From this small corner of the blog world, we regularly encourage churches to enter the race to keep up with technology.

Running the tech race facilitates ministry. Finishing the tech race well leaves a legacy.

Like the 400-meter dash, the longest sprint race in track and field, the technology race is a grueling race.

Rapid advances are being introduced at greater and greater speeds.

The iPad, 4-G Internet, location-based social networking, online TV, smartphones that speak aloud are just a few of the latest offerings.

Even more applications and services lie on the horizon.

Pastors and church leaders who embark on this journey have to be physically strong, mentally tough and spiritually fit.

A successful race will depend largely on preparation.

A time for preparation

1. Spiritual preparation: Maintain a vibrant relationship with God to the end of the race. “Keep yourself in training for a godly life. Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future.” 1 Timothy 4:7-8

2. Mission preparation: Develop a technology mission statement. The mission must integrate seamlessly with the unique vision of your church. Constantly ask the question, “Is this technology in tune with the God-given mission of the church?” Communicate the mission clearly. Enthusiasm for any new major ministry endeavor starts at the top. Lead your church’s technology outreach with passion or momentum will bottom out quickly.

3. Team preparation: Get the right people on the bus. Harnessing the complexity of technology takes talent. Hire the staff or bring in professional consultants from the outside to help do the work with excellence. You know people are your most important asset. Make sure they know it.

4. Technology preparation: Plan. Plan. Plan. The three most important words in technology. Developing a technology plan is essential to successfully aligning people, processes and technology. And controlling costs.

5. Preparation for future learning: Stay abreast of emerging technologies and trends. Remember, change is only going to accelerate. Five resources:

Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them. Ezekiel 38:7

• Wired Magazine
• Fast Company
• CNet
• New York Times Technology Section
• Converge Magazine

6. Preparation for leaving a legacy: Run the race in such a way that others can benefit from your example. Create a model technology ministry. Start new works using technology to reach the next generation. Release creativity to use media in brand new ways. Inspire others to take maximum advantage of the doors God is opening to reach the world through technology.

A time for celebration

Celebrate milestones of the amazing way God is changing lives through your use of technology. It will build relationships and deepen community. Regular encouragement will help to sustain the energy of everyone running the race and diminish the effects of “hitting the wall.”

Speed will be an asset in the technology race. Start working on a plan TODAY, so when you get in the race full-time, the pace will be within your comfort zone. God has prepared you and your church for this time. For this destiny. Finish well.

Through digital technology, God has made it possible for literally any church or ministry to broadcast the gospel online day and night. Many are embracing the opportunities, a few including “interactive” and “on-demand” services.

As we continue to look forward at Christian communication, we’re exploring some of the issues related to building an Internet broadcasting platform for the gospel.

We’ve talked about “creating legacy” and “improving effectiveness.” In this segment we look at progress on the building site, opportunities for media workers, and the importance of prayer to the building project.

A call to build

I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land. (Ezekiel 22:30)

Churches are building. According to a 2008 Barna Group report “Use of Technology in Churches,” about 62% of Protestant churches have a website. 26% have some presence on social networking sites. 16% are podcasting (47% in churches attracting more than 250 adults). 13% have blog sites or pages where people can interact with church leaders.

Hundreds of churches are regularly broadcasting live video streams of their worship services, or other live events. The Leadership Network is keeping track of churches with an Internet campus. As of November 2009, the number stood at 48.

People are accessing content through the platform. In a 2005 Barna survey on Christian media, the Internet was the only mass medium that showed a growth in audience share during the past decade. The proportion of the population using the Internet for faith purposes has increased by two-thirds since 1998.

An enormous audience of roughly 45 million Americans are going digital to acquire church sermons and teaching content. In all, 23% of adults said they downloaded a church podcast in the past week, according to the 2008 Barna study.

Churches are reporting significant numbers of people joining Internet campus communities for regular live interaction.

A call for workers

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Since 1940, traditional terrestrial Christian media has influenced tremendous multitudes for Christ. And since 1995, there has been straight-up growth in the number of people going online for spiritual content. So what’s the report?

It’s estimated that there are only about 2 billion Christians in the world, those that would say they’re Christian. That number doesn’t indicate how many are truly committed followers of Christ. The rest of the world’s population of 7 billion people are unsaved.

The mission is not complete. More workers are urgently needed.

I see opportunities for workers in two fields of labor. First, in church planting. Workers are needed to help establish a church within easy access of every person on earth. Second, in Internet gospel broadcasting. Pastors, church leaders and technology workers are needed to help make the gospel available online to every person on earth, until the churches are established.

The local church is God’s primary instrument to evangelize the world. Internet gospel broadcasting is God’s tool to help the church evangelize the world faster.

A call to prayer

I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will never be silent day or night.

Isaiah 62:6

Throughout the Old and New Testament God instructs His people to watch and pray. In Isaiah the call was for the people to take their places on the wall as watchmen. This wasn’t to be a one-time prayer meeting. It was to be a continual commitment.

What a breadth is given to the watchmen’s prayer:

• Prayer for protection from an enemy that will attack and disrupt any church that seeks to use technology for the gospel; double-down on its commitment to complete the Great Commission; and, work with others to accelerate the process.
• Prayer for God’s will regarding strategies, such as Internet broadcasting. The last thing you want to do is create a project of your own.
• Prayer that God would begin to surface the people, resources and technologies needed to accomplish His plans in your church.
• Prayer that doors will open for the gospel in your city and other nations through your Internet broadcasting efforts.
• Prayer that the glory of God will be seen among the nations.

Every church can be an Internet gospel broadcaster. It begins by ascending the wall to pray.

Questions: What is your church doing to determine what type of online presence it will have? What type of online initiatives have been undertaken in the last 12 months?

The discussion of technology and media in ministry is moving into the mainstream. At no point in history has there been a better time to consider integrating technology, media and mission.

Advancements in digital media have opened up unparalleled opportunities.

Digital media opportunities

•  Evangelistic, inspirational and educational content can be delivered to more people, in more places, from more sources than at any time in human history.

•  Groups of individuals can be located, organized, and coordinated to interact with the Bible (www.youversion.com), interact with sermons (www.sermoncloud.com), connect with churches (www.churchcloud.com), connect with ministries and resources (www.gospel.com), and collaborate on mobile-based evangelism (https://mobilev.pbworks.com).

•  Opinions and ideas can be solicited and shared; community created; and partnerships formed across geographical boundaries.

A spectacular untapped reservoir of potential exists for leaders willing to seize the moment.

Here are four keys to unleashing the potential.

1. Prayer. “Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” (Psalm 2:8) No great Christian enterprise starts or advances without prayer. Organize a monthly prayer breakfast. Invite a local or national expert on technology or media to speak.

2. Networking. To contend with the future of a fully connected world, time must be devoted by senior leadership to networking with leaders actively engaged in using technology for kingdom work. Attend technology and media conferences, like Echo, Biola Media Conference, and Internet Media Conference. I find my status quo thinking challenged and imagination stirred at events like these.

3. Collaboration. Once experts have been located, grow and manage a network of peers. Facilitate collaboration and communication. Share knowledge, such as best practices. Whether just getting started with new media or going to the next level, more will be accomplished by learning and working in community.

4. Change. The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave and go to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) In some ways, we all resist change, especially when things are going well. I don’t like changing where I park or sit at church. But without change, growth is impossible.

And, it is impossible to stay where we are and go with God.

For that reason, I believe a willingness to change ones perspective of Cyberspace, and how people are engaged with the gospel in the Digital Age, may be the most important key to taking full advantage of the potential that technology is bringing.

A change in perspective

Twenty years ago, the world outside the Church was describing the nature of Cyberspace in geographical terms. Metaphors like “electronic frontier” and “land of knowledge,” were used. Though few understood what it all meant at the time, leading futurists and thinkers challenged everyone to become a pioneer in the new digital world.

Exploration of that land [Cyberspace] can be a civilization’s truest, highest calling. The opportunity is now before us to empower every person to pursue that calling in his or her own way. This exploration brings both greater opportunity, and in some ways more difficult challenges, than any previous human adventure.

(Cyberspace and the American Dream: A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age by Esther Dyson, George Gilder, George Keyworth, and Alvin Toffler, August 1994)

When a global communications network was only an idea, the builders may not have had Jesus or the gospel in mind. God had a different plan. Through the Internet and emerging technologies, God opened a door for communicating His truth to literally everyone on earth.

“The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” (Mark 12:11)

A change in strategy

Establishing a strong presence in Cyberspace for the gospel will require changing the way things are done.

In his article published in the June/July issue of Lausanne World Pulse, Dr. Dion Forster talks about how digital media is changing, or should change, the way the gospel is shared.

There is no doubt that the geographical movement of Christianity throughout history has radically changed the manner in which the gospel is shared. Each new context presents challenges and opportunities for the gospel and the faith.

What if the next shift in Christendom is not merely a geographical shift, but in fact a shift into cyberspace—a movement of a completely different kind?

Christians, and the Church, in every age have to make some necessary shifts in order to effectively communicate the gospel to a moving population.

Just as Paul’s letters transformed and built the early Church, and the Guttenberg Press transformed the Church around the time of the Reformation, so I believe the Internet, and particularly social media, is challenging us to transform the way in which we engage the world with the love of Jesus.

If Dr. Forster is right, and I believe he is, even now God is calling leaders to change their perspective on global communications; to see the tremendous potential for expanding the kingdom in new ways.

Ultimately, those transitions will enable leaders to move their organizations forward and drive a wave of digital media innovation.

A change of lives

And when the story is told, “all peoples on earth” will have been given the blessing of hearing God’s unchanging word. Then, the full potential for digital media and the gospel will have been realized.

Question: I’ve only listed four. What are some other keys to unleashing the potential for technology and media in ministry?

In our interview last February, Cynthia Ware, Executive Director of the Center for Church Communication (CFCC), talked about wanting to put a spotlight on church communications excellence.

Cynthia and her team have delivered on that idea with the launch of the Firestarter initiative.

Firestarter is a promotional and educational tool for honoring churches that excel in using all forms of communication to connect people to Jesus and one another.

The first group of Firestarter honorees have been announced.

Firestarter

The 2010 Firestarter honorees.

Cynthia, the board of directors and team members have done a great job in developing the Firestarter concept.

Featuring churches and their Big Ideas will help others see what can be accomplished through communications excellence. It will spark creativity. Encourage new technology ventures. I am confident that Firestarter will jumpstart greater innovation in church communication.

CFCC has started a fire for communications excellence, but a fire doesn’t automatically continue to burn.

To keep it going, to build a larger fire, will take fanning the flames.

Six ways to fan the flames

1. Form a Firestarter discussion group at your church or ministry. Start with the question, “What can we learn from the 2010 Firestarter churches?”

2. Conduct a communications audit to evaluate current activities and strategy. What’s working? What’s not? What are the opportunities and threats? Are measurable goals being set? Are goals being achieved?

3. Draft a vision statement for communications excellence.

4. Implement at least one NEW approach or experiment for using communication technologies to carry out spiritual disciplines (evangelism, Bible study, serving, etc.) in the next 3 months.

5. Promote Firestarter and its honorees on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other communication channels.

6. Put a link to CFCC on blogs or websites. Church communications is a hot topic. The CFCC represents a nationally respected group of leaders. For the period Jan-June, CFCC is the number one outbound link on my blog.

A major risk

Communication technologies will continue to evolve at a dizzying rate well into the future. The Internet has advanced beyond email and websites and into Social Media and externally-hosted software services (often referred to as cloud computing).

Trying to figure out what to do is not easy.

That said, to take full advantage of the opportunities these tools are bringing to the church, to be good stewards in this critical hour of history, getting started is essential.

The risk is not so much that some new communications endeavor won’t go as planned. Or that the communications excellence of megachurches just isn’t possible.

The risk is falling so far behind that, at some point, establishing any type of effective 21st century communication platform will move beyond the grasp of the average church and ministry.

A major benefit

A major benefit to starting now is that so much help is available. More help than may be realized at first.

I believe right now God has prepared highly skilled communications specialists to help your church or ministry leverage new media tools for communicating His message.

This could mean the addition of a new staff member or a qualified volunteer. It may mean securing the services of a communications or media consultant.

Or it could mean taking advantage of the vast array of information and services on the Internet, beginning with the CFCC. Check out their Purpose. Using only a few of CFCC’s services and tapping into their network of experts will enable any church to take a step toward excellence.

And the most powerful help of all? The Great Firestarter, God’s Spirit, will enable leadership to see who should be on the team; what needs to be done make communications excellence a priority; and what tools and strategies best fit the overall vision of the church.

Want to be a Firestarter church? Start fanning the flames today.

Question: Why is church communications excellence important? What other ways can churches fan the flames of excellence? What innovations in communication for the gospel have you seen lately?

As we enter the fourth decade of the Digital Revolution, the vast opportunities for technology to help advance the kingdom are beginning to take hold.

I am encouraged by two trends. One is related to world evangelization. The other to how the implementation of New Media is being fit into the picture.

Each was put under a national spotlight recently in Orlando, FL.

Missions & Media

The first positive trend is a renewed focus and passion for the Great Commission.

At their annual meeting June 16-17, the Southern Baptist Convention adopted the recommendations of its Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.

The result was a decision to become more aggressive in presenting the gospel to underserved and unreached people in North America and around the world. ”We are a Great Commission people,” said Ronnie Floyd, Chairman of the task force.

It’s exciting to see God’s renewing energy at work in America’s largest Protestant denomination. This will be an example to denominations, churches, pastors and Christians everywhere for years to come.

The second trend that excites me is the new focus of national Christian organizations on how to think biblically about New Media and how to use it for advancing the kingdom.

While technology wasn’t featured at the SBC event, as if by design, one day later, it was the focus of the Pre-conference for Ligonier Ministries’ National Conference.

In his talk “The Brave New World Of New Media,” Ed Stetzer said,

For Christians…to not use [New Media] for the agenda that God has for such tools is problematic at best and irresponsible at worst.

The great challenge

There has always been hyperbole associated with the Digital Revolution. But it is no exaggeration to say that technology has been woven into every aspect of our lives.

That is not going to change. It’s roots will grow deeper.

What can and must change is for Christian leaders to come together to prayerfully consider how to respond “to the most fundamental shift in terms of human relatedness since the development of written language and the development of the printing press,” as one speaker put it in Orlando.

• To determine how to bring the Internet and all emerging technologies under the Lordship of Christ.
• To determine how to effectively integrate the most appropriate technologies with existing efforts to reach this and future generations with the gospel. Until the whole world hears.

That is a great challenge facing the church in this time.

God is in the distance closing business

The distance between where the church is in its mission today [the people that remain unreached / least reached by the Gospel], and where it wants to be [all people reached] … 2.74 billion people.

The distance between the two recent conversations in Orlando — one about the possibilities for completing the Great Commission, and one about the possibilities for using New Media to carry out God’s agenda … 8 miles.

Metaphorically speaking for the church at large, my prayer is that by this time next year the 8 mile distance is closed. The vision is to see the two discussions brought together, putting New Media and innovative technology initiatives on the front lines of reaching the unreached.

When I consider the distance closing synergy that God can bring from a Spirit-filled church, purposefully united in using New Media to proclaim the gospel, the finish line to the Great Commission is truly in sight.

Question: What trends do you see for the use of the Internet and technology for evangelism and gut-level personal ministry?