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When I was in my early 20s, I went to a church in Northridge that had – for the first time I’d ever seen – a projector showing song lyrics during the worship service.  I had been involved in tech for quite a while and had been involved in my local church for even longer.  Never had it occurred to me that they could go together.  It was an epiphany moment.

An un-named number of years later, churches everywhere are dealing with how to integrate technology into worship.  Projectors and computers are making their way into worship spaces.  Cameras record images and sometimes even offer image magnification on those same projectors.  Announcements scroll before the worship, and maybe there’s even a quick video clip before the sermon.  And yet the question is – is this enough?  Even if the worship gathering is a well-crafted blend of flashy tech and spiritual worship, is it enough?

I say nay-nay.

In a conversation with George Strawn – CIO of the National Science Foundation and dedicated trustee here at CST – we talked about practical uses for technology in a church setting.  And what we talked about went far beyond projection in worship.  Here are a few more opportunities for faith communities to take advantage of technology:

1. Website.  Ok, maybe this sounds overly-simple.  Or does it?  How often do you research online?  It’s disturbing how many churches do not have a website.  And how hard is it really?  Your domain name is around $10-15 per year and hosting is somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 a year.  The challenge comes in web design.  My suggestion is that churches don’t get that one member of the congregation who thinks that maybe they can do it ’cause they built a page for their cousin’s friend’s sister’s father-in-law’s business.  If there’s not a professional web designer in the congregation – and face it, not a lot of churches have those – consider a CMS (that’s a Content Management System).  This means that non-technical folks can update your web page without breaking it!  Know going in that it isn’t easy to set up.  Be willing to have someone skilled do it for you – even if you have to pay for it.  It’s worth it!!
2. Blog.  Every leader in every faith community should blog.  It’s cheap (and by cheap, I mean free), it’s easy, and it’s a way for people who are looking for a church (or other faith family) to connect with the leadership and community.  And don’t forget to link to it from your website!
3. Podcast.  Ok, podcasts are technically a little more advanced.  With that said, there are ways for the technically-challenged to get this done too.  The keys are that you’ll need a way to record your service, to digitize it, and to make it available to the online community.  And, it’s important in this to remember copyright!

I get that these are only 3 things.  Can 3 things really make a difference?  I’m not sure they will in-and-of themselves.  What they can do is to help a church shift its paradigm.  Ultimately, the use of technology for a faith community is not to replace traditional ways of reaching the community, but to add to the conversation – to add to what is already happening.

Think about it this way.  When McDonald’s started selling coffee, did they stop making their Big Mac?  Nope.  They did a new thing.  They did it in addition to what they were already doing.  And they did it well – it was good coffee.

This dovetails nicely into the book I’ve been reading.  Jeff Jarvis offers in What Would Google Do? five things that any organization can learn from Google (yes, he says any organization… so couldn’t that mean the church??):

1. Create.  I think the 3 tips above give a good start for this one, and the resulting paradigm shift – if it’s allowed to happen – will bring about more creativity.  Embrace it!
2. Listen.  Most people will tell you what they think of your sermon, even if it’s falling asleep in the middle of it.  The same is true online.  The blog sites out there offer the opportunity for people to comment.  Read these and pay attention! Take them to heart and be willing to respond. 
3. Link.  Just like I suggested linking your blog to your website, link other important sites:  your denomination’s website, your neighboring churches, your community or city website, the local food-bank or shelter, and especially those organizations that have a relationship with your church.  When you provide a link to another site, ask them to link to you!
4. Join.  This is where Social Networking comes in.  If you don’t already know about Facebook and Twitter, find out.  Now.  Don’t wait.  Sign up and do everything you can to connect with others.  And see my previous blog on this.
5. Innovate.  This is where you’re open to the paradigm change.  When we try new things, we often become open to even more new things.  We become creative.  Nurture this!

Theology is not something to be relegated to the academic institutions of yesterday.  Theology is practical – and more – is is alive.  If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking – and look in new places using new tools!  I promise.  It’s there.

Ok.  So I get that it took me way too long to blog after my last Theology After Google teaser.  You have my apology.  Mostly.  While you’re getting irritated with me, know that what I’m about to blog are the class notes from last week’s class.  Ok.  Get mad.  Ready, go.

Now that we’re done with that, let’s get to the class stuff.  Although it was the second session for the class, it was my first.  So to find out when I walked in that we were going to have three guest lecturers – two via Skype and one via a pre-recorded YouTube video – I geeked out a little.  Ok, a lot.  Let’s get on with the notes.  I’ll translate some of them into English rather than my note-taking “Bob-ish,” though often I will leave them as mostly an outline rather than prose.

Our first guest speaker was Mike Morrell who opened with a couple of book recommendations.  Along those lines, check out Jesus Freak by Sara Miles and Thy Kingdom Connected by Dwight Friesen (reviewed here).  He also suggested keeping an eye on TheOOZE Viral Blogger Network for other book reviews or to review books yourself!

He then got practical.  Among many things, we talked about ways that students and ministers can use their networks to connect with people.  Using Facebook, take advantage of the “friendfinder” tool to find people you already know.  Also “friend” people who have similar interests by checking out various pages that you’ve “fan-ed.”  Then, point people to your own blogs using both Facebook and Twitter.  How do you find groups or pages on Facebook?  Just use that handy search field in the upper left of the Facebook window!  Pretty quick & easy…

Our next guest speaker was Steve Knight.  No, not the guy in the California Senate.  I’m talking about the guy who edited and published Kamikaze Magazine, who travelled through Germany, Poland, Singapore, and New Zealand with Steiger International, and who even worked for Billy Graham.  Steve also does work for Emergent Village and Serving In Mission, and has an upcoming job with a TV network that wouldn’t exist without the Internet!

Steve spoke with us about The Theology of Twitter (though he admitted that he would be more broad than just Twitter – the alliteration is nice!).  His presentation can be found here.  And here are my notes on what he said as he went through the slides, occasionally with references to specific slides:

• 3 challenges for the church in engaging social media
• What is Social Media (slide 2)
• Social media is storytelling – Sean Percival
• It’s about interacting with the conversation that are out there about your organization (church company, etc.)
• The Internet is a tool, a medium, but not just that
• The Internet is a community
• People are spending more and more time online, partly because all media is becoming social

3 Theological Challenges

• #1 – Be “reverse incarnational”
• Reverse of John 1, we are – in a sense -leaving our bodies and becoming words on websites, in blogs, in tweets, etc.
• There is some tension between physical community and cyber-community; it’s a tension the church must address
• Don’t count “conversions,” count “conversations”
• If we’re always trying to convert people, we’re short-changing conversations
• We must focus on asking good questions & focusing on relationship; conversion will naturally occur
• Why do people visit the pastor’s bio page more often than any single page?
• People want to develop a connection
• Like the advent of the Printing Press, the web is a revolutionary media
• The Internet is the town square – it’s where the conversation is happening and it’s where we need to be

• #2 – Maintaining the physical in the sacramental
• One argument is that an avatar receiving virtual sacraments indeed is a means of grace
• The counter-argument is that this kind of ritual is not an “outward and visible sign”
• Nor is unconsecrated bread & wine in front of a computer screen
• It tries to take liturgy and make it more magical
• It begs the question: must sacramental be physical?

• #3 – Promoting counter-cultural spiritual practices
• TIME Magazine did an article on people tweeting in church with member tweets shown on screens in worship
• Lots of churches & clergy tweeting:  “The church that tweets together stays together”
• On Twitter, follow @twitturgies & @tworship
• There are benefits of Twitter Prayer (slide 24)

The real challenge here is not to connect, but to disconnect.  There is a need for the church to create some counter-cultural spiritual practices.  We’re plugged in to the web & mobile devices, and we need to unplug intentionally for periods of time.  We need to take a digital Sabbath!

Check out 5 ideas for ethical social networking (slide 26) and 3 challenges for the church (slide 27).

Finally, we watched a YouTube video from Callid Keefe-Perry (TheImageOfFish).  Rather than water it down with my own blather, here’s the clip.  It’s a touch over 10 min.

That’s it for that class.  We next meet on Feb. 9th and I’ll plan on continuing with the class notes.  I’ll also be posting some things here as assignments for the class.  Next up with be related to What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis.

Until then…