This week I met with our Student Ministry staff to layout next steps for our website including the roll out of WordPress MU. We will be using WordPress MU as the foundation of our social media strategy. I gave them the following planning  exercise to help facilitate a strategic social media framework for their ministry.

1. Where do you want each student to be spiritually before they leave JHigh or High School? How does your programming facilitate the movement of your students from where they are now to where you want them to be? Place your programs, events, and activities along the spiritual formation time line below. Activities designed for attracting new comers would appear on the left. Activities designed to grow existing Christians deeper in their Christian walk would be placed more along the right.
2. Make a list of all of the places on the web where your ministry is represented. Include the church’s website, blogs, facebook, twitter accounts, etc. Indicate how you are using each site and its intended audience.

Each site in your web presence should fall into one of two categories (courtesy of Chris Brogan and adapted by John Dale):

Home Base: This is a digital property you own and control. It is where you direct all internet traffic. Why? Because this is the place where you can best promote your ministry and those next steps for those in your ministry.

Embassies: These are microsites on social networks where you are actively engaged. Just like a country does business in embassies located in other countries, you will fully engage in conversations in your embassies on other networks. The most obvious example of an embassy is a Facebook fan page.

3. Using the list you made above, determine which sites are part of your home base and which are embassies within your web presence.




4. What sites (if any) do you need to discontinue? What sites (if any) do you need to add to optimize your web presence for moving your students through the spiritual formation timeline?




5. What role does each of your sites play in communicating that ‘next step’ in the spiritual formation timeline?
   • How much overlap exists between each site? Is the overlap beneficial?
   • If someone is a newcomer, which of these sites do you direct a person to first?
   • What ‘action’ do you want each person to take at each site?




6. What role does of each your sites play in supporting your leadership and parents? What ‘action’ do you want each leader or parent to take?




7. Considering the differences between websites, blogs, and social networks (shown below), what changes (if any) are needed to maximize the relevance of each site?

Social Media certainly poses its share of gotchas. For individuals, it’s identity theft. For corporations, it’s managing public relations nightmares (such as those experienced by Domino’s and Comcast). For churches and non-profits, we share these risks and more.

Three risks that churches and non-profits should plan for are:

Misrepresentation: There is a legal term called ‘Agency‘. Agency implies that an individual is authorized to act or to make statements on behalf of the church. While that may be true for spiritual and pastoral matters, there is probably very few who are authorized to operate as agents of the church or act on behalf of the church in issues pertaining to public/media relations, position statements, contractual agreements, legal engagements or any other agreements on which third parties rely. Therefore, staff will want to protect themselves and their church by making a distinction between what they say in their personal conversations online and statements made by the church.

Noise: Your church will have a presence in social media whether you like it or not. For most churches, the youth ministry staff is likely the first to have created pages/groups on Facebook or channels on YouTube in your church’s name. However, what happens when each ministry wants their own blog, Facebook page/group, YouTube channel, or Twitter feed? How easy is it to distinguish between those setup by the church versus those setup by members or even those setup by staff for personal use. What happens if you have a disgruntled employee leave? Does someone else have access to those accounts? If your church doesn’t have a clear and coordinated web strategy where your website, social media, and/or blogs are working together to send a unified message, then your church will lose its singular ‘voice’. It will succumb to the noise of a disjointed web presence leaving your audience confused as to where they should get the latest news and events of your church.

Taxation: The church, which falls under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, cannot participate or intervene in any political activity or campaign  (i.e. give any hint of favoring one candidate over another).  According to Revenue Ruling 2007-41, 2007-25 I.R.B. 1421 (June 18,2007) (page 10-11), participation or intervention may include but is not limited to  linking to other websites containing political content that you may or may not have any control over. As churches expand their web presence to include third party social networking sites, they should take caution in how they handle 3rd party content for which they have no control. Examples of uncontrolled content include ads and similarly related content, like what you may see on Facebook (related groups) or YouTube (related videos).

Here are some best practices to minimize the risks to your church or organization:

1. Make a Distinction Between Official and Unofficial When Defining Your Web Presence. Ask your staff to include a disclaimer where needed on their personal blogs or social network accounts. Similarly, the church should include a disclaimer on any 3^rd party sites (such as Facebook, YouTube, etc) that disclaims any association with uncontrolled content (i.e. ads and related content). Include the church logo or at least the mark within your logo in all of the profile pictures on social networking sites to let your audience know who represents the church and who does not.
2. Protect Your Logo! Prevent your logo from unauthorized use by staff or members since it is an official and visual representation of the church.
3. Coordinate your Social Media Initiatives. Get organized and develop a process for each ministry to coordinate their social media goals with the overall church. I recommend using Jeremiah Owyang’s “Hub and Spoke” model for getting organized and designating the Communications and/or IT Team as the ‘hub’ (but not gatekeepers) for coordinating the social media initiatives.
4. Monitor Your Web Presence Daily. Google Alerts and HootSuite are great tools to keep an ear out for chatter about your church. Mashable.com also has a great list of recommended tools. These will not only help you react to any problems, but more importantly they will equip you to proactively engage visitors or individuals who are talking about your church.
5. Develop Social Media Policies for Church Staff. Include it with the required paperwork for new employees. Post it on your church intranet for existing employees.
6. Remove Related Content Where Possible. By default, Facebook includes a list of related groups on your Groups page. This can be removed. Likewise, you can also remove related video from YouTube’s video embed code.

Recently, we have been discussing the role of blogs in our web strategy. We have several staff who already blog (view list). We encourage that, but we also wanted to begin incorporating blogs into our church’s web presence. These blogs are different from our staff’s personal blogs. They are more refined in scope and will add another layer of rich content for our church family that our website does not offer. In preparation for that roll-out, it was important for us to understand the differences in these mediums so we know best how to utilize them. I created a helpful chart to guide our staff.

As you can see, websites, blogs, and social media each have their respective functions. By confusing their place in social media, we endanger our relevance and effectiveness with our intended audience. As for our church (Second Baptist Church, Houston), blogs will be used for spiritual formation by providing ministry resources, Biblical perspectives, encouragement, leadership development and/or ministry best practices. Each blog will have a defined audience whether it is for SBC members and visitors, SBC leaders, or Christians and church leaders worldwide.

We also have used blogs for special events such as our annual Beach Retreat (read more). We limit event based blogs to mission trips, Beach Retreat, etc. where the event occurs out-of-town and over the span of several days.

On a technical note, we are using WordPress MU and hosting them internally on our servers. Thanks to Clifton Griffin, we also integrated the WordPress MU  login with Active Directory to give our staff a single sign-on experience.

Bill Reichart passed along a great resource via twitter today. It is an online database of social media governance (i.e. guidelines and best practices) from several different organizations. This would be a great place to start for those writing one for your church.

Why does a church need this? For several reasons:

1. It helps church staff realize that whether they like it or not, they represent the church. Their blogs or use of social media (even with disclaimers) can both positively and negatively affect the church.

2. To help distinguish between official (church sponsored) and unofficial (non-church sponsored) use of social media.

3. Educate church staff on how they should respond to negative posts or conversations regarding the church and how to alert the appropriate church staff so appropriate action can be taken (if any).

4. Provide church staff a clear understanding of what is confidential vs public knowledge as it pertains to official church business.

Does your church have a social media plan?

When I hear the term ‘social network’, I immediately think about Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. In reality, these websites are just modern day expressions of real life networks of interconnected relationships between individuals. These networks of relationships are usually centered around a common interest, belief, or activity. Social networks go as far back as the first family—Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel. However, I believe the most sanctified example of a social network, this side of Heaven, is clearly described in Acts 2:42-46.

⁴² And ?they devoted themselves to the apostles’ ?teaching and the ?fellowship, to ?the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ And awe? came upon every soul, and ?many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and ?had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And ?they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, ?attending the temple ?together and ?breaking bread in their homes, they received their food ?with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and ?having favor with all the people. And the Lord ?added to their number ?day by day those who ?were being saved.^[1]

Luke describes the first church as, “all who believed were together and had all things in common.” Wow! I don’t know about you, but this sounds like the perfect social network. Can you imagine the deep interconnected community of this first church…to the extent of voluntarily selling their possessions to ensure that everyone was without need? Do you think the 21^st century church could once again experience this type of interconnectedness? I do and I think technology will be a key accelerant in making this a reality.

Acts 2 is a product road map for social media and technology in the church. As we seek to extend the functions of the church online, I believe a holistic approach would encompass the following:

• Spiritual Formation (Learning God’s Word) (v. 42)
• Community (v. 42, 46)
• Prayer and Care (v. 43, 45)]
• Worship (v. 46)
• Evangelism (v. 47)

Though many internet campuses incorporate one or more of these elements, most only do one of them really well. I agree with Greg Atkinson’s assessment, that if you are going online with these functions of your church, don’t do it unless the technology fits within the vision, mission, and church growth model of your church. Don’t do it for the sake of doing something really cool.

Several churches and organizations are already making great strides using technology to extend and facilitate these ecclesiastical functions online. Here are a few that I believe are doing it well:

Learning God’s Word (Spiritual Formation)

Movee

Shadetree

YouVersion

Worship

Church Online at LifeChurch.tv

Northland, A Church Distributed

Community

The City at Mars Hill

I know there are others, so feel free to add comments below to add the list of those who are using technology and social media to fulfill these ecclesiastical functions with excellence.

As for sharing and evangelism, these are indeed the fruits of many of the technologies listed above (in addition to others), but I have not seen any applications designed with these specific functions for the use in the local church. If you do, please educate me!

If your church is pursuing a holistic approach, drop a comment below. I would love to hear both your strategy and the technologies you are using.

Have you ever stopped to consider the global presence and use of online social networks? Most of us have heard of the large number of users on Facebook and MySpace, but the map below will tell a bigger story. Social networks are not mere fads, but a new era in communication and community. It’s the new email. In fact, I agree with Jeremiah Owyang that email is is the first and largest social network. While email will remain, social networks will continue to grow and evolve.

[Note: Sometimes map will take a moment to load, if at all. Map Source: http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com]

The question now is how will the church leverage social networks to further its mission of changed lives for Jesus Christ? For certain, I am not the first to ask this question, but I am amazed at the number of church leaders who are still hesitant and skeptical of embracing these technologies for ministry purposes. Perhaps there remains a shortage of good examples of how social networks contribute to the bottom line. Sure, we can certainly talk about fan pages, groups, etc, but I would argue that much of what can be gained by their use in not in their native features, but what can be developed or extended using their APIs. So this leaves me to wonder who is doing it? Who (whether churches or ChMS providers) are using these social networks ‘strategically’?

Leonard Sweet, evangelism professor at Drew University, recently wrote an article  entitled, “Twitter Theology:  5 Ways Twitter Has Changed My Life and helped me be a better Disciple of Jesus.” He has shared some very intriguing personal reflections on his use of twitter.

First of all, Len has rightly turned twitter on its head…an approach all Christians should take in their use of social media. He has redefined the application of the tool. Len writes, “In twitter’s ethic of followership, I am constantly reframing reality in ways that are more Jesus….In my ongoing battle with self-transcendence over self-absorption, twitter has helped me become more others-focused.” Rather than indulging himself in the self-proclamatory nature of twitter, Len tweets with the purpose of encouraging others in their followship of Christ, not in the followship of himself. This is the Christian ethic of social media.

Twitter asks, “What are you doing?” Facebook asks, “What’s on Your Mind?” LinkedIn asks, “What are you working on now?” Facebook tells you to ‘Broadcast Yourself’ and the list goes on. As Christians, these technologies are not evil or even bad. These websites are mere tools. They can be used for good or bad. They are amoral. However, it is the morals of those who use them that determine their value for us as individuals and for the church. Don’t let the presuppositions of those who created them (as indicated by the self-proclamatory inquiries) deter you from using these tools for the Kingdom of God.

Don’t underestimate the difference you can make with 140 characters. As Len describes them, tweets are sound bytes that bite. He writes, “No one was better at tweets than Jesus. Jesus was a master at sound bytes that bite with terseness and immediacy.” More than likely, your favorite Bible verse is a case in point.

Third in Len’s twitter theology is the principle of ‘surface.’ He writes, “Life is not just about the depths. Life is also about the surfaces. I spend large parts of my life with academics who spend their careers exploring the depths. Many seldom come up. You come up for the air of communication and relationship, and when you spend all your time in the depths you find yourself talking only to yourself.” I can certainly see the applicability of this for those in theological academia, but for others such as myself, the danger is not the lack of surfaces, but the lack of depths. May all of us stay anchored in the depths of God’s Word as we seek to encourage others in Christ both online and off.

My thanks to Professor Sweet for sharing his thoughts. It is important for us as Christians to consider the implications of these tools and use them rightly–with a Christian ethic that seeks to encourage others to follow Christ rather than seeking to be followed.

Matt Miller, our evangelism pastor at our Cypress Campus distributed some great reminders to our staff. He gives some best practices on interacting with guests and visitors to the church. Certainly, email and other tools are not high tech as my title may imply, but you get the point….

When Calling Prospects I have found that…

• if the prospect leaves a number its because they want to be called or they are saying its okay to call me
•  its important to know something personal about the prospect before you call them….Imis!!! (do they have kids, where do they live, place of work, did they attend bible study, are they single/divorced/married, etc.)
• your best tool is to ask questions that will draw feedback and get a response from them (did you enjoy service? How did you kids like bible study?  How did you hear about us?  What part of the service did you enjoy the most?  Have you and your husband tried a bible study? (have a bible study in mind to suggest to them before the call)
• if you follow up the call with an e-mail of thanks and/or with information about the next weeks service and a link to our website it finishes off the follow-up with a little class… and typically the prospect will respond to the e-mail

When Sending Notes I have found that…

• notes are the most effective tool in prospects returning to service and bible study!
• a hand written note from a staff member screams I care enough about you to write a note.  Anyone can send a bulk email to visitors and its convenient to pick the phone up and say thanks and then hang up.
• a handwritten note to anyone 50 years and up they will hunt you down on Sunday just to say thank-you
• when someone has found me to say thanks for a note they almost always say “I can’t remember the last time someone sent me a handwritten note”

When Sending Emails I have found that…

• its key to compose the email in a way that does not scream “BULK MAIL OUT”
• its important to pull something personal from imis that gives the personal touch (their kids names, the class name they visited, the date they visited, etc)
• when I ask a question in the e-mail that seeks a response…. The prospect typically responds back with feedback (when you allow someone to give feedback they feel that their opinions mean something)  Everyone likes it when their opinions are pursued and they are welcomed!
• E-mail is a great and preferred tool of the younger generation 40 years and below

This fall, Second Baptist Church (Woodway Campus), Houston, TX will host a regional gathering of Church IT professionals called the CITRT (Church IT Roundtable). This gathering is more an unconference or a barcamp rather than a conference. So if you are in the Texas and Lousiana areas, come join us Sunday evening, November 1 and all day Monday, November 2.

More details to come, but in the interim read more about how we faciliate the Church IT Roundtable.

Next month will mark our 10 year anniversary as a multi-site church. We started our second campus in the fall of 1999. In 2003, we merged with an existing church and in 2006 we launched 2 additional campuses in movie theaters here in town. Today, we have 5 campuses and 1100+ staff. In 2002, I moved into my current role as Director of IT and Websites. Over the last 8 years, I have experienced the blessing of growing pains….especially as it relates to the multi-site model.

One of the interesting dynamics of being multi-site is how to manage 5 different campuses but yet retain the oneness and unity of the church, staff, and its congregation. I have seen some multi-site churches manage each location as its own free standing self governing church. Decision making, programming, infrastructure, etc are all localized to that specific location. I call this the localized model. I have seen other churches that govern all of its campuses, programming, etc. from a central campus. I call this model the centralized model. Then there is everything in between. As our church has grown and has moved from point to point between the two extremes, here is what I believe are some best practices when it comes to multi-site operations:

1.  Deploy the same model of church growth at each location. Most models differ in their method of assimilation and discipleship. Some use home groups and other use the traditional Sunday School model. Whatever your church does best, I recommend you do it at all locations.

2.  Centralize the operations. Of course, there are exceptions, but for the most part I have seen that support functions like IT, Communications/Marketing, Accounting, Security, Church Records (a separate department in our church), Facilities, HVAC, and Shipping/Receiving (if locations are within close proximity) are best managed from a central location or more importantly by a single staff team. This provides the following benefits:

• Centralizes purchasing and leverage greater buying power. For example, all technology purchases are made by IT. All furniture and capital expenditures are coordinated by Facilities.
• Standardizes processes and workflows thus allowing for more cost efficient deployment of technologies. Localizing technology initiatives results in Burger King technologies (‘have it your way’) which will kill your budget and frustrate your staff.
• Maximizes staff utilization.

3.  Localize the programming. By programming, I mean specific ministries and events. More than likely each campus serves a specific demographic and not necessarily the same as those of the other campuses. As a result, programming is best coordinated by the campus staff rather than a more removed centralized staff. On occasions, a multi-site event with other campuses helps build oneness and unity across all campuses, but for the most part each campus should handle its own programming.

4.  Develop clear and consistent branding across all locations. In a multi-site church, there is plenty of opportunity to give everything its own logo, website, printed piece, etc. Before long you have more noise than voice. Not all ministries are created equally and practically speaking there is usually not enough resources to support multiple websites, branding and rebranding for each individual department or ministry, etc. It may be fine to a point, but this practice does not scale as a church grows larger.

Personally, I am a proponent of a single website for a multi-site church, organized by campus with specific attention to its respective audiences. I believe Second’s website does this very well (of course I am biased). Second’s website is organized by campus but within each campus the design changes for three different audiences: adults, students, and children.

5.  Establish a clear and singular chain of command. Don’t place staff under both a localized supervisor such as a campus pastor or campus administrator AND a centralized supervisor. For example, it does not work well if a worship staff person answers to both a campus administrator for day to day responsibilities AND to a centralized supervisor who oversees worship for all locations. If the two supervisors don’t agree or work together well….you have a wishbone affect. Guess who is the wishbone?

These are just a few of the lessons learned in my experiences at a multi-site church. It is interesting to talk with friends who work with multi-national corporations and listen to how those organizations handle the balance between global and local entities. According to one close friend who works with the 5^th largest energy company in the world, the trend is moving towards more globalization of operations rather than localization….where decisions, standards, and technologies are being made at a very high level rather than at a national of localized level within the company. Will churches follow suit? Time will tell, but the tensions between the ‘one church’ and ‘multiple locations’ is very real for many. What leadership and operational trends are you seeing in multi-site churches?