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Re-Thinking Social Media

When you’re so sure you’re right that you’re willing to burn things down, it turns out that everyone is standing in a burning building sooner or later. – Seth Godin (emphasis mine)

I am reminded every day that businesses, missionary organizations, churches, church plants, advocates for adoption and foster kids, and those against human trafficking need people like me who understand social media and make it work for them. In the spirit of collaboration and partnership, I am always checking my motivations and words. The Gospel is too important for it to be all about me or my ministry. That’s why I love Facebook groups that encourage this kind of collaboration, like Church Communications, AR/VR, etc. That’s why I began a group to encourage a change of narrative.

For the Christian, Social Media is about serving online.

Change the inner narrative, you change a person’s whole perspective:

“But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart…” Matthew 15:18a

The Struggle of Self-Promotion

Self-promotion was the biggest emotional struggle within the minds of Christian writer friends in 2007. Publishers required (and still do) writers to promote their work online. At that time, blogging was more about being real and creating community. Having to self-promote felt cold and against our worldview. When I attended writers groups, I encountered a lot of self-promotion. I recalled this when I read this week’s chapter of Called to Create by Jordan Raynor:

As we saw in the previous chapter, following God’s call to create replaces our motivation to make a name for ourselves with motivation to create in order to reveal God’s character and love others.

We wrote to glorify God. Our heart was to connect, to pray for each other, and cross-network through guest blogging. Most of us made peace with self-promotion because we made it about Jesus. Our blogs bloomed into mini-ministries. It was about the books we read and how what we read impacted our daily lives. We weren’t shy about sharing our emotions. But, as the glory days of blogging faded, and marketing took over with content written to get noticed on Google, some writers lost their way.

There’s a danger of becoming too focused on creating a work around making a name for ourselves. I loved how Called to Create spoke about famous people who built their careers to make monuments around their name. They worked to glorify themselves. In this culture of negativity, can we find ways to #RedeemSocialMedia and use the web strategically and authentically, making sharing the Gospel a priority?

“Generally speaking, entrepreneurs attempt to figure out where the world is going, and leverage those trends to considerable financial gain,” Blanchard said. “Could our aim [as Christian entrepreneurs] be for more? Disrupting negative cultural trends and encouraging positive emerging trends with innovative, transformative, gospel-minded ventures?”

Decisions That Keep You Awake

Decisions That Keep You Awake…

“Don’t go in there,” my husband begged in text as I stood outside the pet shop. “Run!”

A couple of days later, we went home with a ball of fur because he couldn’t say no to his wife. His wife (me) couldn’t say no to amber eyes and a playful spirit. We lost our own cat several months prior and the house felt too empty. I knew our next resident would not be like our last cat. Just like our former dog wasn’t like our last dog. Each animal has their own strengths and weaknesses.

Even as I write this, I have taken two Excedrin as our cat kept us up most of the night. But other things kept my mind awake, too. When you take on new responsibility, you feel it.

Did I respond to that person right?
Should I have said no (or yes)?
What is God up to?
Slow down. Don’t share in haste. Don’t post in haste. Be thoughtful in everything.

And lastly, just plain old excitement for the future. Old fears battle fresh joy, and I find new courage each day to face daily challenges. The weight of people that believe in what I do sits on my heart, but not in a way that is a burden; it is a reminder that God has entrusted me with more because I think I became trusted with little (Luke 16:10).

Breaking new ground is hard work, but I need my team around me. Their experience in places I have not seen will make this new ground fertile. I will make a lot more decisions and I am praying I make wise ones. Surrounded by true friends and a supportive husband, I can’t help but feel some confidence as I look toward the future. Just like I am confident that one day, our new resident will find her “normal” and settle into a predictable behavioral pattern (sigh).

Meanwhile, how could I say no to this girl?

P.S. WorldVenture published an important blog post. Go here to view it on their Facebook page. Be sure to share your thoughts afterwards on their Facebook page. This is an important conversation to have between organizations.

How to Never Give Up #MotivationMonday

Journaling with Monday Motivation here.

“Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged.” – Luke 18:1

A thousand times I repent of my previous words, spoken in haste and without understanding, of what an international worker goes through and really does with their time until I became one. All our journeys are different with WorldVenture. Some are learning new cultures, experiencing a loss of roots, and learning to adapt to a new normal, and here I am, pioneering a new way, meeting doubt head on, and completely growing in faith.

In today’s Bible reading (Genesis 44-46), I learned about Joseph and his brothers. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sent to Egypt. Genesis 44-46 talks about Joseph reuniting with his brothers. Joseph is one of my favorite Bible narratives. After much trial, he stands in a position of power to help his family and the countries around him going through famine. Joseph kept his faith. In Luke 18, we learn about Jesus’ encounters and a parable, starting and ending with the theme of praying continuously and living in obedience. The blind man asked Jesus twice to heal him. A rich man was asked to give up his wealth. The faith of a broken man is compared to that of a prideful one. The glaring theme of this chapter felt like, “Keep pestering God. Don’t cling to the world. Keep looking up to the Father.” How do you never give up when a future is uncertain, even unwritten?

Refresh your spirit in the Words of the Bible.
Find joy and hope in today and hold on to those memories for tougher and more impassable roads.
Keep your eyes on the bigger picture. It’s the bigger picture that matters. God doesn’t think small. Neither should you!
Keep wise counsel around you (Proverbs 15:22)
Understand better the Christian faith through the narratives of the Old and New Testament. Bear your cross well.

Meanwhile, I look ahead with eagerness and walk the road I am on now with determination fueled by a growing faith.

How are you today? Can I pray with you? You can email me at mentoring4lifewv@gmail.com or leave a comment.

How the Church Needs Facebook’s New Update

The Church Communication’s Facebook group had a post that said, “So is anyone else freaking out about Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement about Facebook Pages yet or is it just me?”

This was in response to Mark Zuckerberg posting here about a major update coming in a few months.

“One of our big focus areas for 2018 is making sure the time we all spend on Facebook is time well spent. We built Facebook to help people stay connected and bring us closer together with the people that matter to us. That’s why we’ve always put friends and family at the core of the experience. Research shows that strengthening our relationships improves our well-being and happiness.” Zuckerberg posted today (emphasis mine). “But recently we’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content — posts from businesses, brands and media — is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.”

In a recent workshop for pastors and ministry leaders held on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, hosted by Southwest Church Connection and led by me, two people shared the frustrations they have with their congregation. The efforts of creativity go unrewarded when they post on their Facebook page. One person shared how the congregation only reacts to the page posts. They never share or comment. Another said, people in their congregation are inspired by what they post, but never give credit to the church Facebook page. In other words, if a church inspires you to add to the conversation on your personal Facebook, help promote your church by tagging them in the post. When Zuckerberg’s new update goes into effect, the church congregation will need to participate more in the church’s postings and online conversations in order to keep their church page from becoming irrelevant and keeping their budget down (pages and posts would need to be “boosted” to show up). Think of participating online as part of your stewardship and giving of your time. Is this an unfair decision from Zuckerberg?

Zuckerberg is absolutely correct in making this change. It’s a business decision, the radio reported earlier today, and very risky. He could lose advertising dollars, but the radio host is predicting that this decision will bring more signees to the already 2 billion people on this social media platform. It’s also an opportunity for the church to recognize their congregation as part of their marketing platform. When I say marketing, it’s a distasteful word, but when I say it, I mean it as marketing as ministry; or authentically connecting in meaningful ways using marketing techniques that work for business. It’s also important to note that this change backs what I have said many times to people–people don’t want to connect with a brand name; they want to connect with people. This is why a church should consider creating a social media team that they train on cross-cultural communication, story, evangelism, false cults and religions, and technology.

One person on the Church Communications Facebook group suggested a Facebook 101 class, but that’s not enough. I agree with one who said we shouldn’t share just Scripture all the time, but stories of our faith. I take this one step further; we should SHOW how we are living our faith through every day encounters, sharing our life with others we friend online through recipes, gatherings, online Bible Studies and life groups, etc. The face-to-face and online communities do not have to operate separately; it can operate together. After all, my philosophy is using technology and social media to bring people into meaningful conversations that lead to face-to-face encounters.

To partner financially in helping me mobilize the church body in social media, click here.

Business Versus Missions: Is There a Division? #Christian

WorldVenture hosted two Hackathons with Code For The Kingdom during the past couple of years. I participated in both and mingled with business people, missionaries, churches and regular working people. During those weekends, we worked together in creative endeavors to solve world challenges with technology.

In the last Hackathon, I assisted a businessman with his idea, helping to expand it. While I didn’t quite have the time I thought to fully review his manuscript for the ministry, his idea had merit. These are just two of many examples where not all the church is against business as missions or work having merit. So, when I began reading, “Called to Create: A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk,” I felt the divide between business and missions.

“Over the course of my career, I have thought a lot about this issue and discussed this topic at length with friends inside and outside of the world of entrepreneurship. It seems clear to me that the church has bought into a false storyline about work that says work is inherently bad and meaningless unless it is “full-time ministry.” Before we discern the calling of entrepreneurs specifically, we must first combat this thinking with biblical truths that give us a much more hopeful and meaningful storyline for all work.”
― from “Called to Create: A Biblical Invitation to Create, Innovate, and Risk”

One of my leaders who recommended this book said she felt encouraged by it. The ministry God has me doing empowers creatives and entrepreneurs to partner with the church to serve in outreach to their global communities in line with or in addition to their daily jobs or business responsibilities. Most of what I do involves entrepreneurs and creatives. In fact, WorldVenture is such a fantastic organization that their vision includes creative people and ideas that are non-traditional in their paths.

In light of that leader’s response, I was inspired to think how I can encourage the church to embrace the creatives in their congregation. Because Social Media is a creative environment, it is ideal for photographers, artists, musicians, writers, etc to embrace this communication tool to share the Gospel through the relationships they build online and the stories they tell.

You might have noticed how marketers are embracing the idea of story telling to sell more products or services. Some religions other than Christianity are embracing story telling and marketing to attract the indecisive to their belief system. It seems a lot of Christians are hesitant about using this communication tool. Maybe some are wary of it or afraid? Maybe it just feels so big that it is like looking at a blank piece of paper and wondering where to start?

As a worker with WorldVenture, I want to mobilize the church to serve online as well as face-to-face, recognizing that social media is global and the world is different now. Whatever you feel about technology, the church needs to embrace it and train their congregations to use it in godly ways.

Don’t you train an army before you send them out into the battlefield?

When I read this chapter, I was less than thrilled, because the churches I have met or know do see that sharing the Gospel at work in honoring ways is part of being a Christian, and using your creativity in the arts can also bring about interesting conversation. If the church is going to share the Gospel in their communities, entrepreneurs, missionaries, church staff and regular workers (even ones less than thrilled about their employment) need to be unified in their causes. But then I focused on the last few words of that quote, “…meaningful storyline for all work.” All work, including the people who serve in churches and in mission organizations that depend upon the generosity of others to do their work.

Meanwhile, I will continue to read this book. Stay tuned for future blog posts. My leader’s response reminded me that I need to make sure my volunteers, group leaders, and those participating in ministry are encouraged in all their efforts and feel supported.

Ralph Winter: Outspoken, Focused, and Fearless

The Ralph D. Winter Story by Harold Fickett (Kindle Version)

While the book tended to enthusiastically go long on Winter’s theories towards the end, I closed the last page inspired to persevere in my own field. The Ralph D Winter Story was written by a friend of his who lovingly shared about Winter’s life. How did it inspire me?

“He had to grow into his own identity, see its usefulness, and then embrace it despite what others might think. This took a long period of acting on what he did without seeing the big picture.” As I raise support to serve in this new field, I am stepping into the unknown and wondering what this will all look like when I am at 100% support. Right now, God is moving the pieces in place, and while I wait, I am serving at a day job where God has placed me. It is my intent to serve them honorably so they succeed. I am learning a lot in my day job. While working the day job, I am talking to numerous people about what I do with WorldVenture. This often gets a variety of responses. The reason it takes so long to raise support is because of people who need help seeing the vision more clearly on what a social media ministry may look like and how it can help the church.
“That was who Ralph was. After a lifetime of zeroing in on this elusive identity, he used virtually every moment of his last years to live it out without compromise, and without regard for the consequences.” A ministry that compromises on total obedience doesn’t succeed. Keeping the vision ever in front of me, I intend to get to 100% support so I can put myself fully into this work. My husband says, I am catching up on wasted years. This is true. I want the rest of my life to reflect the growing faith in the Lord and to share the hope and joy we have in Jesus with others. This will be done on a variety of media and in the face-to-face world.
“Ralph’s sense of life as a spiritual battle deepened.” Winter pursued the theory of evil intelligent design following his wife’s death to open up conversation with those who believe in intelligent design. What he meant by this was to pray against the evil of disease. If an intelligent designer like God created the world, what if Satan uses “intelligent design” to create the viruses, diseases, and death in the world to fight God? In my own journey, I could share stories on what I felt was evil targeting us as we worked to serve with WorldVenture more strategically and whole-heartedly. This new direction in my life is different from any other program or act of service.
Conflict and disagreement will happen, even in the best of organizations. Winter had his conflicts. He was outspoken. His theories weren’t always welcome, and his mannerisms were said in the book to offend people. In Guatemala, a nurse didn’t welcome his ideas on cross-cultural communication. She followed closely with traditional approaches. What if the church explored the creative side of evangelism and missions and supported this financially, prayerfully, and actively through implementation? We can support solid truths by simply changing how we share those truths.

No matter what obstacles I face, I am praying Matthew 4:19 (CEB) for the Lord to continue to show me HOW to reach those with no hope, no joy, and no future with the Good News of the Gospel. A former pastor once said that a person coming to love the Lord is a “supernatural miracle.” We must first serve on our knees, before we serve with our hands.

Support this vision by clicking here. Or to schedule an appointment with me, leave a comment or use the comment form here to connect with me. It would give me joy to share the full vision with you.

How to Build Up Your Marriage

Joining WorldVenture has brought challenges to our otherwise great marriage. Even good things can become a negative if not handled correctly.

Because my audience is global, time differences mean making a determination whether I interrupt my evenings to message the person or speak to them in the morning. Some conversations are unavoidable, demanding my undivided attention. Or a text conversation becomes an intense moment of prayer as I carefully tap out a reply. As a worker with WorldVenture, my husband is getting used to my unusual schedule. He’s learning the furrowed brow and tense voice doesn’t mean the conversation is negative; it means I am focused on using the right words to maintain the friendship while speaking the truth. It doesn’t mean I am stressed.
Meetings after my day job are frequent, whether it is with WorldVenture, another organization, or people wishing to learn how to serve online. He knows my day doesn’t stop until 5 or 6 pm in the evening. Or I come home and work in the office to get caught up on weekly duties.
Sunday mornings are for serving in our church. For me, I am working the comment section of our church’s live Facebook video to pray for community outreach and share it to various groups.

In the past, we’ve talked about how dangerously close ministry gets to our home. The world is full of violence and anger, and those of us in the United States are not immune. People on social media consider it their right to react badly online and we’ve talked about the what if questions. Because of these and many more challenges, I readily embraced Pastor Guy Deckard’s 2018 devotional idea.

A family that studies together, prays together, and stays together. We’ve already bought the journal to share between us, and I plan on blogging my journal live as well as sharing Pastor Guy’s blog link here, too. Serving on our knees, digging deeply into God’s Word, needs to happen first before we serve with our hands. Strengthening our marriage through God is important even as we serve to thwart the devil’s plan and participate in what God is doing in the world.

Meanwhile, please consider partnering financially with me so this work in technology can continue strong in 2018. Click here to learn more.