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May-31-2004
From Meditation for Memorial Day: A Theology Fit For a Picnic: " It happens that in most churches across America, Memorial Day,
a national holiday is celebrated within days of the Christian holidays of
Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. The first great holiday weekend
of summer, the time for picnics, parades, and early trips to the beach, happens to
coincide with the commemoration of two holidays that focus our attention on one of the most difficult of Christian
doctrines. What a coincidence. What a challenge for preachers to tie together these
completely unrelated and in some ways contradictory themes. The Trinity being for most
people one of the more complicated of doctrines -- obscure, abstract, and oh, so serious.
And a three day holiday weekend with its parades and picnics being just the opposite --
concrete, right down to earth, and so much fun! Some might even be asking why on earth I
would want to draw any connection at all between things that are obviously so dissimilar.
Well, in a simple, declarative sentence, here's my point: If we could bring just some of
the enjoyment associated with picnics into our theology, while at the same time
recognizing that God is as much the provider of our picnics as of any of the other things
that constitute our daily bread, then thinking about God would suddenly become a whole lot
more fun, and even our moments of gaiety and pleasure would take on added moment and
meaning." May-28-2004
Powertochange.com, an online ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ's Truth Media, is drawing audiences to Christ worldwide. An example of Truth Media's Internet evangelism, the site uses testimonies and presentations of the Gospel to help visitors experience God. Full Story at Christianpost.com: http://www.christianpost.com/dbase.php?cat=technology&id=97 May-27-2004
ComScore Media Metrix ranks the most popular Web sites on a regular basis. Their April 2004 report highlights seasonal behavior of over 155 million online users. Highlights of online behavior in April 2004 include:
May-26-2004
Making a website (or web page) interactive adds great value and invites participation as well as repeat traffic. So far, on this eQuip blog page, I've put 3 interactive elements for you to get involved: (1) email a friend using the "tell someone about the new eQuip blog" link, (2) add your own comments using the "Add your comments" link, and (3) email me using my email address, posted under my brief bio. The first interactive element is built-in to the ForMinistry-powered website [for which I'll give instructions for next week], and the next 2 elements can be easily added to your website, regardless of what technology you use. For an "Add your comment" link, simply follow the instructions for the free service that QuickTopic provides. For an "email me" link, simply use an <a href=mailto:you@youremail.com> tag in your web page's HTML. (Note: when you post an email address out in the open, be prepared for spam and junk mail - use a spam/virus filter.) May-25-2004
One of the most popular online technologies is "Instant Messaging", or "IM". Web users can download free IM clients like AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and MSN Messenger. IM provides convenient and immediate communication with your friends, family, and associates who are online. IM can also be disruptive with interruptions and even undesired solicitations.  In a recent ForMinistry eQuip channel poll, we asked our visitors what IM client they used. This chart shows what some of them are using for IM'ing. We hope to host scheduled group chat sessions via IM, so we can interact with ForMinistry visitors in the near future!
May-24-2004
Three-Quarters of Americans Have Access from Home, according to a Nielsen/NetRatings Enumeration Study (February 2004), with the highest number of home internet users being 36.4 million women in the 35-54 age range. That's 75% of homes on the internet! Broadband (high-speed) internet is now connecting about 45.2% of U.S. homes. InternetWorldStats.com, the percentage of U.S. population on the internet is over 199 million (67.6%). This means that your church website and online ministry has a tremendous potential to reach a majority of people in the United States, and perhaps more significantly, in your own community and neighborhood. You can serve a majority of your local community by providing information about your services and ministries, providing information about local events in the community, provide spiritually encouraging articles, interviews, stories, and teachings, enhance relationships and communications between members of your church, and much much more. A church I know of recently posted their annual church survey online, using a low-cost web surveying service called surveymonkey.com , and the church leadership was pleasantly surprised that almost 20% of the attendance filled out the survey in just the first week! With a majority of Americans with internet at home, you too will find it surprisingly profitable to use the internet for ministry. May-21-2004
(live from Nashville) Technology is a wonderful opportunity, but it seems to create much anxiety, fear, and concern for more people than not. Fears are a real part of life and our human condition, when we face the unknown, or have to learn something new that doesn't quite come naturally. Even at a convention with many 20-somethings, I have been confronted with just as many who ask "what is a blog?" than meeting those who know. So this internet thing is not just an age thing, and it's not a fad, and it's not reserved for geeks. Can we agree that the internet can change lives, both for the good or for the worse. As people of faith, it's far better to acknowledge and to move forward in faith, and believe that as we walk in the Spirit into something new and unknown, that it will be for the good. Not necessarily perfect, not without surprises or mistakes or failures, but with a healty curiosity and hope that good will come out of our taking that step of faith, to use the internet for good, and to do that with others who are learning right along side of us. To my new friends who I've met at EC Nashville, welcome to the digital journey together. May-20-2004
In my conversations with people here in Nashville, I've found a good percentage of people who are still in process (and in progress) of learning what is available on the internet that could be helpful for enhancing ministry and spiritual lives. People have been very responsive and do desire to learn more of how to use the internet. They're glad to hear that the internet is not replacing people's spiritual lives, but rather people generally are using the internet to enhance and to supplement their spiritual lives (as recent studies have shown.)
May-19-2004
Welcome to the eQuip blog! Thanks for checking things out here, where we'll share practical examples, interviews, and stories about using online technologies for enhancing your ministry. We're coming to you (almost) live from Nashville, Tennessee, where the National Pastors Convention and the Emergent Convention are running concurrently -- many church leaders are here getting equipped and refreshed for ministry during these events, and we hope to meet many of them! It's been challenging to find an internet connection, as the hotel is not yet setup with wireless internet access; so this is being posted via a 56k dial-up connection. I was talking with someone today, and we marveled at how many people are still using dial-up modems to connect to the internet, when high-speed internet is gaining in popularity. Some people might be using dial-up because of the higher prices of high-speed internet, be it DSL or cable, or it's actually not yet available in certain locations. I hope this blog shows up okay on at dial-up speed -- I've kept graphics and slower-loading items to a minimum. May-18-2004
Let's begin our journey into using online technologies for ministry purposes with prayer. Prayers are being coordinated at websites like: www.24-7prayer.com is mobilizing prayer around the clock and around the world; www.prayusa.org (Interactive Prayer System, with over 3,600 prayer warriors); www.iraqprayer.com coordinates an International Iraq Prayer Campaign; InternetPrayers.com has an active prayer request board (1,700+ users); Sacred Space is a daily prayer site run by Irish Jesuits; Australia's visually stunning prayer site called Daily Prayer Online; Supplicate Ministries (www.philippians4-6.org) has 260 online intercessors; the Presidential Prayer Team has more than 2.8 million praying for American and the world; PrayerCentral.net promotes the power of prayer; BeliefNet's Prayer Circles and www.prayerswap.org bring prayers together of a multi-faith nature, and American Bible Society takes prayer requests online and prays for them regularly. Biblical Record reports on a recently released study about teens and prayer: The vast majority of U.S. teenagers who pray believe their prayers are answered, a new study by the American Bible Society has found. Ninety-one percent of teens said they believe their prayers are answered, the New York-based society said. .. excerpt from full news release by American Bible Society May-17-2004
Since January 2003, the ForMinistry eJournal newsletter, formerly known as the "eQuipped ForMinistry" e-newsletter, has been sent by email to its many readers every month, providing strategies for effective ministry, ministry resources to use with a ForMinistry-powered Web site, tips to build a better Web site, and news on upcoming services from ForMinistry. Now with over 20,000 subscribers to the ForMinistry eJournal, and thousands of ForMinistry-powered Web sites in several different countries around the world (Australia, Kenya, Brazil, Spain), we'll be making a few small changes to help serve you better! Rest assured, the ForMinistry eJournal will continue to inform you monthly about new content published on the ForMinistry Web site. What I can share with you is this special news: this eQuip channel will be introducing a new channel host this summer (your truly, DJ Chuang), with more practical examples and how-tos to equip you for ministry online. And this eQuip blog launches this week, with daily updates about what's happening around the internet, and practical ideas you can use to increase your personal and your church's ministry online! May-14-2004
As blogging has become a part of the English language, many programmers and companies are providing softwares and web technologies to make it easy for anyone and everyone to start blogging. It's a great way to communicate online about anything and everything; some have even called it the new journalism or the the printing press for the masses. Christians and churches have also begun to explore the possibilities of using blogging for their spiritual journey and/or ministry purposes. ChristianBlog.com went fully operational just yesterday, with a distinct blog tool that offers family-safe features. e-Church.com is exploring the use of blogging as a spiritual formation discipline. Blogs4God.com has indexed over 1,000 Christian blogs all over the world, and its own blog picks up on the buzz. Seattle Metro Church has built its whole church Web site around a blog; Toongabbie Anglican Church (Australia) has a running commentary blog; St Thomas' Church (United Kingdom) started to offer blogging to its members, but had to discontinue, hopefully temporarily. This recent article, TheOoze annual blog tools roundup, gives a nice annotated description of a popular blog publishing tools - so you can get started too, if you haven't already. I have used a number of those blog tools myself - each of them with their own style, features, and options. May-13-2004
Welcome to the new eQuip blog! This is a pre-launch entry, sorta like how a number of new church plants nowadays will run for a few months with pre-launch church services, in order to get ready for the official grand opening. For some of the audience here, this "blog" will be a somewhat new concept, while for others, it will be "old hat". It's been an old worn out hat for me, personally, as I'd been blogging since 1997, before it was called blogging. Back in the old days (6 months in internet time is probably like 3-5 human years, to be contrasted with the 7-to-1 ratio of human-to-dog years), it was called "online journaling" or "e-diary" or some other attempts at coining a term. Over the course of time, the term "blog" and "blogging" stuck. The word "blog" comes from an abbreviation of "web log", or to accentuate how it came into being, "weB LOG". From Matisse's Glossary of Internet Terms :: A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently. So that's what a blog is. Next question that often comes my way is: why. What's the purpose or theme of this blog? Great question. This blog will feature and spotlight current (and past) developments of how different people are using online technologies for ministry purposes. I'd imagine we'll meander upon how churches are using the internet to communicate better with their members, attenders, and visitors.. how parishes are serving their local community.. how people are enhancing their church's community life and relationships.. stories of where prayers have been mobilized.. examples of the Bible being distributed widely and presented more creatively.. interviews with individuals who are charting new territories.. discussions with key leaders (did you know there are growing numbers of churches with staff in charge of developing its use of technology?).. stories of my own chance (and intentional) encounters with readers of this blog.. and other creative possiblities.. |
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highlights
about this blogThis blog is a "web log" of examples and ideas for effective online ministry. You'll also find comments about web technologies and how they can be used for Christian ministry and spirituality.
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