Easter 2009 was significant for the Church in more ways than one.

Are you keeping your eyes open?  It’s happening right in front of our eyes.  The Church (with a capital “C”) is engaging culture in the most proactive way.

If you’re taking note about what’s happening in our culture today, you’ll see the frenzy for connecting with each other online.

Twitter, Facebook and all the developments in social media is really changing how we relate to each other and live.  Heck, even Oprah has hopped on the bandwagon with thousands of official Twitter followers — even before she sent out her first tweet.  On Friday morning, before the Oprah show broadcast where she’ll tweet for the first time, all live, she literally had almost 100,000 official followers.  Some Twitterati have over 1 million syndicated followers -  just hungry for 140-character messages from the soon-to-be digital-culture leaders just like Oprah has done in other media arenas.

Celebrities aren’t alone in using the latest tech social structures to wield their influence. 

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How many don’t realize what they hear or even say themselves when it is proclaimed: He IS Risen!

Today, Trinity Church in NYC produced and put on the passion play on Good Friday…on Twitter.

For 3 hours, betwen Noon and 3pm characters used www.grouptweet.com to put on the play.  Over 1,500 people followed the group tweet account which allowed them to receive the sporadic messages that were part of the 3-hour passion play. . . (more…)

There’s been a flurry of interest in Christian Social Media sites, web 2.0 and church websites.  The conversations are all very buzz-word heavy.

And at least one survey’s results have been published which draws upon data gathered in Jan / Feb of this year.

But what it all boils down to is very simple.  Does your website do what your visitors and congregation members want out of it?  How do you know what Christians want when they go searching for new sites on the web?

The answer is to ask.  That’s what the Churches, Christians, and Social Networking Study did.  They asked - what were the top things you wanted/needed in your church’s website?   How many of these needs is your current website ready to address if a visitor lands on your site today?

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The Top 4 requested features & functionality sought by congregational memebers: (more…)

The Church is serious business.

Really.

According to the New York Times article, “Christianity, the Brand,” the merchandising of Christian values-infused products is officially huge.  Unless you have been sleeping under a rock the last several years, it’s hard not to notice:

“”The Chronicles of Narnia” took in more than $290 million at the box office domestically…

“The Passion” grossed $370 million…

Christian music now racks up $700 million in sales annually.

In 2004, sales of religious books reached $1.9 billion.

…Christian products will generate $9.5 billion in sales by 2010.”

The real significance of these numbers is that Christianity is a real influence in today’s culture.  Regardless of the debate on if the Church is doing enough to engage Culture, enough attention is being given right now in the stores, theaters and ever so importantly — in the press (more…)

Do you ever go out and do things without thinking about it first?  If this is a consistent way of life, you’ll likely find yourself lost or with no progress after awhile.

Measurement is critical if you want to define success or failure in any circumstance.

So what does your own measuring stick look like?

How do you define and measure the successes of your ministry?

Without being explicit in your objectives and goals, you can easily go into the slippery opportunistic mode for what you are doing with your ministry.  This is when you fall victim to whatever fire needs to be put out or whichever “great deal” or “great opportunity” comes across your way.  Or better yet, being stuck in opportunistic mode keeps you constantly behind the 8-ball or become complacent when you are able to do just enough to keep the status-quo.

The same goes for the mission of a church.  Without strategic vision and a clear set of objectives to measure against, it is easy for a ministry to loose focus and loose ground.

The Wall Street Journal featured a piece, “When the Pastor Says It’s ‘A Time to Sow‘” which touched upon just one factor of measurement worthy of consideration for any church.  Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC takes a suprisingly unique way to measure their own success. (more…)

Once you listen to one of Dr. Tim Keller’s sermons at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC, you’ll be hooked.

There are a lot of reasons why Keller seems so spot-on.  One of them is his approach to how the Church, with a capital C, should approach Culture — with the aim of radical and penetrating transformation.

Dr. Keller recently spoke about Cultural Transformation a couple of weeks ago at the Westminster Chapel in London. Some of the points he makes are piercing and so full of truth, that you’ll find your head nodding in agreement many times during the videos.

The observation of how culture has robbed Christianity / religion of most of its assets is an interesting one. He certainly frames the path well which our world has taken to get to our now post-Christian world in this video. . . (more…)

WARNING:

THERE WILL BE A QUIZ ABOUT THIS

SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT MISSIONAL CONCEPT.

READ & THINK CAREFULLY!

Liquid Church of Morristown & New Brusnswick, NJ features a weekly “411″ video previewing the next week’s sermon message or events.  They usually close the promo vid by giving a call to action for viewers to invite a friend next week to church…“just don’t be weird” about it they always say.

Isn’t that great advice for sharing the Gospel or inviting friends /associates to a church worship experience?

Got it? Continue on only if you think you have completely understood this concept. . . (more…)

I recently had a conversation about the importance of building rock-solid dynamics and culture for a new (or any church for that matter) church plant with Dave Ingland  — he’s on the frontlines doing kingdomwork on the “left coast”. As a church planter, he can identify with Craig Groeshel of LifeChurch.tv who has undoubtedly encountered this very same issue in his growing multi-site multi-state network of physical church sites (13 and counting?).

Groeshel’s recent book “IT” addresses the “IT” factor which determines whether a particular ministry is set for growth and vibrancy….or not.  So I asked Pastor Dave for his review of the “IT” book.  Enjoy!

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It: How Churches And Leaders Can Get It and Keep It is the first book from Craig Groeschel that I have read. If his other books are anything like It, then it is safe to say that if you appreciate Pastor Craig’s gift of preaching, you’ll appreciate his writing style as well—they are both very similar.

It is this essence of Groeschel’s delivery that really helps to connect people to his messages. It’s a very natural, humorous, and engaging form of communication.

The title suggests that a definition and answer of just what It is will be given. Forget about that happening!

Craig Groeschel shares something tangible in his description of what It is, yet never comes out and declares a definition. We learn what is not It, but have to find out for ourselves just what It is.  That is the beauty of the book!

The “ah-ha!” Moments come when Groeschel’s words connect with your own thoughts and cause sparks to fly and change to happen.

Not only does Pastor Craig share his experiences in his search for It, he also (more…)

Some of the world’s biggest marketing successes weren’t launched by $1 million/minute Superbowl commercials, loss-leader discount promotions or gimmicky jingle-heavy radio spots.

Instead, a product, service, or person catches on when the right things come into alignment.  And many times none of this costs any money at all.

Did you know there’s a formalized discipline to crafting “buzz”?  Yup, there is.

This is the part where the Church could get a little extra boost by taking notes from. . . (more…)