Why I No Longer Consider Myself a Democrat

Thank you Tim Keller for blowing up my worldview yet again. From Ministries of Mercy: The call of the Jericho Road (affiliate link):

“While accomplishing this task [loving in word and deed], Francis Schaeffer said, Christians may at times be ‘cobelligerents’ with the Left or the Right, but never allies. ‘If there is social injustice, say there is social injustice. If we need order, say we need order … But do not align yourself as though you are in either of these camps: You are an ally of neither. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is different...

22 Ways to Use Twitter Fast Follow

Twitter’s introduction of the Fast Follow feature is a brilliant strategy for expanding the reach of Twitter to non-users. Fast Follow is a great tool for churches, ministries and businesses to add to their social media tool belt.

Here are 22 ways that I see these organizations adding Fast Follow to their social media strategy.

Church social media uses

Sending time-sensitive messages Sending service time or event reminders Notifying people of inclement weather service cancellations Promoting ministry-specific events Communicating prayer requests or member needs Sending daily devotionals Providing supplemental information...

Do Hard Things

If Satan’s chief purpose is to steal glory from God by encouraging idolatry and frustrating holiness it stands to reason that the things that we do that are the most difficult, the things that are so frustratingly hard that it seems like supernatural forces are conspired against us… those things, so long as they are good, are the things that have the most potential to glorify God and therefore are the things that are most worth doing.

Sin frustrates creation. Creation is meant to glorify God. The things that sin is going to stand in the way of are the things that will glorify God. When we labor in ways that God intended for us; when we do good, redemptive work, Satan takes notice. When we undertake any effort that will bring glory to God, Satan mobilizes armies to resist us. Comfort, luxury… Satan pays no...

Facebook, location-based services, and opportunities for local churches

During an interview at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that Facebook is working on adding location-based services to the popular social network. Soon users will be able to add a location to their status updates, communicating not only what they are doing but where they are doing it.

This is just another move in Facebook’s strategy to become the information currency system of the web – aggregating all the  information about you by connecting to your Facebook profile and then selling access to that information to marketers.

In addition to the demographic, social, opinion, and digital behavior data...

Information Currency Systems and the Future of the Internet

In my post about the impact of Facebook’s Community Pages on churches, I referred to Facebook’s desire to be the information currency system of the entire web. Let me explain that a bit.

The next phase in the evolution of the Internet will be the “Semantic Web” where machines not only exchange data and information but are able to derive “meaning” from the information that is being shared. Because meaning is subjective and influenced by situational factors, information on the Web...

Why I’m in Guatemala

I’m Guatemala.

You probably didn’t know that. I didn’t tell many people I was going; no real reason for keeping it quiet. I was just being selfish.

I’m in Guatemala for four days. I flew in yesterday (Thursday). I fly out on Sunday.

Friday and Saturday I’m working with a local ministry called Potter’s House Association to do what we in the consulting world like to call “discovery”. Which really means I’m here to figure out how I’m going to help this ministry.

See, Potter’s House serves the scavenger families of the Guatemala City garbage dump. Guatemala City has a population of approximately 3.2 million people. Guatemala City’s garbage dump...

Internet Ministry Research

I have been working with the Christian Leadership Alliance and Monk Development to develop new research that looks at how ministry organizations plan and execute their web strategy. The goal of the research is to identify best practices, trends, and case studies in the hopes of providing clarity, guidance, and new opportunities for ministries online.

In addition to interviews with different Internet ministry thought leaders, we have developed two research initiatives that will provide a broad picture of the current state of Internet ministry.

The