reyes-chow :: FAITH

Why social media gives visitors all the power

[image: rosefirerising]

Over the past few years I have become more and more convinced that if the church hopes to reach out to folks in meaningful and effective ways, we MUST embrace the power of social media. 

Shocker I know ;-)

It is pretty simple really, with more and more folks using the internet to find all of the things they need in life - doctors, pre-schools, support groups, social gatherings - shouldn't we, as the church, be there too?  Of course, word of mouth and personal invitations will always have a place, but the ways in which the internet allows folks to do more research about all of life's needs, including a place of spiritual growth,  must not be ignored.

We have found that most folks who visit MBCC already know far more about us than we know about them.   They read our staff and members blogs, our Yelp Reviews, our website so they know far more than they could find out in one face-to-face visit.   In fact, unless they contact us beforehand, they have ALL the power in the relationship because they have a disproportionate amount of information.  How awesome and anxiety reducing is that?  Visitors arrive and can immediately recognize people, the setting, and feel far more at home that if this were the first time they had any exposure to the community.

More importantly, an effective social media presence allows us to let folks know who we are - culturally, theologically, stylistically - and gives folks the chance to see if we are consistent in our message and if our beliefs play out in our actions.  Nothing worse than getting tricked into visiting to church by a smooth online presence and then finding out the old bait-n-switch has been played on you.  And since it is safe to assume folks do not choose a church for negative reasons, all the hopes and expectations turn out to be true.

So how do you test this? 

• Ask folks how they found you and why they made their initial visit.
• Find out where people in your communities find other services and add your church.
• Ask people outside as well as regular participants to wander your online presence and give feedback about what you are communicated what visitors could expect from your church.
• Ask folks, if, on their first visit how they did or did not experience what they had expected.

Now of course, we can always go overboard and focus too much energy on marketing, but my guess is that most churches, rather than increase money and energy expended, we need to shift the where those resources are used.  Rather than spend $100 - or much more - a month on the yellow pages, take a few of those hours and set up a blog, cleanup your website, hired a web 2.0 tutor, etc. Whatever we do, we cannot simply ignore the power that social media gives to the future health and growth of the church.

Web2Open: "What Would Jesus Twitter? The convergence between church, religion and social media"

I am finally going to make it to the big Web 2.0 Expo that is held annually in San Francisco, this year, March 31 - April 3.  Yeah yeah, I know, it's in my backyard, so what the deal Mr. Church-tech-geek?  For one thing it ain't cheap to attend the entire conference and, well . . .  I keep forgetting to go.  After all, if you don't have to make plans for things like travel and hotel, 'tis very easy to overlook such a gathering until someone says, "Bruce, are you at Web 2.0 Expo?" and I say to myself, "Dang, missed it again!"

But this year, I shall not miss out as a friend has helped get me connected with some folks and I am going to push my way into one of the open source sessions at the Web2Open portion of the event.  This is a part where, for two days, it becomes an "unconference" where we arm-wrestle or something to be part of an onsite grid that determines where the interest lies.  If people want gather to gab, voila, there is a session.   And the best part, IT IS FREE just see the Web2Open website for registration details!

I suspect there are many folks who are part of church communities that want to talk about the real power and possibilities of Web 2.0 technology and social media, so here is our chance.  So, if you are going to be there and/or you have ever wanted to attend this uber-geeky, but undoubtedly connected event, hope you can make it.  I will be trying for the April 1 date, but who knows . . . and remember, this portion is free.

Here is the info of what I'll be doing if you want to try and pass the word! 

TITLE: "What Would Jesus Twitter? The convergence between church, religion and social media"

TARGET DATE: April 1 Session

FOCUS: In this session we will look at some of the ways social media has simultaneously rocked the world of the traditional religious establishments as well as unleashed an amazingly vibrant new expression of spiritual life.  Social networking has become an integral part of many religious traditions as they build community and attempt to be a positive presence in the world.   Focusing mostly on Christian church movements be ready hear and/or share stories of resistance, fear, embracing and liberation as that are all pointing to a new manifestation of church today. 

This session will be convened by Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow [Blog | Twitter | Facebook ] who is the pastor of Mission Bay Community Church in San Francisco [Website | Twitter | Facebook ].

In the beginning there was the Bruce and Carol Show

You are kidding me?  Another couple of church & culture pundit types with another internet radio talk show?  Really?  Yep, beginning May 4, 2009, author of The Tribal Church and pastor, blogger, artist-wannabee and mom, Carol Howard Merritt and yours truly: author of many books in my mind, pastor, techno-hack-wannabee and dad will team up for a new internet talk show, sure to be the best thing since Baconnaise.  

Warning: If this already makes you queasy, stop reading right now because we are all up into this! Here is a quick blurb for this, as of yet titled, internet talk show:

Welcome to __________  where each week, Bruce Reyes-Chow and Carol Howard Merritt, two yahoos from two different coasts get together through the magic of the interwebs to host a talk show focused on faith, politics, culture and life.  Gleaning from the experiences of special guests, questions from call-in listeners and a never-ending well of current issues and church happenings Bruce and Carol will take on issues of the secular and the spiritual. 

Through their collective stunning radio good looks, cutting wit and honed theological and cultural analytic chops, Bruce and Carol will provide listeners with an hour of meaningful entertainment that will nourish the soul, feed the mind and induce an occasional deep and hearty exhale.

In all seriousness, we do think there is a time and place where we each need to step up and be part of something greater than ourselves.  Through our diverse church experiences and a deep common yearning to find the bridges between tradition and innovation, Carol and I will attempt to provide a place where we can discover the challenges and celebrations that God may have in store for us and the world.  We hope you'll find the time to join us.

And while neither of us is wildly radical,  we would like to do this a little differently, balancing our own passions and preferences with the gifts, skills and passions of the larger community.   So we need some help from you . . .

• A NAME: While we do like "The Bruce and Carol Show" we are open to other names, so if you have any good suggestions, let us know. 
• TEAM PLAYAAAAS: We need a few folks that have some extra time to come along side of us and be part of the team.  We are not making any money on this endeavor, but if we ever do, lattes and sushi on us!  We need folks to offer up their names for the following ambiguous, as-of-yet-to-be-fully-determined roles.  Might be a cool internship for someone?  Maybe?  Keep in mind that Carol and I know just about enough in each of these areas to be dangerous, so if you do not want us mucking up your area of expertise, step up!  If you are interested in any of these, please send me a quick resume/letter [Bruce's eMail].
• • Program Producer: Help us to determine topics, structure the program and secure guests; basically keep us in line so the show runs smoothly.
  • Technological Producer: Help us to best use the technologies available to us for live and recorded POD and VOD casting.  Basically tell us what we need to do, how to do it, then help make it happen.
  • Internet Organizer: Coordinate the show's presence and interaction on Twitter, Facebook, blogging and whatever else we need to do do build listenership, instigate conversations and be positively influential.  
• Buzz : While we are a few months out from launching, as you journey through your worlds of ministry and work, feel free to help us get the word out.  Keep up with both Carol and I on twitter [CarolHoward] [BReyesChow] and basically help spread the word as it makes sense and feels right.  Feel to blog and link back to this post to help us find possible team members and we would love for folks to blog review us as we begin the weekly show.

Okay I think that is it for now.  Be sure to mark your calendars now for our first show and we'll "see" you then!

The Bruce and Carol Show unless someone comes up with a better name

May 4, 2009, 9am PST / noon EST

God in the midst of chaos . . .

Every so often, I have one of those, "Man, I gotta blog this" moments.  It could be a cool quote, a random thought, an observations, whatever.  At the center of it all, my moments are always about when God is made real.  Now for those of you who see God pretty easily in traditional spiritual disciplines, I often see/experience God as I participate in the spiritual discipline of faithful multi-tasking.  Yes, it just could be a well (or not-so-well) thought out justification for my lifestyle, but I do think there is something about the multileveled stimulus and technological connects that are of God.
One example of God being known in the wonderful complexity of life that is playing out as I write this . . .

• I am sitting in a little independent grocery store cafe where I was asked if this was my first time here and if I needed any help finding anything because the produce guy didn't recognize me.  This place has some great organic food, they cut their steaks THICK and most of the workers are pierece and inked in more place that I probably care to know.
• I sit here as Evelyn and Abigail take turns taking Hula and Tahitian Dance class as Spark of Creation Studio (Also Musical Theater and Kinderhula for Annie) where they are being taught by a wonderful group of strong/independent Pinay dancers.  Cute don't work on Ms. Marilou.
• I am online (obviously) with my shiny silver Mac using a free wireless connection;
• In the last 30 minutes I have just exchanged eMails with a colleague in Pennsylvania, a church visitor from Ohio and 7 church members.
• Evelyn did some homework and read while we waited for Abby's class;
• I exchanged eMails with someone who wants me possible revamp their website via my "Give back the to the community" hobby.
• Abigail has drawn yet another picture of her family (complete with names, she is in kindergarten afterall.) and munched on a crisp organic green apple . . . while sucking down a orange soda ;-).  She also serenaded me and the others sitting around with a song played on the "Air Stand-up Bass"  go figure . . .
• I did some prepping for a Bible study that I am leading this evening and did some groundwork for an idea in 2007.
• Caught up on some folk's blogs . . .

All in all, life is pretty good.  In a short concentrated time, I got connected with folks far and near, caught up with some tasks that have been hanging around for too long and now I can move into the next thing a little more at peace . . . and for this moment in my day, there is God.

I'm just a little "cooler" now

So I have done it . . . I am leaving the safe and comfy confines of PC-landia [Dell Inspiron 6000] and hauling my sorry butt to MAC-topia [MacBook Pro]. This is kind of a return for me after being one of the first owners of the heralded Macintosh "Elsie" LC before changing to a PC in the mid 90's. The circle is now complete . . .

This whole MAC thing is actually a little weird.  Case in point, this morning, as I eagerly awaited the arrival of the FedEx delivery dude, I found myself a little giddy as if I was waiting for my date to pick me up . . .  scaaaaaary.  And while I hope to be a little more grounded than to think that  Apple computer has made the World a Better Place, (Darn funny article BTW.), I am a little nervous about the whole endeavor.

Now before either side lets me have it, know that there is still a great deal of conversation, no make that brawling and squabbling, that is still going on in my tiny little head. Just a taste of the PC/MAC discourse . . .

• "Friggin' Sell out!" - "No, I have just chosen to no longer be a slave to Microsoft, in exchange I now have a master with much cooler, thinnerer and silverer stuff."
• "What, are you stupid now?!?!?!?" - "Why yes, I am . . . just too many things to have to keep fixing/learning/maintaining on my PC [good example].  If PC programmers were just not so damn malicious or intellectually arrogant, maybe it would be different.  But alas at least I will be creatively stoopid."
• "Oh, you are sooooooo cool now!" - "Yep, and don't you forget it!  Though, I was pretty cool before with my faux-woodgrain cover.  Ya gotta give me that!"
• "Did you win the lottery?!?!?" - "No, but I gotta tell ya, lack of spyware, viruses, and other crap PLUS the cool factor sure ain't cheap.  But . . . I have just picked up four new web clients for my Fun Work so I figured, what the heck." Rationalize much?
• "You are sooooo whipped!" - "Whipped by love!  Yes, I will admit that my wife, Robin, has won me over.  Bliss will further settle into the Reyes-Chow/Pugh home as we are now  joined together by the bonds of MACrimony."

So now the learning curve begins.  If any of you have any thoughts, comments about it, I'll be moving stuff over and getting set up over the next week or so.  Right now I don't even know what I don't know, but here is a start to what I think I will be tackling.

• Migrating files: MS Docs, iTunes, Bookmarks, etc;
• Choosing my mail software in lieu of Outlook;
• Getting Dreamweaver set up again;
• Learning FinalCut, iThis and iThat;
• Setting up MS Word (Yep still gotta have THAT);
• Choosing any additional MAC software, I still can call it software can't I?;
• Selling all my old PC Gadgets Tools;
• Discovering new tools for my new toy work apparatus;

Again . . . please know that this was a difficult decision so please no gloating, mocking or disappointed downward-looking shakes of the head.  This has been hard enough.

Oooooo what's that sassy and sleek looking white thing (besides my wife ) over there . . . .gotta go, my date just arrived!

3 Reasons Pastors Should be Blogging

UPDATE: Only because I am one, and am trying to encourage my "peeps" to start blogging here are some Presbyterian Church (USA) clergy bloggers that I like . . . [Presbylist] [Kelly]  should be more to come.

Today, on my officially "Unplugged" day off from my church work, I attended the Six Apart Business Blogging Seminar in San Francisco.  I figured it couldn't hurt to check out what the pros are doing in the ways of blogging.  Turns out the event was quite eye-opening and has further compelled me to better improve the blogging conversations in the the church.  Plus . . . all the cool geeks where there ;-)

I will get to why I think Pastors need to move blogging up the in their order of modes of communications, let me first give a few highlights of the event . . . there is oh so much still waiting to be regurgitated, so I will try and be succinct.

At my table, folks from: INTEL, ISC Consulting, City of Antioch, HBANC, CMP Healthcare Media and little ole me.  Also at my table a SWEET gift bag!

Chief Evangelist: This was the title of the main speaker for the event, Anil Dash.  He seems to operate at the spokesperson for Six Apart and for good reason.  He was incredibly compelling, one of the most effective and authentic speakers I have heard.  He was not overly enthusiast, just enough to tell that he really loved his job and the products he was supporting. 

Buzz Phrase: Rohit Bhargava  gave us the term "Social Media Optimization"  Good stuff, much churches could learn from his marketing strategies.  You can see the entire presentation on his blog.  You should check out his post "5 Rules of SMO."

So what exactly did I learn while at this business seminar that further convinced me that church leadership should be blogging?  Unlike many business models that we have heard about where the translation to church culture can be difficult, it was telling that much of the information about why business blogging is working AND why business should be using blogging sounding almost church-like.  If I had a nickle every time the word, "Community" or "Relationship" was used, I would have about $5.65, give or take ;-)  From the conference here are a just a few of the "aha's" that I had.  These are pretty close to quotes . . .

REASON #1 - "Blogs allow you to connect and share with and who you care about." and "Business is built on relationships." and "Businesses need/deserve to communicate as well as individuals do."  Change out "business" to "church" and it sounds like a pastoral leadership to me.  One part of pastoring for me that has always been central to my call has been to find ways to appropriately engage with and provide guidance to individuals; to provide and live out church-wide spiritual/thought leadership; and to build relationships in the ways that are most effective and appropriate.  And all of this done so the church can move forward and toward all that God hopes it to become.  Blogging, when done well can provide a great vehicle for that kind of influence.

Blogs also create community that is civil and reciprocal.  No wild west flaming, spamming, etc. Authentication and comment moderations creates an atmosphere of trust-building.  The reciprocal nature of blogging also brings in multiple voices to any conversation that happens to spark passionate response . . . again, building and strengthening a sense of community focused on common interests.

REASON #2 - "Blogs reduce obligation, but overcomes inertia." Combined with personal interaction, this mode of communication has much better longterm effects over IM, eMail, VOIP, searches and message boards for a few reasons:

• Non-interruptive: All the other forms of communication are intrusive, blogs give people choice to read and engage as they want;
• Permanent: IM and eMail content are temporary and/or easily lost.  Blogs offer the ability for permanence through bookmarking, linking, etc.
• Butt-moving: Good blogs compel folks to engage.  If the content is rich enough, motived folks will be interacting.

For us ego-pastors, reality of permanence and motivation should be reason enough to engage in blogging.  Our profound words of wisdom (please hear sarcasm) are not just temporarily shared between folks directly engaged in the conversations, but are entered into bookmarked and entered search engines in perpetuity so folks can return again while others may also be exposed for the first time . . . adds a whole other level of weigh to the blogs don't it?

REASON #3 - "Blogging has changed from EXPERIMENT to STRATEGY."  Seems as though churches are not the only groups of human beings afraid of change.  It was clear that there is a large segment of the business community (mostly web and IT folks) that still sees blogging as an immature, useless group of angry ranting teenagers with nothing to do but deposit useless crap into cyberworld.  And while there is surely a ton of useless ego-driven garbage out there, it was made clear that this mode of communication is incredibly effective in sharing stories, building community and spreading messages.  Seems to be a great deal of resistance by purists who see blogging as trying to take over or replace other types of communications: eMail, Message Boards, Websites, etc. when in fact, blogging is one more way to build networks, some would say even more effective.  Like Website and eMail before that, pastors need to come to the realization that blogging is here to stay!

That's it for now.  There is still so much more that I am processing from the event but I can honestly say that my own blogging will get a new burst of attention and intentionality. 

For my blogger comrades out there, still thinking about the following issues questions:

• For us church folks who tend to be generalists, how to build appropriate focus in our blogging?  I have a lot to say about a great many things: technology, church, urban life, pop culture and so on and so on . . . maybe THAT is the problem ;-)
• What is the best of the best?  There are so many services out there: readers, bookmarkers, etc. Which ones do we choose to use?  Can be kind of overwhelming . . .
• How do we integrate the use of Websites, Message Boards, IM, Mailing Lists, eMail etc to most effectively build community?
• Typepad versus Movable Type . . .

Okay, so now I feel like I've just randomly regurgitated 5 hours of seminar.  There will be more later . . . .

Evaluate our new Website

Our Church has just launched a NEW WEBSITE  and we are hoping to get some feedback.  In this latest version of the online "Face" of Mission Bay Community Church we have tried to capture the faithful, yet quirky nature of our community, blending conviction, humor, authenticity and relevance.

We would appreciate getting your feedback about the site.  I think it will take about 10-15 minutes to get through the site.  After you do so we would love to get your comments via this post or you can fill out our brief 10 Question Survey.

While we would appreciate everyone's input we are most interested in getting feedback from folks who fit the following characteristics.

• are not attending any church, but might be open to the possibilities;
• live in the san francisco bay area or at least live in an urban/metro context;

We would also be interested in the same kinds of folks who are . . .

• Church Professionals
• Seminary Students
• Current Church Goer's

If you would help spread the word as well as take some time to explore the site and fill out the survey yourself, that would be great.  You could even just pass along thoughts/concerns to me and I'll make sure the Design Crew gets all comments.

WEBSITE
SURVEY

Social Networking

Hi my name is Bruce and I am an "Early Adopter." I admit it, I love to try new things; the latest and greatest.  I am fascinated at the possibilities of where technology may take us as individuals and communities; basically I jump right into things and see where the journey may take me.  And before you assume that it is just a case of SHINY THINGS or a short attention space. . . oh look a bird . . . cool ring tone . . . now what was I talking about??????;-)

With this in mind, I have tried a bunch of different ways to engage in this whole idea of Internet Social Networking via blogging, networking sites, photo sharing, IM, etc.  I have definitely found my favorites but was wondering what others use.

Here are my fav's, would love to know where/how others get connected and the good, bad and the ugly for any services you have used.

Blogging

• www.typepad.com
• www.blogger.com
• www.wordpress.com
• www.blogrolling.com
• Others?

Networks

• www.linkedin.com
• www.myspace.com
• www.xanga.com
• www.facebook.com
• Others?

Sharing of stuff

• www.flickr.com
• www.del.icio.us
• Others?

Now, yes, I KNOW there are tons of other services out there, thus this post.  Thanks in advance . . . there's that bird again.

The messy transitions

As you will notice the blog is looking a little sloppy these days as I try to align it with my ego::site that is coming together.  I am trying to consolidate all the resources that seem to get a little unwieldy on the standard blog format.  If you want to take a peek, venture on over to www.reyes-chow.com.  Please no snide remarks about anything at all, only helpful comments if ya got em.  Besides, it will probably never actually get finished anyway, but a boy can dream can't he;-)

Not even "Cool" enough to be a "GAMER"

Okay, so over the past few months I have witnessed and been engaged in some conversations about VIDEO GAMING and the many issues around the culture, technology, etc.  Many folks at MBCC are connected to gaming via playing or working for the industry.  As I have learned about my experience (or lack there of according to some of the members) I am a TOTALLY out of my realm of reality when we enter Video Game Land.  Often times I don't even understand the words by themselves let along when they are strung together in a sentence.  Yes . . . I am THAT Gamer-Stupid.

Mostly because I want to find out if there are others out there who are as disconnected as I am, I am interested in what other's experiences have been around gaming.  There are a few questions at the end of this post, but to give you some juice for the comments here are some things I have learned about myself . . .

• THERE WAS SOMETHING AFTER DONKEY KONG? - So apparently my break from video games was before they left the Arcade (TimeZone in Old Town, Sacramento anyone?)  and came into the home.  I was big into Galaga, Donkey Kong, DigDug, Tempest, Joust, etc.  Never really played Zelda, Prince of Persia, etc. as those games came onto the PC and home console scene.  I did play the old school Atari with Combat and had a GameBoy, but that was about it.  I wonder why?  There was never a "No Video Game" rule in our home as we now have with our girls, so maybe it was because my friends were not big gamers . . . or, hmmm, maybe I had a LIFE (I just couldn't resist) that included important stuff like chasing girls, fixing up my 1979 Toyota Corona (Yes, I said a CoroNa, complete with $800 Stereo system in a $400 car.) and Drum Corps (My hidden past.).
• I MUCH PREFER SHOOTING ALIENS AND PEOPLE I CAN'T SEE - So this whole "First Person Shooter" thing . . . as much as I love "Guy" movies, explosions, car chases and a good shoot-out or brawl in the movies, I still get queasy about the shooting/blood/dying thing.  I GUESS one could argue that it is more real so you understand the significance of killing more, but it still just weirds me out to be THE shooter.  Yes, I killed things in Galaga, but, come on, those where non-descript aliens trying to take over the world, they HAD to die.  Now I am in no way on the censorship wagon, I just find it interesting that there is very little urge for me to engage in these latest rounds of games.
• I just might not be even cool enough to be a dork - This one is difficult for me to handle, but alas I may just have to admit it.  While I am a techno-geek in some areas, even the video game dorks are making fun of me.  Age, intelligence, my floods and plaid shirt . . . what is it?  I think I will just have to embrace my "Not cool enough to even be a dork" status.  Maybe a t-shirt or something will make me feel better . . .
• I GUESS I CHOOSE MY ADDICTIONS AND VEG-OUT MEDIUMS - In the end, I think many folks use gaming as a means of escapism and entertainment.  I suppose like any activity, if it begins to ruin your life, relationships and/or health it has become unhealthy and addictive.  I have learned that one of the keys to surviving is to choose and monitor your addictions well: motorcycles, TIVO, Oakland A's, eMail, Shoes. Dog the Bounty Hunter, L&L . . . oops am I typing out loud?!?!?

So . . . I would love to hear some response from some of you:

• Do you game?  How much?  What has determined your level of Gamer-ness?
• What do you think about the first person shooter games and issues around violence, sex, etc. in video games?
• How could/can/has gaming been helpful to your life and/or society?
• Do you want to join my "Not Even Cool Enough to be a Dork" club?

Later, I am off to non-Gamer therapy . . .