On Wednesday, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet services unveiled “The Daily” – the first news application written and designed specifically for the iPad.

You can watch the official launch event.

I’ve highlighted seven lessons Christian communicators can learn from what News Corp. says “may turn decades of traditional publishing on its ear.”

1. Seize the opportunity to develop a new digital media strategy. For decades, traditional media has provided a strong platform for Christian communicators. The challenge is to take the best of traditional Christian broadcasting – teaching and preaching of the Word, life-changing stories, inherent localness of the platform – and combine it with the new communication technologies.

2. Deliver a really great experience and people will come. God has stamped “one-of-a-kind” on your ministry. A digital media platform can be your staging ground for creativity and innovation, a type of “Mount of Beatitudes,” described as “an incredible, bigger than words experience,” where Jesus delivered the most famous sermon of all time.

3. Surround yourself with talented men and women. God is preparing individuals who will be ready to work tirelessly to help the body of Christ take full advantage of every tool and technology for delivering the gospel. Put your “Welcome” sign out. Make room for them.

4. Create engaging, challenging, and inspiring content for the audience you want to reach. God will give the necessary communication skills to those delivering His word to the next generation. “For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.” (John 12:49)

5. Actively seek and establish partnerships with others who share your vision and will champion your ideas. No one church, one ministry, or one broadcaster has the resources to reach everyone. The job can be done more efficiently and effectively through cooperation.

6. Test new business models. The great concern is that the current business model will cease to support the type of Christian broadcasting that brings local communities together around the gospel. Excellent local Christian media does cost money and time. New ways of monetizing the platform are needed. So are more experiments.

7. It’s time to completely re-imagine the craft of Christian broadcasting. Changing technology, new delivery platforms, and the perilous times we live in demand it.

Whether The Daily or its business model is a game changer for traditional publishing isn’t the most important thing. That News Corp. is making the attempt is what should capture the attention and imagination of all in media.

For Christian communicators, the opportunities are enormous. The results of starting new media models can be eternally transformative for this generation. Attempts to bring major change should be encouraged, applauded and prayed for.

Question: Have you read about the new app? Used it yet? What other lessons can Christian communicators take from this bold new media venture?