This past year, Rick Warren dipped his toe into the depths of the magazine publishing.

It’s definitely a hard business to survive and thrive in for sure. Only a few survive — like Oprah, Martha and Rachel Ray, all who have figured out their own niche on paper it seems.

But Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Connection magazine has completed their 2009 year in print. . . and basically figured out that their publishing ministry needs to incorporate more social media driven purpose itself — to the point where the magazine is going all-digital in 2010.

Purpose Driven Connection magazine has issued refunds to all current subscribers and told them that they’ll get free access to the PDC website that is going to be re-purposed in 2010. Rick Warren’s letter to subscribers lists several reasons why becoming social media driven makes sense.

Before you poo-pooh this as spinning the folding of a traditional magazine, take a look at the numbers — such as the 300,000+ subscribers to the daily devotional emails available through the beta website for Purpose Driven Connection

In order to make it work online, I think there are a couple of key things that the Purpose Driven team should consider:

• More of Pator Rick talking to you and me - Videos, videos, videos. People didn’t *read* the magazine for a reason. Hopefully the PDC folks won’t think about the website just as a cheaper way to push more *print* content out to the community. We want to hear Rick Warren himself, and often.
• Real Connections For PDL Churches - Thousands of churches have taken on the 40 Days of Purpose campaigns and beyond. There’s so much to learn and share about how the Purpose Driven platform is being used to grow churches, deepen faith walks and plain old bring the church together. The internet is the perfect medium to allow churches to connect and share experiences. What about hooking up churches in mentoring relationships so that the wisdom can be transferred in meaningful ways?
• Watch-worthy Interviews and webcasts - Stream live worship, interviews, and ministry webcasts teaching the audience how Saddleback approaches the tactical, practical nitty gritty of ministry. We want real life case studies from Rock Warren’s own ministry — and beyond.
• Community rally / cause projects - Figure out a way to mobilize the thousands of people online just waiting to get involved in ministry online. What about a massive blogging collbaoration project? Or a testimonial filmhouse? Or crowdsource the community to help write a book.
• Local PD Meet-ups. Let’s connect churches and Christians together (both seekers and believers) in offline events. Do something like www.saltexchange.com on a national scale with like-mided, purpose-driven ministries and individuals.

What else can you think of that would make the new 2010 Purpose Driven Connection website meaningful instead of just another pretty magazine website with glossy photos, and static content? Leave a comment below and share your vision and hopes.

Is the sonic speed of social media forcing you to realize that you really need to collaborate with your ministry teams better?

Google Wave is the latest iteration of social collaboration platforms that have hit the streets recently. You’ve probably heard Google Wave’s awesome features.

The big picture is that Google Wave hopes to replace email as the main form of communication between people and groups. But in the short term, until everyone adopts the real-time collaboration communication platform, it’s still useful for teams of people working together. For example, you can edit documents together with a group in real-time. No more waiting for others to edit and forward so that you can make your own edits. Everyone can see your changes live just as you type them into the computer. There’s other neat features too of course.

In fact, there’s so much you can do with Google Wave, that the team at Google Wave originally created a 1-hour+ video overview of the new social communications tool!

Re-thinking their first approach, they decided to create an ‘abridged’ 10-minute version overview video about Google Wave:

So far, the Google Buzz is working since official invites for new accounts are still selling like hotcakes on eBay. When Google Wave first came out, invites were going for as much as $70+ each. Nowadays, you can grab one for about $5-$8:

Of course that’s not the only way to get a new Google Wave account. If you know someone with a Google Wave account, you can get one of the invites that are periodically released to current account holders. I’ve got a couple of free invites to give out, so if you’re interested in trying out Google Wave with your ministry team, let me know — with your email address and I’ll send an invite to you as long as I have them available (right now, I have about 2 dozen free Google Wave invites). You may want to use the contact tab to send me a direct message vs. leaving a comment below with your email address in plain view for spammers to harvest, etc.

The only requirement I ask for in addition to getting me your email address via the CONTACT tab (on the left side of the site), that you do leave a comment letting me know the name of your church/ministry and website address. It’s always good to hear from the readers of Godvertiser.com and see the links to your own site.

Already have a Google Wave account? Send me a wave, and I’ll wave right back!

Hope everyone had a joyous celebration during Christmas this past week. Our Saviour’s birth!

Here’s a Twitter backdrop you can download for free this week that is a nod to all the names we can call our Savior.

We’ve had fun releasing free Christian Twitter graphic backgrounds in our Twitteratti Tuesday Series.

Would you like to see more in the new year?

Let me know by posting a comment below!

How to upload a custom background to your Twitter account:

1. Log in
2. In top navigation bar, click Settings (or go to http://twitter.com/account/settings)
3. Click the last settings tab, Design
4. Select a template, change your text and background colors, or upload your background image
5. Save your changes

This Christian Twitter backgrounds series was our little effort to help “fill the Twitterverse with the Bible and teaching of Christ!”

If you are handy with graphics and want to contribute a free Christian-themed backdrop for Twitter users, just use the contact form and we’ll share your work with others here and on Twitter!

This Christmas break, I’m sitting down again with Tim Keller and his Counterfeit Gods. It is always refreshing to take in a story or message that’s well told. And that’s what Dr. Keller, lead pastor of Redeemer Pres in NYC does - tell great stories, share some great messages.

As Dr. Keller starts to put out a book a year (I’m eager to find out more about his next book which is apparently on suffering/evil), his unassuming style is being noticed by more and more people. You’ll notice that the buzz about #tk is constant in the Twitterverse. And yet some people can’t get enough of the messages he offers from the pulpit.

If you haven’t been tipped off yet, here’s some good news. Redeemer has released 150 doses of classic Tim Keller. You’ll notice that much of the content that Redeemer has chosen to give away completely free are great to share with friends — especially those that have questions about faith, the Church, and God.

The only issue anyone can have with this huge archive of free sermons from Dr. Tim Keller is that there’s no 1-click to download all 150 mp3 sermons at once.

But if you listen to just one sermon a day during your daily commute, workout, or daily devotion time, you’ll get to spend enough time with Dr. Keller over the next 5 months to the point where you will probably find yourself starting to tell some great stories…share some great messages. Doesn’t that sound like Good News to you?

The Brady Bunch was a classic TV show. Whether your favorite was Greg, Marcia or even Alice there’s something that all ministry leaders can learn from the Brady Bunch show. And all you have to do is watch the first couple of minutes of the show literally. The opening sequence with the 9 talking heads on one screen is the key.

These days, there’s a new generation that’s reaching out across the web to meet online in multi-user video chat to collaborate in real time: meet the Tokbox Bunch.

www.Tokbox.com allows anyone to jump into a video conference chat with NO software downloads or installations. It works across all platforms so all those Mac and PC people can actually make friends.

What you get is a screen of webcam headshots - and you can control each one. Enlarge any one if you’d like to see them better. Mute or hide any participant. You can even shuffle around the order/placement of the boxes on your screen. Text chat is right there in the same window as well.

The best part is that it’s free and it works.

Dave Ingland, a church planter from the left coast recently tweeted a meet-up in a Tokbox room and instantly half a dozen of us joined the conversation. We ended up discussing some of the recent developments with online worship communities such as Andy Stanley’s church and how they are embracing online small group Bible studies. We heard some other online church’s experiences for using video conferencing in their own ministries as well. You always learn something when talking with other peers and leaders in your own field. That’s the point.

The conversations are real. The video allows you to have full expression. It’s live and real-time. One real big upside is that you can easily tweet, call, text, or grab someone and tell them to get in the room by simply visiting the tokbox link. DONE.

www.Tinychat.com is another multi-user video chat service that has taken off as well. Both harness technology for what it’s good for - removing friction of offline problems (physical distance) in an elegant way.

BONUS TIP: And note that the service is perfect for group meetings, but works just as well if you have only 2 people involved. So think of it as Skype without the software or account hassles. You can suddenly make long distance video calls internationally for free.

Have you tried Tinychat.com or Tokbox.com video conferences? What’s your experience?

It’s the Christmas edition of Twitteratti Tuesday at Godvertiser.com!

Check out this week’s installment of free Chrsitian Twitter Graphic Backgrounds series.

You’ll notice that all three of them are Christmas themed! With just 2 weeks to go before the big birthday party, we listened to your requests for Xmas Twitter backgrounds — so that you have your chance to help spread the Good News Twitteratti-style.

How to upload a custom background to your Twitter account:

1. Log in
2. In top navigation bar, click Settings (or go to http://twitter.com/account/settings)
3. Click the last settings tab, Design
4. Select a template, change your text and background colors, or upload your background image
5. Save your changes

We welcome your participation in helping to “fill the Twitterverse with the Bible and teaching of Christ!” If you are a designer and want to contribute a Christian-themed background for Twitter users, use the contact form and we’ll arrange to display + share your work with our brothers and sisters on the digital highway!

Over the last couple of months I’ve been working on a little web-app to help me look up Bible references quickly.

I used to have to figure out which site had the translation I’d like to look-up; then go to that site; then input the Scripture reference; then use the drop downs to find the translations, and finally submit.

If I wanted to send the link to a friend via email, facebook, twitter, or even in live worship chat during church online, I’d have to take some additional steps - open up TinyURL.com, bit.ly or some other favorite URL shortcut services out there. Copy the long URL from the Bible site, paste it into the shortcut generator. Submit. Copy the short-cut url, and viola. FINALLY, I had something I could pass on.

This just didn’t seem efficient. I simply thought that there must be a better way.

I couldn’t find anything much better, so I decided to just create it.

So here I am introducing the “BETA” version of www.wordof.gd/_____ No more searching, waiting, submitting, copy/pasting, etc. whenever you are looking up Bible verses online.

This new web app is a 1-Step Bible Look-Up Web App. Basically, find the Scripture reference you want in the translation you want IN ONE LINE — straight from the URL.

Here’s how it works:

Just add ANY Scripture after the main url:

• http://WordOf.GD/+BibleVerseHere and you’re done.

Just TRY IT to understand how this works. Try clicking on some of these:

• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16-21
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16ESV
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16WEB
• http://WordOf.GD/John3:16NASB

If you want a specific Bible translation see how all you have to do is add the abbreviation after the verse? Over 30 different popular translations are supported right now and more to come.

Speaking of abbreviations, it will accomodate most common abbreviations for books of the Bible too. ie. Matt, Mk, Lk, Jn, Gen, Rev, 1cor, 2cor, etc.

One you get the Bible verse, you’ll notice in the header bar, an EMAIL LINK, TWITTER LINK, (and FACEBOOK LINK to come). In addition, a short-cut URL is automatically generated for the specific verse ranges and translations you just looked-up if you want to copy/paste for any other use.

This has been pretty useful for mobile web browsing since connections are not as zippy as on a desktop usually and you want to minimize as many steps as possible.

NOTE: This *IS* a beta version - we’re continuing to update it as we go along and there might be some glitches while we polish it up. If you come across any issue, please leave a comment here or send me a tweet (http://www.twitter.com/kkcoolj) with the details.

Let me know what you think! Please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Twitter offers 12 free background templates which you can use to customize your Twitter page.

It’s a good idea, although the actual options Twitter gives are not the best way to go.

Why is it a good idea? Well, for starters, it legitimizes your Twitter profile. By installing an individualized Twitter background graphic, it signals creativity and leadership. It shows you are familiar with the environment. You are choosing to express your own identity, not letting Twitter define your identity.

When you use a custom Twitter background graphic, you also have the opportunity to show specific facets of your identity. Here is your chance to witness to the world of your faith.

Every Tuesday, we’ve been releasing a free background design for you to download and use with your own Twitter profiles. Some are explicitly Christian, others with subtle themes, and still others with Bible anchor verses integrated into it. Twitteratti Tuesdays at Godvertiser.com wants you to have a Twitter Facelift today.

This week’s design comes from Dave Ingland from the “left coast” who is currently planting a church in Sacramento, CA. He’s a husband, father, activist, agent for change, advocate for the arts, and lead revolutionary of Revolution Church Sacramento.

You’ll find that this Twitter background is different than most — it plays with the ability to use images with transparency. So after you upload this background design, you can set the page’s background color to your liking by clicking on the CHANGE DESIGN COLORS link in the design settings section.

You’ll see that I chose a nice deep red for my background. You can make it yellow or blue or green or anything else you want! Thanks Dave for such a neat little feature.

FREE CHRISTIAN TWITTER BACKGROUND
DOWNLOAD LINK

How to upload a custom background to your Twitter account:

1. Log in
2. In top navigation bar, click Settings (or go to http://twitter.com/account/settings)
3. Click the last settings tab, Design
   
4. Select a template, change your text and background colors, or upload your background image
5. Save your changes
6. CHANGE DESIGN COLORS next on this same settings page if you want to adjust the page background colors.

Are you regularly introducing new people into your groups? (If not, you have to question yourself, why not?!) A sign of healthy groups are one that invite new people into the mix regularly. Whether just visiting, as a mixer or formally bringing someone into the fold, having visitors should be happening more regularly that you already do, right?

In any case, ministry leaders and pastors should be always thinking about how to reduce the friction of getting to know one another in your groups.

Otherwise, your groups will probably stay compartmentalized into several sub-groups. It might be by age, ethnic background, etc. But it happens.

Whether you agree or not, part of your job is to help people get to know each other. Whenever a new person comes into your group, it is a great time to use some icebreakers.

If you don’t have a bunch of simple icebreaker activities for your youth group already, there are plenty of resources out there to find some good ones. Books like Ice Breakers Ahead compile some of the better interactive ice breaker games.

What ice breakers have you used successfully in your ministry? Please share with us in the comments section below!

You’re either in or out. Excited or confused. Optimistic or a party-pooper.

People always ask me why I use Twitter. Without getting into the usual “no, it’s not about broadcasting the flavor of my toothpaste, or any other mundane details of my daily living” conversation, here’s one concrete example that hopefully helps give a better picture for the power of Twitter.

While I know that we’re not to make idols of men (or pastors of really big and successful books for that matter), but to illustrate the point, I’m sharing with you that I recently received a Tweet from none other than . . .

Yup, it was Pastor Rick Warren himself tweeting me about one of my latest web projects (more on that in other post soon, I promise!).

Twitter, and social media in general, has collapsed the 6 degrees of separation into 1.

You are now able to connect and collaborate with almost anyone else imaginable that’s relevant. It’s not that I tweeted back and forth with this person in particular. It’s the fact that just a couple of years ago, being able to connect, exchange, collaborate with someone like Rick Warren directly would take a lot of energy. Even if he tried to be as accessible as can be to people outside of his network (i.e. people he’s never met before), getting to him when I’m on the east coast, and he’s on the left coast (or somewhere else in the world) just isn’t that practical or easily done. I’ve emailed his “rick@purposedrivenlife.com” email address listed in his books and website before. I’ve been to Saddleback worship services several times before. I’ve called the PDL team when our church launched our own 40 Days campaign before. I’ve gotten what I’vee needed from his ministry organization each time, but getting a chance to interact with Rick Warren directly himself wasn’t really feasible.

Today, with social media, things have completely changed: The friction of access and connection is infinitely reduced because of social media. If you are proactive, purposeful and pleasant (don’t discount that last one!), the possibilities are plentiful.

It’s not just Rick Warren. Whether it’s Leonard Sweet or David Pogue of the NY Times, or even YOU that I’ve tweeted with . . . the fact of the matter is that 6 degrees of separation has become 1.

That’s why I use twitter. What about you?