social media Archives - Page 8 of 13

Why I Don’t Talk About Politics

My husband posted this on his social media:

I think this is a great example of how the media may actually be harming the country. Joe Bastardi a meteorologist for weatherbell.com started warning media of hurricane Harvey 1 week before it hit. But because of the media’s hate and obsession with Trump 24/7, nobody mentioned it until 2 days before it hit. Its things like this is why most have lost all faith and respect for the media. By the way, after it hit, that same media slammed the local government for its response. Any thoughts?

Shortly after President Trump was voted in, many Christian and non-Christian middle to left leaning people went on a rampage. Likewise, many conservative Christians began to act like the left-leaning Democrats they complained about. In all this political soup, I wondered when the church would see we needed to put our desire for others to know Christ above our desire to talk about politics and get into debates?

In this post, my husband was making a point about how powerful our words are and how they can sway people into action. This is why Hitler had a book burning festival. He knew the power of words. He used them himself. History has shown the effects of the power of words. They can influence to peace or violence, racial equality or division, and love or hate. People are swayed by story in video or picture form with few words. Even my high school’s slogan said the pen was more powerful than the sword.

The church has a challenge: Be a part of the changes in technology or be left behind. Leadership can inspire the use of Social Media and technology by sharing more positive stories about it. They can be examples themselves on how to use Social Media well. They can lead the church congregation to representing Christ online instead of their favorite political candidate. We need to act like a Christian online as well as in the face-to-face world. The two are no longer separate.

I want to inspire the church to become involved in technology and social media. Ask me about it. I’m happy to speak to your church or ministry group on the subject.

How to Act in Love

Even as I write this, I am reading political posts online that are the opposite of what Jesus teaches. Jesus did the hard work of showing up where people hung out. That’s half of the battle really. We can point the finger at others for their lack of truth, but they can point the fingers at us for our lack of love.

Love is…

Showing up when you say you’ll be there.
Actually praying the moment you say you are praying for something.
Auditing your social media. What is it NOT saying? Are you reflecting Jesus in your posts? Posting online is an action. Your actions need to reflect your biblical teachings.
Putting someone first above your preferences.
Altering your schedule for someone else.
Giving.
Being other-oriented.

We will fail at always loving others, but let’s try to succeed more than fail.

A Life Church post yesterday taught me how most people ought to act. Someone expressed their doubts about the Bible. Instead of getting defensive and angry with the person, the online congregation engaged the person in light-hearted, but deep conversation about faith and the Bible. It was refreshing.

As a mentor, my job becomes harder when Christians post against any people group. Angry political rants stir up anger and unforgiveness. That anger causes many people to not participate and connect with people who are different than them. With one worker for every one million unreached people, it’s imperative that the church engages more with people than against them. It’s not the worker that should do everything. The worker and the church work in tandem.

I know it’s hard. You feel threatened and America isn’t the same. But when has that ever stopped us from living differently than the world? Either Jesus will rule our hearts or our bitterness will…we serve only one master. Who will that be?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers,^[a] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. – Matthew 5:43-48

Reaching Guatemala #Christian

V leaned toward me, her phone in the palm of her hand, showing me pictures and videos of her recent church short term missions trip to Guatemala. She shared deeply what God had done in her through the trip and how her team members were right by her side at a crisis moment. It so reminded me of Honduras.

Short term trips do as much for the people of the country as they do for the team. When you go on a short term trip, you return home different. The people leave footprints in your life that never go away. V wanted to keep in touch with some of the leadership and team, and had collected a few email addresses while in Guatemala. At this point, the conversation went from friend-to-friend to a social media class to learn how to use her seldom-used Facebook in a global way.

Privacy is an issue for V for reasons I won’t go into, and as the afternoon sunshine gave way to monsoonal wind, rain, and lightening, we nearly closed down Starbucks. V had both her tablet and phone as I taught her how to copy and paste links, create statuses, edit photos, and share her faith without revealing personal information. She even shared her story in a Facebook Live video, being okay with it being public.

The next step was walking her through inviting her Guatemalan friends to “friend” her on Facebook. She used Google translate to type out her message to them and copied and pasted the Spanish text into the body of the email. While Google translate is wonderful, it is always best to learn the language of the culture you wish to reach.

V is not just a dear friend, but an avid prayer support. You read my story about P, and now you are learning about V. Both attend the same church. Imagine if every church member shared their faith with their “Oikos” online, took the time to mentor people online, and shared statuses that reflect their face-to-face personality, inviting further conversation? The church would be powerful, indeed. This is partly what I do. I am a trainer of those who wish to be more than spectator Christians.

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I Cause Discomfort

Image may contain: 1 person — (P Created This on My Tablet)

We gather around our devices. P has both her laptop and phone, ready to learn. We drink lattes and talk about our memories and life lessons learned.

She laughs when she talks about graduating in 1968. “You weren’t even born yet!”

I listen. That’s perhaps the most important tool in a Social Media Consultant.

As she shares about her life, I am making mental notes. How can she share her faith? How can her personality shine online? What is her learning curve? How can I help her succeed? What obstacles do we need to overcome? This is how ministry works–I meet with people and have a conversation. Sometimes, the conversations happen online via Zoom or Skype, but like today, it is face-to-face over lattes away from the craziness of downtown Prescott and the Fourth of July activities.

We cover topics such as photo editing, linking the photo to the micro-story she is telling, and teach how to do certain things on the phone and laptop.

“You’ve got to make it a habit.” I can’t say this enough. “You’ve got to work on this an hour a day until it’s like second nature.” The biggest problem with people learning how to use social media isn’t always the technology; it’s creating a new habit. When the habit is created, you can choose when to use social media and when to abstain. You have control over how much time you spend on social media; the device doesn’t control you.

My husband and I talked later and we both agreed that people find it easier to share negative stories about social media rather than get involved. The church is changing. The message isn’t changing, but can if good people do nothing to correct the misinformation online. As I sat typing this blog, scrambling for more inspiration, Seth Godin once again becomes an influence:

He wrote in Creating Discomfort that even projects you launch that should be welcoming are often missing an important point: “…this is going to make (some) people uncomfortable.”

What I do with WorldVenture is still new to a lot of people. Yet, I join with a few hundred others to pioneer a new movement. I’m determined to close the gap between young and old, to mobilize the church to get online, and to show that the Bible is good enough even if the context in which we share the message is re-framed.