChurchMethod.com
• Episode 11: Jason Morris of Westside Family Church
• Episode 6: Seth Farrior on Social Media Church
• Episode 2: Social Media Church with Nils Smith

Cognitive Surplus: The Great Spare-Time Revolution (Wired, June 2010)

#video Clay Shirky: How cognitive surplus will change the world – Clay Shirky looks at “cognitive surplus” — the shared, online work we do with our spare brain cycles. While we’re busy editing Wikipedia, posting to Ushahidi (and yes, making LOLcats), we’re building a better, more cooperative world.

Get a free account at COPY.com to upload your audio file submissions as a guest host of Social Media Church podcast – our email isme@socialmediachurch.net

Josh Turansky is Director of Online Strategies for CalvaryChapel.com and an Assistant Pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa (California). Josh spoke at the Calvary Chapel Senior Pastor’s Conference 2012 and shared some keen insights about Calvary Chapel as a movement and tribe along with how to pastorally engage on social media. He addresses the most common concerns and makes the case for engaging the culture through new technology. Special thanks to Josh Turansky for permission to excerpt the audio of his presentation.

To skip the introductory statistics and go right to the meat of Josh’s presentation, fast forward to 25:40.

This Social Media Church podcast episode is perfect for pastors you know that need encouragement and motivation to get on and/or stay actively engaged on social media. Start with the why, it’s the first step, and this episode is it. So share this podcast generously and freely. Freely share as you have freely received.

Show Notes

Connect with Josh Turansky via Twitter @JoshTuransky and his website joshturansky.com

#presentation Social Media and the Church (PDF) – slides by Josh Turansky

#video Social Media and the Church – presentation by Josh Turansky

#article 9 Ways to Keep Up with Calvary Chapel News – how Josh stays connected with what’s going on

An Open Letter to Pastors About Social Media (Darrel Girardier)

An Open Letter to Pastors About the Dangers of Using Social Media (Bruce Reyes-Chow) and a response from David Hansen: Get Out of the Garage

Getting Started in Social Media: A How-To for Pastors and Ministry Leaders by Ed Stetzer

#article 7 Things Every Pastor Should Do Every Week on Social Media (Rich Birch, ChurchLeaders.com)

#article 5 Reasons It’s More Important for Pastors to Use Social Media Than Churches (Rich Birch, VisionRoom.com)

#article Why Pastors Should Use Social Media (Chad Graves of Pauline Baptist Church)

#video Should pastors use social media? – Excerpt from an episode of The Exchange, where Ed Stetzer talks with Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources; full episode with Thom Rainer on Leadership

#article Chuck Smith, 86, Dies After Cancer Battle: Renowned California pastor founded Calvary Chapel movement. (Christianity Today)

#article Chuck Smith Has Died: Some Thoughts on the Amazing Life of Chuck and the Improbable Story of Calvary Chapel in Memoriam by Ed Stetzer

The Internet as we know it will be history and exciting changes are coming in the next 2 years. An estimated 700+ top-level domains (TLD) will be launching, like .SHOP, .WEB, .HOTEL, .MENU, and many many more.

One TLD of particular interest is .BIBLE, and when that launches, people could get domain names like PREACHING.BIBLE, STUDY.BIBLE or SOCIALMEDIA.BIBLE. Full disclosure: I, DJ Chuang, work with American Bible Society and the .BIBLE Registry.

On this episode of Social Media Church, I’ve invited 2 key members of the .BIBLE Registry launch team from theAmerican Bible Society, John Mark Mitchell (Director of Digital Innovation) and Scott Wennermark (Director, Strategic Advancement) to share the back story of how this came about, how the Internet will be changed forever, answer commonly-asked questions, and how you can participate in this opportunity to shape the future of the Internet. (Note: John Mark Mitchell had a new title change soon after post-production.)

Show Notes

Pre-register .BIBLE domain names for free and with no obligation at BibleTLD.org

Sign-up for the free email newsletter to stay informed about the .BIBLE launch

Like the Facebook page for Bible TLD at facebook.com/bibletld

#video What is .BIBLE? (explained in 2 minutes)

#article Washington Post on New gTLD’s: Com Was The Training Wheels For The Internet: Move aside .com

#article Newly OK’d domains make .com look so 1999

whatdomain.org – website explaining how 100s of new domains are about to transform the web – the future of Internet – the Web’s New Neighborhoods

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) – the organization that coordinates the infrastructure that runs the worldwide Internet

Mark MacDonald is Creative Brand Strategist at BeKnownForSomething.com and soon-to-be Communications Director at Community of Faith near Houston, Texas. Mark explains on Social Media Church why church communications is so important and essential, what makes it challenging, the back story behind the world’s biggest Easter Egg Hunt, how to take the sting out of loaded words like “entertainment” and “marketing,” and how social media is so broad too. Also an overview of how the Certification Lab they’re launching next month will help churches become well-equipped for communicating effectively. The topic of church communication is so large, and we only touched on a bit of social media, but we did get into the essence of communication, that is, identifying the essence and unique distinction of your church community. And then church communications is using your creativity, how to communicate so it gets remembered, and the role of leadership.

Show Notes

Connect with Mark MacDonald on Twitter @markmac1023 and at BeKnownForSomething.com

Certification Lab is 2-day intensive on church communications, hosted by the Center for Church Communications, better known for its Church Marketing Sucks blog. October 14-15, 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee. Listen to this episode for a special code to get $50 off!

#article Mark MacDonald: Overwhelmed Communicators (churchmarketingsucks.com)

Shamichael Hallman of New Direction Christian Church (Memphis, Tennessee) talks about his role as a Pastor of Innovation there, and how they’re leveraging social media, online, and mobile app. And listen for the most valuable piece in the conversation where he explains what they did that really helped their online giving skyrocketed. Money has a way of getting all our attention, doesn’t it?

Show Notes for this podcast episode of Social Media Church

Connect with Shamichael Hallman on Twitter @shamike2009 and Facebook facebook.com/shamichael.hallman

#video Man credits virtual church for miraculous recovery (WMC-TV News)

New Direction Christian Church on Twitter @NDCCMemphis and its Virtual Church is at n2newdirection.tv

#list Churches with Pastors of Innovation curated by DJ Chuang

#raw video of my Google+ Hangout on Air conversation with Shamichael Hallman

iMinistry 2013 – internet ministry conference in Dallas Texas on October 15-17, 2013 [listen to episode 47 with Nate Merrill for special discount code]

Code for the Kingdom hackathon – next one is Austin, Texas, October 25-27, 2013

#bridgebuildingchat twitter chat

#video How do you have a conversation across culture and race?

Connect with Tim Samuel on Twitter @TimSamuelCFO

Dr. Verity Jones is Project Director of the New Media Project, founded in 2010 to help religious leaders think theologically about digital technology. Listen to an excerpt from their February 2013 conference, Digital Church: Theology and New Media, with best ideas for social media from Nadia Bolz-Weber (House for All Sinners and Saints), Eugene Cho (Quest Church), and Tony Lee (Community of Hope AME Church). Sound bite: “Churches and church pastors are just going to be in the mixed media business for a long time…”

Show Notes for this episode of the Social Media Church podcast

Browse the growing number of thoughtful resources at the New Media Project <cpx.cts.edu/newmedia> and connect on Twitter@NewMediaAtCTS and Facebook facebook.com/NewMediaProjectAtCTS

Connect with Dr. Verity Jones on Twitter @verityjones

Conference videos – Digital Church: Theology and New Media (February 2013)

#article Thinking Theologically About Social Media (by Verity Jones, in Huffington Post 6/2012)

#blog #series Youth ministry and social media, Celebration and social media, Prayer and social media, Social justice and social media

In 2011, the New Media Project research fellows conducted case studies of 6 innovative projects in digital communication based in congregations, religious institutions, or para-church organizations. The 6 case study subjects are:

This episode of the Social Media Church podcast features Darrel Girardier, Digital Strategy Director for Brentwood Baptist Church(Nashville, Tennessee). Darrel was previously a Creative Director at LifeWay Christian Resources. And we talk with Darrel about his experience in doing social media effectively for and with those organizations, his value for blogging, and what he’s working on next.

Show Notes

Connect with Darrel Girardier at @dgirardier on Twitter and his blog faithcontext.com

#article What I’ve Learned In the Last Four Months of Blogging (by Darrel Girardier)

Other great articles by Darrel: How To Create a Church Social Media Policy and Not Hamper Your Staff, An Open Letter to Pastors About Social Media, Why Your Church Should Use a Social Media Content Calendar

#article Not Tweeting? Repent! Ed Stetzer on why ignoring social media is no longer an option for church leaders. (Leadership Journal, Summer 2013)

#article Getting Started in Social Media: A How-To for Pastors and Ministry Leaders by Ed Stetzer

#bonus Shout out to Trina Lee @TrinaKLee

This Social Media Church episode features a conversation with Corrin Bauer, Online Communications Manager (aka Social Media Manager) at Mars Hill Church (Seattle, Washington), a multi-site church (currently) with 14 campuses in 4 states, with 2 more campuses and 1 more state coming soon. She manages the social media for @marshill @theresurgence & @pastormark as well as the church. Mars Hill is the only church I know of that uploads sermon previews on YouTube, sorta like movie trailers, not just sermon series promo videos.

Show Notes

Connect with Corrin Bauer on Twitter @corrinbauer + on Facebook facebook.com/corrin.bauer

#article Top 5 Churches That Use Social Media Best: CP’s List of Places of Worship That Have a Successful Digital Strategy (The Christian Post 6/07/13)

Mars Hill Church on YouTube youtube.com/user/mhcseattle, on Facebook facebook.com/marshillchurch, on Instagraminstagram.com/marshillchurch, on Pinterest pinterest.com/marshill/, on Tumblr tumblr.marshill.com, on Google+ plus.google.com/+marshill

#crowdsourcedsermons Mars Hill Church’s sermon series: Religion Saves based on Ask Anything (final stats: 893 questions asked  |  5,524 comments made  |  343,203 votes cast)

#socialnetwork The City – “a group-oriented social network that helps everyone in your church stay engaged in daily life and ministry” + read about the vision behind The City

(ambient Seattle sounds courtesy of Lenguaverd @ freesound)