Churches using the latest technological tool (gasp!) gets more attention with a feature from San Antonio on pastors using MySpace. The piece includes some good examples of pastors making use of MySpace, including one pastor who received some four-letter tirades via MySpace for a direct mail piece the church sent. But rather than end with a tirade, the pastor was able to apologize and interact with the offended people.
“MySpace might be history in a year,” [Pastor Robert] Emmitt said. “I’m not saying everyone’s got to do this. Let’s try it for a while and see what happens.”
The article also includes a quote from yours truly going off on the proliferation of Christian MySpace knock-offs, but otherwise it’s an interesting read.
Tim
November 22, 2006
I’m all for pastors blogging, but must it be MySpace? Is there a bigger collection of obnoxious web sites?
Josh
November 23, 2006
Well I understand that MySpace can be a little risky sometimes with the ads, but the truth is, MySpace is where the people are, so as pastors, is that were we should go?…. where the people are?
Mark Rodriguez
November 29, 2006
The first time I setup my myspace. I freaked out as soon as I saw the pages of some of the kids in my youth group.
About a year and half later, I’ve notice how all of their pages have cleaned up…
I also use myspace for a way for the students to listen to the messages that we teach…
It’s an amazing free way to communicate with the people that come to your gatherings…
“IF JESUS WERE AROUND TODAY, HE’D HAVE A MYSPACE!”
myspace.com/liquidyouth
Brian
December 11, 2006
We are so blessed in this day and age. We now have the tools to reach the masses quicker than ever, but yet are afraid to engage in the very thing God calls us to do – tell the whole world about the saving power of Jesus Christ.
Can these tools be used for bad purposes? Yes. Do we abandon every tool that can be used for bad purposes? I hope not. (I would have been abandon a long time ago if this were so)
MySpace is but one technology platform of many to come. We need to embrace new, effective forms of communication and use them to the best of our ability (combined with Gods power).
My one warning is this. Work really hard at doing it well to the honor and glory of God. There are many resources to help you down this path including some amazing Christian Communications firms which would be happy help.
And last but not least (an old tool), PRAY. Without Gods blessing, all tools are useless.
Kyle
January 13, 2007
I’m the “26-year-old techie” that the newspaper article references. The series grew out of our desire to repackage the book Boundaries
The book has great content on setting boundaries in your life, but as a series, it the idea of calling it boundaries was just boring. We decided to feed on the craze of MySpace. It mostly gets bad press because of predators. It is a sort of redeeming of culture plus it worked great to create lots of feedback (I’ve been trying to get him to blog for a while now, and this seems to work for now).
The series actually was great for parents who have been dealing with their kids’ myspace the wrong way. Of course because of the fear of predators, the knee jerk reaction is to just make your teenager delete their myspace, but in reality they will just get a new one. Robert challanged parents to get their own myspace and make their kids be their friend so that they can check it out on their own.
Sorry to hijack the thread. If you want to hear the series you can search for our podcast on itunes. The church is Community Bible Church. It helps if you put CBC San Antonio in the search since there seems to be lots of churches with the same name.
Sarah
February 28, 2007
I think that the time has come for the church to harness the power of the internet; but it can be a dangerous tool. I work for a company that has designed a web based GATED community. I think software like this is a good solution to our kids being on Myspace.
dee
July 30, 2008
I think its wonderful that churches are online and on Myspace.
That’s where the people are and can be fed. Let’s face it due to past drama in the news concerning some of our top leaders there are many who have abandoned the church(the building we call the church).
I think Pastors should be careful & responsible but I am all for reaching people through any popular tool . The enemy isn’t holding back. We shouldn’t either.