Digital @ Leadership Network

Church IT Resource List

In thinking about this week's Church IT Roundtable, I started to list all the various resources many of us church IT folks are using to stay informed and connected ... and wow the list kept going and going!  This is both great and challenging :-)

It's great in that our grassroots movement is growing rapidly and jumping on any technology that could benefit the greater good.  The challenge is that these resources are scattered ALL over the place making them often hard to find and easy to forget about.  So I'm making this list mainly for myself at this point, but assume it will be helpful for some of you as well.

AND I've recommitted myself to help lead the charge in creating an easy to use one-stop-shop portal for all our resources.  So far google apps and ning.com would be great possible tools to make this happen.  Let me know if you're interested in helping.

So here's the list I've compiled so far in the order they popped into my head ... what have I forgotten?

CITRT.org - We're planning to continue to make this THE FUNNEL for all things Church IT related (see CITRT Summary and Vision). A place to capture everything from events to resources to prayer requests to stuff to buy/sell.  As mentioned above, an extreme site makeover is coming in the near future. [site hosted/maintained by Jeffrey Thompson]

Church IT Podcast - www.churchITpodcast.com Twice a month CITRT folks "meet" online and via phone to discuss all manner of IT topics.  The call is recorded and then made available as a podcast.  We even have transcriptions of each call to aid in searching for something in particular.  [maintained by Jason Powell]

Twitter - There are a number of Church IT peeps on Twitter. I've not yet found a good way to "group" us together, but you can search for CITRT to find some.  During the roundtable this week I'm sure #CITRT will be hoppin'

Facebook - We have over 200 people in our CITRT group on facebook. It's a place to find other facebook CITRT peeps and get occasional CITRT news updates.  [maintained by Jason Powell]

Linkedin - We have almost 200 people in our Linkedin CITRT group. Recommend you join it to find other CITRT peeps. Linkedin now has discussion threads which could be useful to gather feedback.  [Created by Ian Beyer]

Blog Aggregator - We have aggregated a number of church IT related blogs.  Here's how to add yours to the list.  [maintained by Jeffrey Thompson?]

Blog Search Engine - Andrew Mitry made a handy google search that searches through the blogs listed in the above blog aggregator. It's found at the top of the CITRT.org main page or hit Andrew's link above to use the code on your own site.

Blogroll - Clif Guy maintains a large blogroll of church technology related blogs

Roundtable Guidelines - Thinking about starting your own local roundtable meetings?  You should!  Here's the basic guidelines we work from for each roundtable.

Discussion Topics - Here's a large list of all the different topics that have been discussed at our prior events.

IT Discuss Forum - Ministry IT focused forum that's been around several years.  [site hosted/maintained by Jeffrey Thompson]

IT Discuss Email List - Ministry IT focused email list that's been around several years with fully searchable archives.  [site hosted/maintained by Jeffrey Thompson]

Church IT Survey - Ever wonder what churches similar to you are doing IT wise?  How many computers do they support?  What's their IT staff size? Do they support multi-site, etc?  Or what about those churches several steps ahead of you - what's their IT makeup look like?  How should you plan now to be at that size in the future?  What about trying to find churches around you with experience in VoIP, Virtualization, etc?  Wouldn't it be sweet to have a resource that helped shed some light on these questions? That's what this is for. (note to self to get more current data into the survey and find a better way to manage end user updates)  [created/maintained by Jason Powell]

Church IT Survey Google Map - Derek Berg made a nice mashup between the above survey data and google maps.  See where other churches that have survey data are in relationship to you. (Derek's working on a newer mashup version)

ChMS Google Group - Discussion of needs and ideas for Church Management Systems.  [maintained by Tony Dye]

Flickr Group - We even have a group on Flickr where you can browse Church IT related photos and pics from our actual Roundtable events.  [created/maintained by Justin Moore]

IRC / Chat Room - If you hadn't heard ... we have a 24/7 Church IT chat room you're invited to  join.   You'll find IT geeks hangin' out in there all hours of the day and into the midnight hours.  It's a place to ask questions, blow off some steam, and get to know other IT peers  [created by Jeffrey Thompson]

Instant IRC / Chat Room - This link takes you directly into the Church IT chat room ... nothing but a web browser required.

Webcam Aggregator - Every so often some of us will fire up our webcams for your voyeuristic pleasure :-)  [created/maintained by Justin Moore]

MinistryIT Yahoo Group - Another Church IT discussion group that's relatively new.  [created/maintained by Nick Nicholaou]

Texas Ministry Tech - From the site: Texas Ministry Tech is dedicated to creating and growing relationships and cooperation between ministry-minded IT folks in Texas.  [created by Scott Miller]

Ministry Tech - From the site: MinistryTECH is a new national conference dedicated to church information technology professionals. Come join some of the leading church tech professionals to learn how they are using technology in their ministries.

I'm sure there's more ... as you think of other church IT related resources please leave a comment and I'll add it to the list.

Jason Powell
IT Director
Granger Community Church
http://jpowell.blogs.com - yup, I've got a blog

http://twitter.com/JasonPowell - My twitter feed

and I'm on Facebook

Internet Ministry Conference - Register Now!

It's time to register for the Internet Ministry Conference in October.  You won't want to miss this opportunity to absorb all there is to learn about ministry online if you're anywhere near Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The speakers are amazing and literally I wish I could hear them all.

Some highlights will include:

Dr. Quentin Schultze (who I highly recommend) will present the devotional and  David Russell of NCC will talk about websites.

Kent Shaffer of Church Relevance & Bombay Creative will speak about Internet Ministry Marketing and Tailored Internet Ministry.

Brad Abare of Church Marketing Sucks & the Center for Church Communication will help us define our Personality and, shall we say, frustrate, educate and motivate us towards better online endeavor.

I could talk about more speakers but the important thing is to register now if you're looking to get educated about serious online ministry.

I'll speak on Thursday about your spiritual gift mix online so make sure and let me know you'll be there so we can connect.

-- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary

live blogging from Church 2.0 Forum OC

Here at NewSong Irvine for Church 2.0 Forum, coordinated by Greg Atkinson of churchvideoideas.com. This is my live blog, courtesy free wifi with good throughput at NewSong --

-- DJ Chuang, Director @ Leadership Network

Live blogging Rick Warren's conference at Saddleback Church

Pastor Rick Warren is hosting an invite-only PD Network Summit-- a Purpose Driven Community Gathering that's been called a "stealth conference" -- today thru Thursday at Saddleback Church. The speakers lineup is most impressive, and the organizers do want share as much of the Summit content as possible via web technologies: blogging, podcasts, live video streaming via Ustream, and more. So please spread the word & tune in to the Summit from wherever you are!

I'll be blogging along with Tony Morgan, Carlos Whitaker, Josh Griffin, et al. Below is one of the newer technologies I've just found, called CoverItLive, ideally designed for live-blogging.

For live video from the Summit, go to www.ustream.tv/channel/purpose-driven-network-summit-2008 .
And, for those on Twitter at the Summit, let's use hashtag #pdsummit08 to be trackable. Look for a future post here about hashtags.

-- DJ Chuang, 1 Director among many @ Leadership Network

Church 2.0 Local Forum - Los Angeles

The upcoming Biola Media Conference (May 3) provides a great opportunity for all Southern California tech / media / ministry professionals to converge, converse and collaborate in our own backyard.  In fact, a conference is a perfect excuse for a get together.

To capitalize on our opportunity, Greg Atkinson of Church Video Ideas has organized an informal and FREE pre-gathering.  Called the Church 2.0 Local Forum, it's open to those as far south as San Diego.  Billed as an event for church leaders in the Southern California area involved in ministry who would like to meet, network and share with others in ministry, that means you.

Join us Friday, May 2nd from 11:30am to 3:30pm in Grant Hall at Hollywood UMC.  You must sign up so the sponsors know how much lunch to provide.  To RSVP go to this facebook event page.

And by the way, the sponsors are: eight20eight, iStockphoto, RevoStock and SermonSpice.  I'm looking forward to talking to the iStockphoto people about all the video they now offer. 

Following the LA Forum there will be another in Chicago and then others throughout the year in other locations.

You've likely already heard about this event on Facebook, twitter or elsewhere in the blogosphere.  Don't miss this chance to connect with other leaders who have a passion for ministry in the digital age.

-- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary

Exponential conference live from Orlando

A huge gathering well into the thousands, like about 2,800 church leaders in Orlando, Florida -- at the Exponential 08 Conference, aka National New Church Conference! Touted as the "mother of all church planting conferences". (Wish I could be there, but I'm still recoup'ing from my heavy travel season, not that I'm conferenced out. Plus, I have work to do besides attending conferences, I really do.)

Some of the live reporting of the action from the floor (via blogging, twittering, photos, and/or video): Todd Rhoades of Leadership Network and MondayMorningInsight.com, Scott Hodge, Chris Elrod, and Jay Hardwick. Follow tweets from toddrho / scotthodge / chriselrod /  jayhardwick / mpayne1970 / ronsylvia.  And/or, see the latest in the blogosphere via Google Blog Search. Good notes at Planting Partners too.

We now join the program already in progress. It's almost like being there. Almost.

[UPDATE 4/23] Todd Rhoades is live-streaming interviews with speakers at Exponential Conference today and tomorrow! He'll be recording videos too -- Dave Ferguson and Alan Hirsch are already online.

And one aside: this is the most creative lead-up to this conference, pre-game show if you will: Exponential Conference Blogging Tournament over at PlantingSpace.com -- the tourney started with an all-star blogger / church-planter line-up: Dave Ferguson, Derek Brown, Ron Klabunde, Ben Arment, Carl Kuhl, Chris Barras, Tadd Grandstaff, Vince Antonucci, Dave Milam, David Putman, Jeremy Myers, Kirk Schneemann, Tim Dunn, Mark Doebler, Matt Mehaffey & Pat Furgerson. And the final four came down to: Mark Doebler, Matt Mehaffey, Jeremy Myers, and Dave Milam. Not sure when final playoff will be.

-- DJ Chuang, Director of Digital Initiatives & more, Leadership Network

Dynamic Church Conference 2008 in Dallas

Fellowship Technologies is hosting it's 2nd annual Dynamic Church Conference in about a month.  If you are a church leader who wants to know more about ChMS, learn more about leveraging the power of the internet, networking with partners, etc., please join us in Dallas, May 15 - 17. 

Because there are two Leadership Network Digital contributors on the speaker list, I thought you'd like to know we'll be at the Frisco Convention Center.  We'd love to meet you.  Here's more of what's offered:

• An optional pre-conference called 'Power Start' with six different, personalized training classes    
• 60% more sessions across six different tracks, both Beginner & Advanced user levels
• Guest speakers include:
  
  • Terry Storch, Digerati Pastor, LifeChurch.tv and YouVersion.com
  • Joe Suh, Founder, MyChurch.org
  • Cynthia Ware, Pastor, Writer, Blogger, The Digital Sanctuary
• 50% more hands-on training labs, both Beginner & Advanced
  
• Dedicated Q & A - 'Ask the Experts' with Fellowship Technologies staff
• Free wireless Internet throughout the conference facilities    
• Free 2 hour live worship concert featuring Lincoln Brewster    
• And much, much more!   



- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary  

How should your Church blog?

One of the things that I get asked often in relation to blogging is a simple question: how should I blog?

Blogging is a trend, for sure, and many people have a sixth sense that it's something they should be doing. Blogging is so very relational and specific to the author's style that it's hard to put a simple "this is how you do it" together. Instead, let's first look at the different kinds of blogs that might be out in the digital ether:

(1) The Expert/Personality Blog

This is the kind of blog that is run by someone of noted worth. They have a reason to be blogging. They have a built in audience due to their position in life or their expertise on a subject. For example, Penelope Trunk is a reputable expert on current trends in the career marketplace. Al Mohler gets traffic to his blog because his current position in life. Larry Hyrb (Major Nelson) is huge in the video games world because of his connection to the Xbox product.

(2) The Personal Blog

This is the friendly blog where you go to see pictures of your friend's cat. They might chronicle what they ate for breakfast, or pour out poetry and emotion from a recent divorce. This is kind of blog is really meant for a niche audience - people who actually know the author. These kinds of blog get low amounts of traffic, but the traffic is a captive audience because they truly care about the author... and their cat.

One of the most famous personal blogs would Justin from Justin.tv. Justin started his successful business of Justin.tv by giving unprecedented access to his life: he streams everything that happens to him via video. Other famous personal blogs would be from anyone you personally know. They're famous to you, at least.

(3) The News/Information Blog

These blogs are usually team blogs of reporters trying to gather information from various sources. Usually they focus on a particular area of information, like technology, movies, or sports.

These sites are usually the most frequently updated blogs as the team blogs have several-to-many people working for them and are an actual business trying to get the newest info the fastest.

And, just for fun:

(4) Humor Blogs

Enjoy.

So... what does this translate to for a Church?

If you membership is tech-savvy and it's a natural thing for your leadership to be online, then it would make sense to blog on your church's website. But what do you blog about?

One of the biggest keys to blogging is consistent updates. My suggestion would be to take the team blog approach, with different people taking on different roles. You can easily offer up separate RSS feeds or pages to break down the blogging into the three areas above:

The Expert Blog:

Who is the expert in your church? The pastor, of course. If the community is interested in engaging in thinking about the message series throughout the week, the pastor could/should post ideas and thoughts that continue (or set up) Sunday's message. The Pastor is the expert; the work he puts into Sunday morning can reach dozens (or thousands) more by posting on a church blog.

The Personal Blog:

Who are the other leaders in your church? Perhaps small group leaders can use a public church blog to toss information and thoughts around to their attendees. It's sometimes hard for people to plug in to small groups because they don't know what's being taught, who's attending, or even when they meet. By using a public space, a small group can open up to any curious visitor to your church's website.

The Information Blog:

This could be one of the most important roles of a church website. If a church's blog was consistently updated with upcoming events, prayer needs, updates on church member issues (Mr and Mrs Holmes had a baby! Congrats on the new job, Mike! etc, etc) it would be a great chance for church members to feel loved and want to interact with the site.

What are some of the ways your churches are using blogs? Are they any examples of churches utilizing blogs that we can learn from?

Does Your Pastor Blog?

Outreach Magazine compiles a list of the 25 most innovative churches in the United States every year. 

The 2008 list, arrived at by a selected panel, can be found here.   You can read the article yourself to find out about the criteria used for getting on the list. 

Since the diffusion of new innovations is a focus for me, I often ask pastors I meet, if they blog.  I get a wealth of answers and contrary to what you might think, I'm not of the persuasion that every pastor should blog. 

But, I do know a pastor has completely missed the opportunity available to them if they say this, "Blog?  I don't have time to blog!".

If you view the New Media with disdain, reproach, or fear, you will always see it as an expense rather than an investment.

In case you're a pastor and you're investigating the value of blogging, you might be interested in this snippet from the top 25 list.  I was curious how many senior pastors (those linked) actually blogged.

1.   Craig Groeschel   
      LifeChurch.tv, Edmond, OK

2.   Mark Driscoll      
      Mars Hill Church, Seattle, WA 

3.   Mark Beeson      
      Granger Community Church, Granger, IN

4.   Troy Gramling      
      Flamingo Road Church, Cooper City, FL

5.   Greg Surratt       
      Seacoast Church, Mount Pleasant, SC

6.   Rick Warren       
      Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA

7.   Erwin McManus   (not really interactive)
      Mosaic Church, Los Angeles, CA

8.   Ed Young            
      Fellowship Church, Grapevine, TX

9.   Andy Stanley      (?)
      North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, GA

10. Bill Hybels      (?)         
      Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL

11. Mark Batterson   
      National Community Church, Washington, DC

12. Perry Noble         
      NewSpring Church, Anderson, SC

13. Dave Ferguson   
      Community Christian Church, Naperville, IL

14. Steven Furtick    
      Elevation Church, Charlotte, SC

15. Dino Rizzo            
      Healing Place Church, Baton Rouge, LA

I ran out of hyperlink steam to complete the list, but you get the idea.

Recently, the Swerve blog featured The Digital Sanctuary as it's blog of the week and as reported here, my traffic soared.  No wonder, since Craig Groeschel pastors what's considered the most innovative church in the US, LifeChurch.tv.    Ironic, isn't it?  Since I left Edmond, Oklahoma some 25 years ago to find a church where there was "something innovative" happening.  Guess some people just can't see opportunity when it's right in front of them. 

Here's 40 more reasons to consider blogging.    And did I mention - free?

-- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary

Media & Tech Conferences for Churches & Ministries

What was I thinking? 

Last week at The Digital Sanctuary, I posted a list of Media / Tech related conferences that are happening around the US in 2008.  It's not a complete list.  I just highlighted some of the more well-known (usually annual) conferences that happen throughout the year.  I also planned to follow-up post some Media / Tech related conferences that are specifically designed to support churches & ministries in their use of technology. 

As I began to compile my list, it hit me - what am I doing?  I don't have time to compile an adequate list.  I should crowdsource this project. 

So, here's a first pass at a list of conferences I'm aware of.  If you know of a conference that fits the Media / Technology / Church criteria, I'll add it to the list.   

• MinistryTECH  April 3 - 4, Oklahoma City, OK

• Technologies for Worship (NAB) April 13 - 17, Las Vegas, NV

• WFX  April 29 - May 1, Indianapolis, IN

• Biola Media Conference  May 3, Studio City, CA

• Dynamic Church Conference  May 15 - 17, Dallas, TX

• ICCM  June 6 - 10, Upland IN

• Church Media.net   June 24 - 27, Dallas, TX

• ICVM Catalyst Conference  July 8 - 11, Orlando, FL

• Echo  August 14 - 16, Dallas, TX

• GodblogCon Sept. 20 - 21, Las Vegas, NV (website not updated)

• Fusion '08  October 9 - 10, Dallas, TX

• Internet Ministry Conference  October 20-23, Grand Rapids, MI

-- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary