Just Another Pretty Face(book)

From Dave Treat

Social media, Web 2.0 (or is it 3.0?), MySpace, YourSpace... Our Space. It's not just for geeks anymore.

One of the key thoughts coming from our Advisory Team gathering last week was the need to leverage technology to support community. Blogs are just the beginning. Facebook and Twitter are changing the way people interact with each other individually and in groups. I'll have some more thoughts on that a bit later. For now, I'd just like to invite you to join us on Facebook. Search for the "Willow Creek Association - Group Life" page and become a fan. If you don't know what that means, your fifth grader can help you. See you there.

Group Life Value #1: Community Life is Catalytic As mentioned in my previous blog I have begun a new role with Willow Creek Community Church. As we...Group Life Value #3: Community Life is Enhanced in Proximity Proximity cannot create community—but it can enhance the experience of those who are seeking...Group Life Value # 2: Community Life is Inclusive One of the problems with the small group movement over the decades has been the “closed grou...

Comments

March 11, 2009 07:56 AM #

Shalom All,

Your comment about "the need to leverage technology to support community" above is amplified in an exchange found at the URL below;

blog.christianitytoday.com/.../shane_hipps_on.html

Biv’racha (With Blessing),
Jordan

Jordan Goodman

March 11, 2009 15:06 PM #

Jordan... thanks for the link!

You might want to check out Scot McKnight's response to Shane here: blog.christianitytoday.com/.../...mcknight_o.html.

Also, we have a whole track at this year's Group Life Conference dedicated to "Leveraging Technology to support community." Scot McKnight, John Saddington (Human 3rror, ChurchCrunch, and North Point Ministries), Eric Metcalf (Big Idea), and Frank Chiapperino (www.frankchiapperino.com; Christ's Church of the Valley) are tentatively scheduled in this track.

Dave Treat

March 11, 2009 19:14 PM #

Shalom Dave,

You're welcome and thanks you for the 2 links you sent. Unfortunately neither of them worked. If you would, please send them to me in the body of an email. My email is eashtov@aol.com

Re the Scot McKnight response whose link you sent: is it more recent (after 16 Feb., 2009) than the one linked in the beginning of the Shane Hipps post I sent?

Be well and thanks for all the work you do for all of us.

Bi'vracha,
Jordan

Jordan Goodman

March 12, 2009 07:56 AM #

Jordan... the links are good, but our blogging platform picked up the punctuation at the end of the link. (It's an automatic function... anytime you type a URL it makes it a link). Sorry for the problem. I'll add them here again without punctuation:

blog.christianitytoday.com/.../..._mcknight_o.html

http://www.frankchiapperino.com/

The link you sent was the third in the series of events. The one I posed was Scots response to Shane's talk. I see that Anne Jackson is also in the mix... she is also doing a "Mad Church Disease" breakout at our October conference.

Dave Treat

March 12, 2009 09:04 AM #

I am a Home Life Group coach for 11 groups at my church. I use Facebook to communicate with a lot of them. It hink it is very importnat to use all the tools we have to help grow community.

Matthew Wray
Northside Christian Church
New Albany, IN

Matthew Wray

March 13, 2009 11:49 AM #

Been wondering when Willow was going to jump on the Social Media train. Check out how conferences can be promoted there by searching twitter for the following 09 conferences #i3 (Innovation 3) #catalyst #unleash for example.

John Saddington is very visible on Social Media platforms. May also want to look at Tony Steward - LifeChurch.tv online community pastor.

Let us know when you start twittering!

Mary Beth Stockdale

March 13, 2009 13:12 PM #

Welcome to the World of Facebook! It is amazing how social networking has helped in our ability to communicate to mass amounts of people, network with our leaders, and launch global online small groups. Look forward to seeing how you guys react to the online small groups discussion!

Tracey Smith

March 17, 2009 13:48 PM #

If you have not checked out http://www.smallgroupfriends.com, it's a free social network for small group leaders and members and small groups pastors and is heavily monitored to keep out the spammers and inappropriate posting that happens on Facebook.

Check it out. You've nothing to lose.

Randall Neighbour

March 17, 2009 13:49 PM #

Let's try that link again so it works here:

http://www.smallgroupfriends.com

Randall Neighbour