Digital @ Leadership Network

one song from multiple locations

As the multi-site church revolution has become the new normal, being one church in multiple locations is not so much a big surprise. What might get one's attention is when a multi-site church does something out of the ordinary, as Northland Church (A Church Distributed) in Orlando, Florida, did. Northland's worship services are concurrent events, meaning that the church meets in multiple locations _and_ are worshiping together in real time--its worship team members are in two (or more) locations, while connected via live video and audio.

On one occasion (October 2009), Northland put together a worship song via internet video with musicians and singers in multiple locations in multiple countries! Watch the video:

Another recent YouTube video that's become very popular, with almost 700,000 views to date, has taken this virtual music idea even farther. A virtual choir was put together by composer Eric Whitacre, with 185 singers in 12 countries. The video editing and production shows how amazing this is -- watch the video:

Eric also blogged about how they did this virtual choir, using the best of social media tools to coordinate this project. Wow!

Do you know of other virtual music or virtual presentations that connected people from multiple locations? Please add a link in the comment section below.

Guest teaching for your church for FREE

Now here is something that's looks more than evolutionary, this is revolutionary! I know in my years of attending worship services, there are occasional guest preachers in the pulpit. Now, with this brand new free resource, you can have guest preachers who are very accomplished communicators on the big screen of your own church. And spare no expense, it won't cost your church an honorarium and travel expenses.

Mary Beth Stockdale reports:

Summer is a time when many pastors seek out guest speakers so they can enjoy time away with their family.  Or sometimes your 4-part teaching series doesn’t quite stretch to the fall kick-off series and you have a week buffer in between. Maybe you just want to build your teaching team.

Starting today, videoteaching.com has your solution... a free online library full of high-quality video messages from gifted Christian communicators. If you likedOnePrayer, you’ll love this!   Your church simply logs in, finds teaching that is a good fit for your church, and downloads the video. Stay updated by following videoteaching.com on twitter.  Thanks to our friends at Lifechurch.tv for making this resource available.

Check out other free resources from Lifechurch.tv here.

1st worship service to be live streamed onto iPhone this weekend

This weekend marks the first weekend of church worship services that will be live-streamed onto iPhones. Assuming all 5 services would be live-streamed, services at New Hope Christian Fellowship will be live-streaming on Saturday 7/4 at 5 & 7pm and Sunday 7/5 at 7, 9 & 11am, Hawaii Time. Being translated, that would be in Pacific Time: Saturday 8pm + 10pm, Sunday 10am + 12pm + 2pm. New Hope also has an internet campus with streaming video and an interactive online community.

Here's the press release, Hawaii Church Becomes First to Stream Live Video to iPhone:

Less than two weeks after the release of Apple's iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3.0 update, Honolulu-based New Hope Christian Fellowship (http://www.enewhope.org) has announced that it will begin streaming its weekend worship services live to iPhone and iPod touch users.

Live streaming to the iPhone was one of the most requested features from church attendees, and is now possible with the inclusion of HTTP live streaming in Apple's iPhone 3.0 software. New Hope's addition of live streaming to the iPhone is significant in that it is the first non-profit organization to offer this type of service. "Typically, churches are years behind other organizations when it comes to technology and innovation. We have tried to reverse that trend and pioneer new ways to spread the Gospel using the most current tools available," explains New Hope's Technology and Innovations Director, Michael Sharpe. "We don't mind the long hours and stress that comes with innovating because we know that if we can come up with something useful, it can be used by other churches around the world."

Leveraging standards-based HTTP streaming technology, New Hope will deliver high quality video over either a Wi-Fi connection or other carrier network, providing for a truly portable experience.

After successfully testing the service this past weekend with hundreds of users, the church is now planning to offer the live streaming video of its services to all iPhone and iPod Touch users starting July 4th.

The church currently streams all five weekend services live on its website for computer users and created the streaming for the iPhone as a free service for those who may not have access to a computer.

"We are always looking for ways that we can leverage technology to reach people where they are at," said New Hope's Interactive Developer Peter Thourson, "through live streaming video on iPhone and iPod touch, users across the globe will be able to continue to attend church regardless of where they are."

Availability

The live stream of New Hope's Services will be available on their website at http://www.enewhope.org beginning July 4th. The live stream requires an iPhone or iPod touch with the 3.0 software update and an active Internet connection.

About New Hope Christian Fellowship

Started in 1995, New Hope Christian Fellowship Oahu is one of the fastest-growing churches in the nation according to "Outreach Magazine," with over 12,000 people in regular attendance at 6 locations. "Outreach Magazine" also named New Hope as one of the most influential and innovative churches in the United States.

Conferences expanding reach with webcast and twitter

As the Foursquare denomination holds its annual convention in Anaheim this week, they're connecting with a broader audience by live-streaming video from its evening sessions (using Watershed, the customizable version of ustream.tv) and a Twitter feed using hashtag #connect09 for near real-time conversations.

On a more pioneering effort, Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Network appears to be launching a monthly webcast, according to this email I received:

Join Pastor Rick Warren, with host Gerald Sharon and team, on Thursday, May 28th at 11:00am (PST) for the Purpose Driven Network live webcast. Rick will continue his teaching from the 2009 Purpose Driven Network Summit on The Jesus Model.

Thursday’s subject will be The Jesus Model for Missions. During the webcast the chat room will be open for you to submit questions and connect with other webcast viewers. Registration opens Thursday morning, May 28 at 9:00am PST at www.saddleback.com/PDNwebcast.

Earlier last month, this press release, "Christians Use Online Social Networking to Strengthen Community During Christianity.com Webcast", described how The Gospel Coalition connected to its audience using web tools, and its impact:

Richmond, VA. April 29, 2009 – Discussion surrounding  Christianity.com’s live webcast of The Gospel Coalition 2009 National Conference on April 21 – 23, took the social network site Twitter.com by storm as hundreds of viewers and attendees dialogued about conference speakers and shared notes online.

“While churches and Christian ministries often struggle to determine the best ways to utilize the internet to reach a broader audience, Christianity.com’s webcast of The Gospel Coalition’s Conference proved that the Christian church and community can embrace new technologies and advance the Gospel in ways never before imagined,” said Stephen McGarvey, the executive editor of Christianity.com. “We are thrilled by the enormous positive response we’ve received about this event, especially from our friends on popular social networking websites like Twitter.com and Facebook.com”

On the first day of the live webcast, Twitter.com comments for the Christianity.com/The Gospel Coalition webcast by online viewers and attendees soared to over 1,100 posts, sending it to the homepage of Twitter and into the daily top 20 most talked about items. Conference participants posted over 2,400 times on Twitter.com during the three day event.

More than 26,000 people visited the free video webcast on Christianity.com. Additional participation on the social network site Facebook.com and in the personal blogs of influential church leaders also contributed to the immense success of the webcast.

“This conference webcast brought challenging theological teaching to thousands who were unable to attend the conference due to financial and other constraints. Social networking websites allowed these online viewers to interact with those in actual attendance,” added McGarvey. “From new Christians to long-time church attendees to church leaders and established pastors, everyone benefited from The Gospel Coalition speakers and the ability to interface with one another about event."

“By all measures the webcast was a tremendous success,” said The Gospel Coalition Co-founder Don Carson, a Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield Illinois. “This technology enabled us to reach a far greater audience than otherwise possible. We are grateful for the partnership with Christianity.com.”

All sessions from The Gospel Coalition 2009 National Conference are available on-demand for free at Christianity.com as well as video of theological questions answered by The Gospel Coalition pastors and leaders.

Visit: http://www.christianity.com/gospelcoalition/

With more than 3,000 in attendance at the conference in Chicago, Illinois, Christianity.com is pleased to expand the reach of The Gospel Coalition’s message as delivered by some of the most respected church leaders today including Tim Keller, John Piper, and Mark Driscoll. As the online destination for spiritual growth and theological resources, the team at Christianity.com looks forward to offering future live webcasts and solid biblical content for Christians around the world.

Are you noticing how conferences are incorporating web technologies during the event? What have you found most useful as an attender? How do you think event planners can select the right tools to accompany their conferences?

// DJ Chuang, Director at Leadership Network

Join us for THE SHOW with Special Guest Dino Rizzo!

It all begins on Tuesday, May 5 at 4:00 Eastern.  You won't want to miss the first ever episode of Leadership Network's new video cast "THE SHOW".  Here's a preview:

This week's guest is Pastor Dino Rizzo!  Join us here:

http://theshow.leadnet.org

Letting Members Post Videos?

Would a ministry or church let their members upload videos to their website? 

Even if videos require approval and review before publishing, would leaders give up that much control and let their members post their own videos to the site?  Or would they remove a member's video if it doesn't represent their ministry in the best light?

Boring tech background:

Several months ago, Youtube announced an API that lets developers create Youtube applications on 3rd party websites. 

An application programming interface, or API, is a way for developers to access features, databases, and other objects across the web.  It essentially enables a website to be a platform where 3rd party developers can create applications and web services on top of it.

In Youtube's case, their API lets websites recreate Youtube's functionality on their own site.  Sites can let their visitors upload videos and play them back on a custom player.  This makes sense for a site that wants to upload, host, and stream lots of video content - but doesn't want to pay the bandwidth or storage bills...

End of tech background

I just finished a Youtube API implementation to let members easily upload church videos.  It'll be interesting to see how churches adopt.  Will members be encouraged by their church leaders to freely post videos?  Or will "church videos" only be officially sanctioned videos of sermons.

- Joe Suh from MyChurch

ps. The Youtube API is one of the cleanest and easiest to implement that I've seen.  Very clear documentation and helpful support from Youtube.

pss. Here's a free e-book by Seth Godin called Flipping the Funnel - challenging non-profits to let their fans speak up by flipping a traditional marketing funnel, into a megaphone for their members.

multi-user video conferencing gets easier, part 1

Fresh off the digital presses: a growing trend on "tokbox" in the Twitterverse. All of this happened just a few days ago. On Tuesday evening, December 15th, Tony Steward tweets an invite for people to join him for a live video chat at a tokbox.com virtual conference room. Probably over 60 people joined in during that trial run.

What is Tokbox? It's free video calling from any website with no downloads. I've tried it out, and here's what I found particularly impressive:

• no client software downloads or installation (it uses Adobe Flash Player 10, a web plug-in that most browsers have)
• multiple users, maximum might exceed 50; probably more effective with less than 12
• no registration required
• embeddable into other web pages
• other features too, like video email, instant messaging
• did I mention it's FREE?

So, what do you think the implications are, especially for the church? I've heard that a group of people have had a small group Bible study, staff meetings, and casual conversations (of course).

My tokbox address is tokbox.com/djchuang . I've blogged more about Tokbox at my personal blog with my color commentary of what might happen. More to come as this is a developing story.

-- DJ CHUANG, Director at Leadership Network

Difference between video and in person?

Business Week's Associate Editor Heather Green noted a journal article about how people interpret information over video (excerpt):

Reaction to Videoconferencing like TV

A press release this morning caught my eye. Apparently, using videoconferencing can hinder people’s judgments. That’s according to a 12-week study of people at 19 seminars that were used videoconferencing. It’s being published in the journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, or Informs.

Apparently, it’s harder to interpret information that’s presented over a distance rather than presented face to face.

And here’s the kicker for me, which reminds me of TV. People watching a presentation by videoconference are more swayed by the likeability of the person speaking, rather than by the person’s arguments. The opposite is true for the folks in the room.

Read the full blogspotting entry for the journal article's conclusion.

What do you think? Maybe there is a difference between delivering preaching/teaching to a video venue vs. live and in person? Or is this just saying that likeable people are more effective on video than others?

(photo credit)

-- DJ Chuang, Director at Leadership Network

ROOV + Facebook = Love Connections

There's so much exciting news in the world of the socially networked church right now, it's hard to keep it all straight.  One of the most important pieces of information I got this week is the one above.

Check out the wording "not a ROOV Facebook app".  Sounds more significant than just another app, huh?  Maybe like a marriage proposal.  Or at least an engagement...

Pay attention to ROOV; this is the beginning of something big as social media allow the global Church to network itself in new ways based on connections between individuals with shared passions.....

-- Cynthia Ware - The Digital Sanctuary

Dallas Hosts ECHO Church Media Conference

A conference for church leaders that love using media, technology, and the internet to be more effective in sharing God's story.   

This Thursday through Saturday, Dallas will host the ECHO Conference.  If you have interest in using media, technology and the internet to be more effective in ministry, then Echo is for you.

Hosted by Watermark Church (I blogged Watermark here) it promises to be an inspiring and creative gathering of church innovators.  Authors, pastors and media-savvy experts will explore the dynamic opportunities available for churches & individuals and sponsors will provide the means to do so.

There are ample breakout sessions and keynotes that include these speakers:

Donald Miller, Matthew Paul Turner, Mark Batterson, Todd Wagner, Mark Steele, Brad Abare

Echo is brought to you by the team at Igniter Media, WorshipHouse Media, and Collide Magazine       

Want more information?  Check out the Echo Blog, watch this Teaser Video, or use this Conference Quick Look

If you're in Dallas, stop by and check out Greg Atkinson's Church 2.0 breakout session.  Meet Greg, Tony Steward and myself - all contributors to the upcoming Church 2.0 book.

-- Cynthia Ware, The Digital Sanctuary