A pastor friend of mine offers a Saturday morning class designed "help folks reduce daily stresses." When I saw the tweet about it I thought to myself, that's something a lot of people could use. I asked if he'd considered making it a webcast (depending on the class format of course) and he admitted he hadn't. (TDF!)
Then my mind wandered to all the potential webcasts a congregation could make available. Do you want to share the basics of the Christian faith? Webcast an adult information or confirmation class. And what about Sunday morning Bible study? It doesn't matter if viewers are in your city or even your country. The point would be to make the class available to a wider audience. Jesus preached to thousands at a time!
Even a younger person's confirmation class is a potential webcast.
Webcasting is not rocket science.
1) You need a laptop computer, webcam and microphone or a connection to a sound system if you are webcasting something like a church service. (Make sure you have a reasonable amount of light on the main subject for good video.)
2) Set up an account with a free streaming service like Ustream.tv or Livestream.com.
3) Embed the feed onto your website (the streaming service gives you the information)
4) Let people know you are going to webcast and where they can watch. Post the information on Facebook, send out a message on Twitter, promote it on your website, in your Sunday bulletin, announcements, newsletter and the sign in front of your church!
5) Lights, camera, action! Once you are streaming, make sure you welcome the online audience as you would any visitors.
If you are webcasting an instructional class, the viewers have the opportunity to comment in the chat features of the streaming service. This means you can do Q&A with the people in the room as well as online.
With any event or weekly activity, think of ways to extend your reach beyond the four walls of your church or school by thinking digital first.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Fallen and can't get up? Tell your friends on Facebook.
When you read that kids are using social media all the time you have to wonder if it's true. Read this story: http://mashable.com/2009/09/07/trapped-girls-facebook/
What this shows is that a younger person's first priority may not be using the telephone, but sharing information with as many people as possible on Facebook, hoping someone else calls for help.
Is this common? I don't know. If I had a cell phone and could either call or update I would call, but then none of my friend would know I was in trouble. The social networking would be limited to the emergency operator until I was rescued. That loses all immediacy which is the hallmark of social media.
Some say social media is a fad. Others claim it has fundamentally changed the way we communicate. Were the girls in this story just immature or using their primary electronic communication vehicle?
What this shows is that a younger person's first priority may not be using the telephone, but sharing information with as many people as possible on Facebook, hoping someone else calls for help.
Is this common? I don't know. If I had a cell phone and could either call or update I would call, but then none of my friend would know I was in trouble. The social networking would be limited to the emergency operator until I was rescued. That loses all immediacy which is the hallmark of social media.
Some say social media is a fad. Others claim it has fundamentally changed the way we communicate. Were the girls in this story just immature or using their primary electronic communication vehicle?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Making the list
During a social media seminar today, Starbucks was used as an example of branding. The company sees itself as a third location: "home, work, Starbucks." The goal is to have people attend Starbucks to consume the brand.
How do we add "church" onto the list of locations?
How do we add "church" onto the list of locations?
Monday, August 31, 2009
Fall plans
So we're running headlong into September. Time to crank up the church programs; round up the volunteers; and next thing you know rehearsals for the Christmas services and programs will begin.
How are you using social media to help you accomplish these tasks? Share your ideas so we can all learn together.
Happy Labour Day!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
I do…on-line
Wow…too long between posts. Sorry. But it’s been an interesting time of vacation and then the inevitable catch-up after vacation.
On August 8 our oldest son, Evan, was married in Edmonton, Alberta to Genoa Waymen. They both work in social media and video so it was natural for them to take an online approach to their big day.
First, they established a website http://wedding.etadnams.com where they told the story of how they met and even set up a Paypal account for online gifts! (We’re still waiting for the photos to be posted). All the invitations were sent by e-mail as were responses.
The ceremony was webcast so that family and friends around the world could share the event. It was a simple set up with a laptop, camera and microphone. After the ceremony we discovered the audio wasn’t working, but it didn’t deter the 36 viewers who stayed with the webcast. As one viewer put it “I couldn’t hear anything, but the plot was predictable!”
The couple, my wife and I and even the pastor tweeted webcast information, and reminded people on Facebook the day of the wedding. People were watching in Canada, the US and as far away as Bahrain!
The cost for all this? $0! It only took time, and not much of that.
Webcasting has a lot of potential. Yes, there can still be glitches, but who hasn’t been at a live event when the sound had problems?
I noticed that a Baptist church nearby is using its highly visible sign to promote its webcast, complete with web address.
This technology is a way to extend the reach of any event. Think of the possibilities. If you can’t get youth into a Sunday morning class…take the class to them…on a Wednesday evening!
The technology is there and inexpensive. It just takes the will to use it.
On August 8 our oldest son, Evan, was married in Edmonton, Alberta to Genoa Waymen. They both work in social media and video so it was natural for them to take an online approach to their big day.
First, they established a website http://wedding.etadnams.com where they told the story of how they met and even set up a Paypal account for online gifts! (We’re still waiting for the photos to be posted). All the invitations were sent by e-mail as were responses.
The ceremony was webcast so that family and friends around the world could share the event. It was a simple set up with a laptop, camera and microphone. After the ceremony we discovered the audio wasn’t working, but it didn’t deter the 36 viewers who stayed with the webcast. As one viewer put it “I couldn’t hear anything, but the plot was predictable!”
The couple, my wife and I and even the pastor tweeted webcast information, and reminded people on Facebook the day of the wedding. People were watching in Canada, the US and as far away as Bahrain!
The cost for all this? $0! It only took time, and not much of that.
Webcasting has a lot of potential. Yes, there can still be glitches, but who hasn’t been at a live event when the sound had problems?
I noticed that a Baptist church nearby is using its highly visible sign to promote its webcast, complete with web address.
This technology is a way to extend the reach of any event. Think of the possibilities. If you can’t get youth into a Sunday morning class…take the class to them…on a Wednesday evening!
The technology is there and inexpensive. It just takes the will to use it.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Putting the digital into worship
I can never predict when I will have a ‘think digital first’ moment. Today, it happened again in church while singing a hymn. You might think it had something to do with music and digital accompaniment, but that wasn’t it.
Our closing hymn was the nineteenth century’s “Jesus Saviour, Pilot Me.” The words evoke the symbolism of the nautical pilot who has responsibility for navigating a ship into safe harbour. While on a cruise, I watched as the pilot boat came alongside the cruise ship, matched speed and then the pilot leapt onboard, made his way to the bridge and safely guided the ship into port.
Today in church a teenage boy sat in front of me mumbling the lyrics to the hymn. As I watched him, I wondered what he knew of Jesus being described as a pilot. In all likelihood a pilot for him is someone operating an aircraft. And certainly at 35,000 feet it’s no big deal for a pilot to keep a plane safe over a "tempestuous sea.”
Sure enough, when asked after the service, he had no idea what the whole pilot thing was about. And I wonder how many others who sing that hymn have a similar dissociation. Maybe if you read some Mark Twain in school and knew about the pilots maneuvering the boats and barges up and down the Mississippi you would have some notion. But that’s asking a lot from memory.
Our artistic expressions of faith are more likely to involve fields and streams, than factories, parking lots and computers. Most of this is no doubt because our Lord made many references to plants, farming, fishing and harvesting. Some may argue that these represent the ‘natural’ world whereas computers and machines are the result of man’s creation. However, humankind learned how to farm. History tells us that. And there are lots of simple machines used in fishing and agriculture. So that argument may not hold water.
The ‘think digital first’ question is: How does the church, in its preaching and teaching through both hymns and spoken word relate to our 21st century reality?
Is not baptism comparable to reformatting a hard drive. Everything old is wiped away, all is made new and clean?
Isn’t sin like a virus in your operating system, corrupting data?
And rather than a nautical pilot who knows the way, isn’t Jesus rather like a GPS, guiding us?
Prayer is a tweet to our Father in heaven. And we are assured He is following us!
I’m not trying to be sacrilegious or flippant. If we are going to relate our faith to a digital generation, we need to update our vocabulary.
Anyone care to write a hymn in a ‘think digital first’ mode?
Our closing hymn was the nineteenth century’s “Jesus Saviour, Pilot Me.” The words evoke the symbolism of the nautical pilot who has responsibility for navigating a ship into safe harbour. While on a cruise, I watched as the pilot boat came alongside the cruise ship, matched speed and then the pilot leapt onboard, made his way to the bridge and safely guided the ship into port.
Today in church a teenage boy sat in front of me mumbling the lyrics to the hymn. As I watched him, I wondered what he knew of Jesus being described as a pilot. In all likelihood a pilot for him is someone operating an aircraft. And certainly at 35,000 feet it’s no big deal for a pilot to keep a plane safe over a "tempestuous sea.”
Sure enough, when asked after the service, he had no idea what the whole pilot thing was about. And I wonder how many others who sing that hymn have a similar dissociation. Maybe if you read some Mark Twain in school and knew about the pilots maneuvering the boats and barges up and down the Mississippi you would have some notion. But that’s asking a lot from memory.
Our artistic expressions of faith are more likely to involve fields and streams, than factories, parking lots and computers. Most of this is no doubt because our Lord made many references to plants, farming, fishing and harvesting. Some may argue that these represent the ‘natural’ world whereas computers and machines are the result of man’s creation. However, humankind learned how to farm. History tells us that. And there are lots of simple machines used in fishing and agriculture. So that argument may not hold water.
The ‘think digital first’ question is: How does the church, in its preaching and teaching through both hymns and spoken word relate to our 21st century reality?
Is not baptism comparable to reformatting a hard drive. Everything old is wiped away, all is made new and clean?
Isn’t sin like a virus in your operating system, corrupting data?
And rather than a nautical pilot who knows the way, isn’t Jesus rather like a GPS, guiding us?
Prayer is a tweet to our Father in heaven. And we are assured He is following us!
I’m not trying to be sacrilegious or flippant. If we are going to relate our faith to a digital generation, we need to update our vocabulary.
Anyone care to write a hymn in a ‘think digital first’ mode?
Thursday, July 2, 2009
iPhone goes iNspirational
Some churches have broadcast their services on television for years. Now the trend is heading to streaming video for the mobile crowd. Check out this story http://cultofmac.com/
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