Social Network – Why Bother?
Hey Friends,
It seems to me that the capital of today is social networking. Most people don’t want to be bothered, especially those of us in the ministry. Why is the church the last group to get on board? So, why should I bother to get involved considering the cost of technology and time? Great question! Let me tell you why I finally got involved.
First, I want to add value to people. If you have content that can help people, why not get it out in as many media as possible? So, I tweet, blog, write, do a daily devotion, podcast and use every way I can to add value to others. “Freely you have received, freely give,” is what the Word says.
Second, I want to be able to help others by connecting. I am an aggressive competitive person and always want to advance. After years of trying to win, I found out it is better to connect than compete. Social networking makes connection quicker and easier.
The third reason I use social networking is to open doors for me. That may sound selfish, but it is true. It is not just about me, but that is part of it. When I finished my first book, I looked around and realized I had no one to help me with it. I had kept my head down at my desk and just worried about growing the church. I realized I did not keep up with my friends or anyone else. I recognized what a poor decision I had made without even thinking about it.
So, today I network for mutual advantage. I am only concerned with a win-win scenario. It is not just about me. I look for ways to promote my friends, their books, resources, conferences and anything else I can to add value to others. We all need each other and we need to help others because one day we will all need it.
Last week I met with a very sharp young adult who just graduated from seminary. He was looking for a ministry position. He has spent the last eight years getting ready for vocational ministry. The only problem is he, like me, did not work on his network. Seminary helped him with his systematic theology but not his social network.
Whom are you helping and who is helping you?
Just a thought,
Pastor Chris
P.S. I’m sure if the Apostle Paul were here today he would use anything and everything to advance the message.
6 Comments
I am extremely grateful that you believe in using everything to advance the message. I am grateful for your book on cd that my friend sent me, that was my introduction to you, your church, and really, Christianity. I am glad that FPC is an innovative church. Very grateful the awesome website, the archived sermons, being able to participate with others through the iCampus, and now that FPC has an online small group. I am a part of the online small group, and it is awesome. Thank you for whatever support or part you have in all of that. It has made a huge difference in my life. Still a little hard to believe that my trip to TN last week, getting to attend an FPC service in person, getting baptized there by Kyle Gilbert, and then getting to meet you in person all really happened (for those that are unfamiliar with my story, I live in UT). Thank you for all that you let God do through you. I do also follow your twitter posts on FB, read your blog (most of the time
, and have downloaded a few of your devotionals to my iPod. Also, through the iCampus, I am meeting more people from FP all the time, and staying connected with many of them through FB, phone, texts and such. I truly do feel like I have a whole family of brothers and sisters in Christ there in TN. Once again, thank you, and truly, if you ever want to start a satelite in UT, contact me. 
I love sharing FPC’s iCampus with others that are near me, for now.
Carol,
Wow. That is the coolest example of God moving using technology that I have ever heard. I’ve been a little lukewarm about the iCampus, but uhm… hard to argue with that testamonial. Thanks for sharing your story!
Andy.
Thank you Pastor Chris for using social networking to touch the world for Christ. I agree that the Apostle Paul would have done the same–A way to touch many people near and far for Jesus. I am quite impressed with Carol’s testimony above — Wow!! That speaks volumes. Carol–Thanks for sharing.
I’ve made some true Christian friends online. Friends I pray with and have bible study with. Many who have told me, I’ve been such a big encouragement to them, that their faith has grown because of it. (I know it wasn’t me, the Holy Spirit working through me.) Most often, God has used me to touch someone’s life one on one. With the technology today, we have a better opportunity to reach more people for Christ. Sometimes people just need a friend,or word of encouragement. But we need to always remember to stay focused on God’s purpose – to stay in His will and obedience to His word – all that is pleasing to the Lord. It’s for God’s glory. Amen.
In the past year, I have invited about 10 times the number of strangers to Faith Promise Church. I was about to respond to this blog yesterday, and got side tracked, and later that evening I ran into a family that was walking that moved here several months ago from out of town. They have no friends here and have not found a church. We spoke for quite a while and exchanged information. I asked them if they had a facebook and they do. I said, the football team is “BigOrange” so you can find me real easy just type in facebook dot com slash bigorange. I made my facebook easy to find like that for this exact purpose, and it worked, he added me today. Now I can keep in touch with them and follow up.
I have also been able to reconnect with cousins, family etc from all over the country. It’s really awesome.
The reason I came to FPC about 10 years ago is because I was able to go online and listen to one of the sermons online before I visited in person. I was pretty much running out of options, I had visited several churches that had “issues”, so being able to go online and listen first was awesome.
I almost forgot to add, it is amazing how a few words on someone’s facebook can be encouraging. I have some old friends with a father that has terminal cancer and she recently posted:
“Thank you Mike for all of your encouraging words. They mean the world to my sister and I more than you know!”
So don’t take for granted the things that you do or say online for people, it definately has an impact.