What is it like to unplug? To stay offline, not just giving it up for Lent, but for a whole year? On this episode of Social Media Church, Clement Wen talks with me over lunch (thus the ambient noise) and describes how he did youth ministry without Facebook. Clement is Youth Minister at Chinese Bible Church of Maryland (in Rockville). This episode also includes an excerpt from Clement’s sermon where he described the things he learned from being disconnected from Facebook for a year, and even how that experience showed him an insight about the heart of God.
Show Notes
Connect with Clement Wen on Facebook facebook.com/clementw3
#article The Top 5 Regrets of The Dying (Storyline blog, 12/19/12)
#statistics The Rise of the @Pastor (Barna Group, June 2013)
#article NJ pastor orders church workers to stay off Facebook (11/29/10)
Started off this episode of Social Media Church with a conversation that sparked my preliminary thinking about 4 levels of social media engagement, for which I’d love your feedback. And the featured guest conversation is with Jan Lynn, Communication Director atEastside Christian Church in Anaheim, California (previously in Fullerton) and a long-time blogger–she started back in 2005. We talk about the old days of blogging, the changes that social media has brought, developing an organizational voice for a church, creative use of images and videos, and more.
Show Notes
Connect with Jan Lynn on Twitter @jan_lynn and her blog theviewfromher.com
#video of the @Eastside_CC 50 years of history in a Facebook timeline look vimeo.com/41876041
Connect with Van Baird on Twitter @VanBaird and Relational Equity
#podcast Church Tech Weekly with Mike Sessler @MikeSessler and Van Metschke @TheSoundBooth
Andrew Hansen is the Creative Arts Director (and also Communications Director) at South Hills Church in Corona, California. He talks with Social Media Church about creative use of videos, legal matters about social media and churches, top learnings from his studies onIntegrated Marketing Communications at West Virginia University Online, and the unique culture of South Hills Church.
Show Notes
Connect with Andrew Hansen on Twitter @andrewkhansen and his blog akhansen.com
blog series on Emerging Media, included topics like Church Social Strategy, Legal Issues, and Measures of Intent
YouTube channel of South Hills Church youtube.com/southhillscorona
#video Like a Christian
Summer Joy Boone is Director of Assimilation and Social Media at Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Florida. We had such a fun conversation for this episode of Social Media Church podcast, covering all kinds of topics, including: going from social business marketing to church communications, fostering transparency, why having a social media policy is important, using a winning combo of Instagram + Twitter + Facebook, value of the call to action, only posting content worthy of sharing, weaving together the online with the offline, giving people something to talk about, managing time usage on social media, what’s great about a church that’s social, and so much more!
Apologies for the less-than-optimal sound quality tarnished by ambient background noise on my side and the occasional artifacts from internet bandwidth hiccups of a cross-country conversation spanning 3,000+ miles. And, please forgive me for misspeaking the name of the church during this episode.
Show Notes
Connect with Summer Boone @summerjoy on Twitter and her blog summerjoyboone.com
#news Instagram saw 5M videos uploaded in the first 24 hours after debut (Gigaom 6/21/13)
#oped Let the Instagram vs. Vine Video Battle Begin (Greg Jarboe @ Search Engine Watch 6/25/13)
#oped Instagram Video vs. Vine – Head-to-Head Comparison (Tom Richardson @ Redmond Pie 6/23/13)
#oped Instagram vs. Vine: Battle of the short-form video-sharing apps (Jaymar Cabebe @ CNET 6/20/13)
#video My thoughts on Vine vs. Instagram Video (Gary Vaynerchuk 6/20/13)
#utility Auphonic – audio post production web service
Social Media Church podcast celebrates its 50th episode with a special guest, Jia Jiang, in Austin, Texas. Jia has a viral video with over 5 million views and is an active lay church leader. This episode is a lively conversation reviewing the first year of Social Media Church podcasting, a recent article listing the top 5 social media churches, and things befitting of a milestone. Would love your feedback for the next 50! Add a comment below.
Show Notes
Connect with Jia Jiang on Twitter @JiaJiang + his blog entresting.com
#video Rejection Therapy Day 3 – Ask for Olympic Symbol Doughnuts. Jackie at Krispy Kreme Delivers!
#backstory about Jia’s 100 Days of Rejection Therapy
Jia Jiang’s TEDx talks: Surprising Insights from 100 Days of Rejection (TEDxAustin), Rejection or regret? Your choice (TEDxYouth@Austin),What is inspiration? (TEDxDuke)
#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)
Top 5 list of social media churches, in alphabetical order:
[++ denotes multiple locations, aka a multisite church]
#article Church leaders need viral social media #chsocm
#oldviralvideos funny jesus videos 1-4 via Vintage21.com
The featured guest on this episode of Social Media Church is Bryan Baker, Pastor of Big Timber Evangelical Church in Montana. He’s a pastor of a normal-sized church in a small town somewhere in Big Sky country, and we chat about how he introduced his church to social media – including website, Facebook page, and Facebook Ads.
Show Notes
Connect with Bryan Baker on Twitter @BryanBaker_ and his blog ministrylogistics.com
Like the Big Timber Evangelical Church’s Facebook Page facebook.com/bigtimberchurch
Social Media Church features this conversation with Judith Gotwald about the story behind this article about her church, “How Social Media Saved Our Church” (posted 4/18/13 @ SocialMediaToday.com). Within 2 years of getting online to actively use social media, their church has seen worldwide impact far beyond the previous ministry efforts in a physical church building.
Show Notes
Connect with Judith Gotwald on Twitter @jigotwald + her church 2×2 The Church Without a Building + at her website gotwaldcreation.com
#article The Social Media Revolution (or Reformation?) (5/6/2013)
#article Overcoming the fear of Social Media (2/09/2013)
The Social Media Ministry page at 2x2virtualchurch.com has practical tips like 9 Reasons to Start A Social Media Ministry Committee, Social Media Can Help Your Church Make a Good First Impression, Forming a Social Media Ministry Committee, Finding Content for Your Church Blog, Getting Pastors Onboard with Social Media, Budgeting for Social Media Ministry, and more.
#alternative #article Technology won’t resurrect dead churches (The Baptist Standard, 5/02/2013)
This episode of Social Media Church features a conversation with Nate Merrill, Associate Pastor of the Internet Campus for Lake Pointe Church (Rockwall, Texas) and the official location of iMinistry 2012 and iMinistry 2013. Listen to Nate Merrill share the back story of why Lake Pointe Church started its Internet Campus, what kind of results they’re seeing, and some of the great learnings from last year’s iMinistry gathering and what’s coming this year! (Be sure to listen closely for the special discount code for $50 off!)
Show Notes
Connect with Nate Merrill on Twitter @TheNateMerrill
#event iMinistry 2013 – October 15-17, 2013 – the most unique nationwide gathering to discuss Internet Ministry and Church Online
#webinar Top 3 Tech Trends Impacting the Church via @leadnet
#news The Table has been aquired by Gateway Church (video) and Press Release – A Technology Tool That Can Revolutionize Churches Worldwide: Gateway Church Acquires The Table Project
#episode Jason Morris of Westside Family Church was on Episode 11 of Social Media Church (Nate mentioned how Jason makes volunteering fun)
Social Media Church features a conversation with Oscar Soto, the Online Campus Pastor of Christ Fellowship (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida). We take an insider look at how Christ Fellowship reaches as many people online as they do offline, how they do 16 online services every week, online training, translating messages into American Sign Language (ASL) for online ministry to deaf, and more!
Show Notes
Connect with Oscar Soto on Twitter @OscarSotoJr and on Facebook at facebook.com/oscarsotojr; on Christ Fellowship’s Online Campus at live.gochristfellowship.com
#article Click ‘Pray’ to Pray: How Evangelical Megapastor Joel Osteen Is Saving Souls With Facebook (Huffington Post, 5/9/13)
#webinar Sign up for the free Leadership Network webinar, “Top 3 Tech Trends Impacting the Church” – Thursday May 16th (2:00pm ET/ 11:00am PT) with a panel of thought leaders from Google, MonkDev, Social Media Church, and Menlo Park Presbyterian Church to discuss the trends of Social Media Engagement, Mobile Implementation, and Crowd Mobilization.
Beyond Digital Initiative of Leadership Network – The two primary components of the Beyond Digital initiative are the Beyond Digital Leadership Community and the Leadership Network Hackathons. The Beyond Digital Leadership Community is a two-year, peer-centered learning community that brings together innovative church leaders who place a high strategic value on digital tools, tactics, and spaces for accomplishing their church’s mission. These are churches that have “gone digital” to a high degree, but also recognize that having an app or an internet campus isn’t the extent of their digital reach. The result of the Beyond Digital Leadership Community will be the deployment of the most innovative digital tools of our time for the accomplishment of the timeless mission of the Church. Code for the Kingdom, Leadership Network’s Hackathons, will involve a series of creative contests designed to help churches engage and release the information technology innovation of the general public, without constraints of geographies, church membership, and cultures, to produce solutions that will advance the Kingdom.
His episode of Social Media Church features a conversation with John Dyer, author of From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology. John is also the Executive Director of Communications and Educational Technology at Dallas Theological Seminary. We talk about a biblical perspective on technology, how technology is being incorporated in the seminary classroom, online education, which social media to use, and a possible future with wearable technologies like Google Glass.
Show Notes
John Dyer blogs at donteatthefruit.com and is on Twitter @JohnDyer
#book From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer
#episode How Technology Will Affect Your Ministry: Episode 44 – John Dyer’s presentation at DTS Chapel
#video watch the raw video of this conversation with John Dyer and DJ Chuang
This episode of Social Media Church features a caller’s comment, commentary, and presentation. You can listen to the episode for the comment and commentary. And, the presentation “9 Ministry Issues You’ll Face with Technology” is an audio excerpt of a Chapel message by John Dyer, courtesy of Dallas Theological Seminary – used by permission. John Dyer is the Executive Director of Communications and Educational Technology at Dallas Theological Seminary. John is also the author of the thought-provoking book, From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology.
Show Notes
Arman Sheffey is an Associate Pastor at Torch Church (Round Lake Beach, IL); connect with him on Twitter @ArmanSheffey
Tim Keller blogs at KellerDating.com about Love, Sex and Dating in a Post-Christian World; connect with him on Twitter @TimothyKellerand Samantha Keller blogs at scrappysam.com
#blog #post Textamacy – How Social Media is Accelerating Relational Intimacy
John Dyer blogs at donteatthefruit.com and is on Twitter @JohnDyer
#presentation 9 Ways Technology Will Impact Your Future Ministry (3/6/2013 at DTS Chapel)
#presentation Thinking Theologically About Technology and Culture (3/5/2013 at DTS Chapel)
#book From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer
Social Media Church hosted its first live recording with Paul Steinbrueck, Founder of OurChurch.com – a Christian web company – an elder at Cypress Meadow Community Church, and blogger at Christian Web Trends among many other things too. This special episode of Social Media Church was recorded live on Google+ Hangout on Air before a live online audience. The topic revolved around how can pastors use social media more effectively with limited time. And we also made time for interactive Q&A with the audience.
By the way, do you know any church with a full-time Social Media Director on staff?
Show Notes
Connect with Paul Steinbrueck on Twitter @PaulSteinbrueck, and in addition to blogging at Christian Web Trends, he also has a personal blog at liveintentionally.org
#blog Christian Web Trends posts related to church social media:
7 Practical Steps to Getting Started in Social Media
18 Ways Pastors Can Ruin their Reputation on Facebook
What is a Virtual Street Team?
#video watch the raw video of this conversation with Paul Steinbrueck and DJ Chuang
This episode of Social Media Church features a conversation with Peter Guirguis, the Social Media Manager of Calvary Chapel South Bay. We talk about his passion for online ministry, how to share the Gospel online, and how to get thousands of Twitter followers, how often he does Twitter hygiene, and more.
Show Notes
Connect with Peter Guirguis on Twitter @petenaotg and his blog notashamedofthegospel.com
Get the (free) Guide to Getting Thousands of Twitter Followers
ManageFlitter.com – handy dandy Twitter followers manager
#article Pastor Rick Warren takes to social media to mourn son’s suicide (mobile version)
Contribute to The Matthew Warren Fund for Mental Health
Follow on Twitter – Pastor Rick Warren @RickWarren and Kay Warren @KayWarren1
This episode of Social Media Church features a presentation (excerpted with permission) courtesy of The Gathering, a community of givers for Christian philanthropy. During The Gathering National Conference 2011, Bobby Gruenewald shared the history of YouVersion during a breakout session. Bobby Gruenewald serves as Pastor, Innovation Leader at LifeChurch.tv, and is the founder of the YouVersion. He was also listed in the Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business 2011.
Show Notes
Get the Bible app at bible.com or youversion.com, read the YouVersion blog blog.youversion.com for the latest news and updates, and follow @YouVersion on Twitter
#article The Next Bible (The Daily Beast, 03/12/13)
#video TEDxOU – Bobby Gruenewald – The Responsibility of Technology
#video The Bible In a Technological Age by Bobby Gruenewald at Q Portland 2011
#chapter The Engagement Economy (Bobby Gruenewald, YouVersion) in Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto, edited by Hugh McGuire and Brian O’Leary
#news Bible.com joins the YouVersion family! (8/30/12)
#episodes of Social Media Church with others at LifeChurch.tv: Dana Byers, Alan George, Brandon Donaldson
Follow Dana Byers’ blogger trip with Lemonade International April 14-18, 2013
List of Churches with Innovation Pastors (@ djchuang.com)
#dashboard now.youversion.com Today in the YouVersion Community – current statistics about the Bible app
On this episode, listen to DJ Chuang share the back story of how the Social Media Church podcast came into existence — how I decided on the content and program format, what are the technologies and software used, and my lessons learned.
Show Notes
Selected Episodes
Top 5 Most Downloaded Episodes (to date)
The Social Media Church podcast is a weekly conversation with church leaders about social media. On this episode, we break from the typical conversation and open the floor for host DJ Chuang to describe the key ingredients that go into making a podcast so you can think through the preparation for the podcast you should be producing.
Show Notes
Connect with DJ Chuang at djchuang.com, on Twitter @djchuang, facebook.com/djchuang
my List of Christian podcasts that aren’t sermons
5 Podcast Ideas to Connect to an Online Audience
Facebook Groups: Online ministry & church practitioners, Social Media for Churches
Google+ Community: Social Media in the Church, Church Tech
Podcast Resources
Podcast Hosting
Podcasting Buzz
#aside Lon Solomon’s NOT A SERMON, JUST A THOUGHT sixty-second messages based on real-life issues, broadcast throughout the Washington D.C. metro area — [ed.note: and ought to setup a podcast feed to increase distribution]
Elwood Matthews is Online Pastor at Zion Church in the metro Washington DC area. Listen to this episode of Social Media Church to hear about how their church launched its iCampus, how they make it a meaningful online worship experience, and what they’re exploring next.
Show Notes
Connect with Elwood Matthews on Twitter @elwoodmatthews
This episode of Social Media Church features a conversation with Dr. Tim Hutchings, currently a research fellow in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University and editor of the Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture. Tim discusses learnings and insights from rigorous academic research about online churches, what kind of people worship online, explores whether online relationships are real or not, and much much more.
Show Notes
Connect with Dr. Tim Hutchings on Twitter @tim_hutchings
Participate in Tim’s current project, CyberBibles: New Media and Sacred Text. If you’ve tried using digital media to help you read the Bible, please fill out this survey – and encourage your friends to do the same. This survey is part of a new research project that aims to find out how digital media are changing Christian attitudes to Scripture. If you have ever read the Bible on a computer screen, listened to it on your MP3 player, joined an online reading group or downloaded a Bible app to your mobile phone, fill out the survey. Learn more about this research project.
Tim contributes to the Big Bible Project blog, i.e. Cyberchurch Theology (part one of, um, more than one), Cyberchurch Theology, Part Two: The Problem With Community, How Not to do Online Evangelism
Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture – a free online publication
“Considering religious community through online churches” published in Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds by Heidi Campbell (Routledge, 2012) – features a case study of St. Pixels (Church on the Internet) and LifeChurch.tv
Creating Church Online: Ritual, Community, and New Media by Tim Hutchings – to be published May 2013 by Routledge, based on his Ph.D. research, an ethnographic study of five Christian communities that met online, using new media to create forms of worship, teaching, evangelism and debate. The study focused on ritual, authority, community and the relationship between online and offline activity.
“Creating Church Online: Networks and Collectives in Contemporary Christianity” (by Tim Hutchings) is published in “Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices and Futures”, ed. Pauline Hope Cheong, Peter Fischer-Nielsen, Stefan Gelfgren and Charles Ess (Peter Lang, 2012)
#excerpt Creating church online: A case-study approach to religious experience, in Studies in World Christianity 13(3) (2008)
Scholar’s Top 5: Tim Hutchings’ 5 recommended resources on the topic of online Christian churches
This episode of Social Media Church features a conversation with Rey Lopez, the Online Campus Pastor at City Church (San Antonio, Texas), and that’s just one of three hats that he wears. Pastor Rey talks about how City Church launched its Online Campus, while in the whirlwind of being in a fast-growing church, how they’re navigating key issues of doing church online, using Google Grant, and more.
Show Notes
This Social Media Church episodes features a conversation with Christian Warne, founder and co-host of The Spoutcast, a weekly podcast show hosted by Christian Warne, Sarah Welles and Jayne Fossett at The Well Community Church in Fresno, California. You may have noticed that a large overwhelming majority of church podcasts are just an on-demand feed of sermons. Podcasting has the potential to be so much more for churches and The Spoutcast is a great example of how a church of any size can be podcasting to grow its community. Listen to how they started their podcast, what it takes to do one, and Christian’s advice for how your church can start one too.
Show Notes
Connect with The Spoutcast on Facebook, on Twitter @thespoutcast, and Instagram @ instagram.com/thespoutcast
Connect with Christian Warne at facebook.com/christian.warne
#photo to the right illustrates the kind of teamwork that it takes for producing The Spoutcast
#list List of Christian podcasts that aren’t sermons (@ djchuang.com)
#news One of Fresno’s biggest churches is covered in graffiti (KFSN-TV, July 2012)
Start podcasting your sermons for free at sermon.net or grow into it with a “freemium” service like sermoncloud.com orsermondrop.com
On this episode of the Social Media Church, DJ Chuang chats with 2 friends he’s known for years, Brent Wong and Dave Ingland, having connected with them offline (aka IRL – “in real life”) and online. Brent shares how he recently got inspired to get active on social media, and Dave describes his unique perspective in using social media as a church planter and now as a law-abiding citizen.
Show Notes
Connect with Brent Wong on Twitter @EpicBdub and Facebook page for Brent + Leila Wong and YouTube youtube.com/BrentWong77
#video a 5th generation Asian American story
Connect with Dave Ingland at daveingland.com and on Twitter @daveingland
#book The Big Book of Social Media: Case Studies, Stories, Perspectives, edited by Robert Fine, includes “Religion and Social Media” by Dave Ingland
#audio MinistryStory #18 – Cultivate Communications – a conversation with Steve Fogg, Scott Overpeck, Dave Ingland, and DJ Chuang at a Starbucks during Cultivate 2011
This Social Media Church episode features a conversation with Justin Wise, Communications Director for Monk Development, an internet technology company. We learn about his past experience as a digital director at Lutheran Church of Hope (Des Moines, Iowa), how he launched an Internet Campus for a Lutheran church, and his keen insights about social media, generations, communications, and theology. True to form, Martin Luther makes a cameo.
Justin was a previous Executive Director for the Center for Church Communication and a contributor to the multi-author book Outspoken: Conversations on Church Communication in which I (DJ Chuang) also contributed.
Show Notes
Connect with Justin Wise at justinwise.net and on Twitter @JustinWise
Justin Wise’s book announcement for his new book, tentatively sub-titled: A Theology of Digital Communication
What would you give as a title for Justin’s book? Add a comment, and let’s crowdsource the book title right here! I can’t guarantee it, but maybe the winning title will get a free copy of the book and a shout-out (at the very least…)
#extra: DJ Chuang’s February is Fundraising campaign; Orange County Register article, “O.C. exports Asian American churches to the world”
[update April 2013] Justin Wise launched his podcast #THINKDIGITAL
Listen to this Social Media Church podcast conversation with Todd Rhoades about how he curates interesting content about the church, his perspective on the evolution of social media, how email is still relevant, online conferences at Leadership Network, why social media is underutilized in local churches, and more. Todd is the Director of New Media and Technology Initiatives at Leadership Network. Todd’s blog has been described as “one half Bible and one half National Enquirer.”
Show Notes
Connect with Todd Rhoades at ToddRhoades.com and @ToddRhoades on Twitter
List of most popular Facebook pages of churches and ministries
#video MinistryBriefing: Facebook Makes You Hate Life with Todd Rhoades and Matt Steen
#article Study finds rampant envy on Facebook: Social network can lead to feelings of misery and loneliness, German researchers say(Chicago Tribune)
#article Why Facebook Makes You Feel Bad About Yourself (TIME Health & Family)
Listen to how social media was integrated into the Urbana 12 conference with Adam Jeske, who directed and coordinated the 14-member Social Media Squad at the Urbana Missions Conference to actively engaged 16,000+ participants along with others off-site via a livestream video feed and other social feeds too — nearly 40,000 tweets on the event hashtag (#u12), 6,400+ photos posted on Twitter and Instagram, 10,000+ viewers on the livestream. I (host DJ Chuang) got to serve on that Social Media Squad too, and wanted you to hear first-hand from the mastermind that orchestrated it all.
Adam is the Director of New Media and Associate Director of Communications at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.
Show Notes
Connect with Adam Jeske at his blog executingideas.com + on Twitter @adamjeske + on Facebook facebook.com/adam.jeske
Tweeting for Jesus with 16,000 Friends: Urbana Social Media – Adam Jeske’s reflections
How Urbana 12 Changed My Life Too – DJ Chuang’s reflections
Urbana 2012: Social Media Engagement Future of Christian Conferences? (The Christian Post)
Social media major part of Urbana 12 (Mission Network News)
#audio NPR What’s Trending: The Art And Strategy Of The Hashtag – starting at 12:20, listen to our #u12 Social Media Squad member Alison Smith talk about hashtag #u12 and Urbana 12
From the Urbana 12 Live Blog: How Urbana 12 Changed Lives + Power of Prayer powered by Storify.com
GroupMe – group texting app we used as our team back-channel for real-time communication
#article The Biblical Basis for Fun (Relevant Magazine)
#book This Ordinary Adventure: Settling Down Without Settling by Christine & Adam Jeske
This episode of the Social Media Church podcast features a conversation with Dr. Meredith Gould, the founder and host of the Twitter-based ecumenical Church Social Media Chat using hashtag #ChSocM. Listen to the back story of how this Tweetchat has flourished over the past year and a half, becoming the go-to place on Twitter for conversations about church and social media.
Show Notes
Connect with Meredith Gould at meredithgould.com + her blog http://meredithgould.blogspot.com + on Twitter @meredithgould
Join the #ChSocM Tweetchat on Tuesdays at 9:00pm ET / 6:00pm PT (or via twubs.com/chsocm)
#ChSocM transcripts at churchsocmed.blogspot.com
Tweetchat Church Social Media #CHSOCM – An easy-peasy guide created by Meredith Gould
Select books by Meredith Gould — The Word Made Fresh: Communicating Church and Faith Today and Getting #Married: Using Social Media
‘Hashtag’ Declared 2012’s Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society
Social Media in Church: Tips from Meredith Gould – ROAR.pro blog interview