I’ve always believed that the church should be and can be at the forefront of creative culture. And so much of creative culture is being birthed within the social areas of the internet. Sadly, most churches have ignored this and are missing incredible opportunities to reach people inside and outside of the church in a relational way.

But don’t listen to me, listen to Darren Rowse, from Problogger.net. He knows much more than me about social media. He has multiple blogs and a following (between Twitter and his blogs) of over 250,000 people.

Here are his thoughts on how the church and social media:

Come here to watch, if you can’t see the video.

Great thoughts from Darren. Here were my favorite lines:

• “People are now using the web for social reasons than they are for anything else, including porn.”
• “People who are coming online are looking to connect, interact, have their say, meet other people, and produce content. Churches are beginning to embrace that type of approach on their websites. That is exciting to me.”
• “Churches are missing out on something if they only use the social web to build ourselves up.”
• “The web is a wonderful opportunity for the mission of the church.”
• “Churches are in the business of community, they should be leading the way in the space of online community.”

Any thoughts on how the church can integrate into the social side of the web?

(HT: Andrew Jones)

Here is a 5-step process that will put you into the upper class of Christians in social media:

1. Call a big name pastor a heretic. This will surely help you get your blog off the ground. People on Twitter will jump on it like wildfire because many will already hate the guy and his fans will call you a heretic too. Just don’t tell everyone you secretly read all of the pastors books and attend his church too. That wouldn’t go over too well.
2. Criticize a friend. Everyone likes a little drama, especially drama over social media. We’re all working when the soaps are on tv, so your blog can give us our fix.
3. Beg for RTs and subscribers. People are sheep, they will do what you ask. If you do #4 and #3 at the same time you might want to make sure your servers are ready because people will be comin’ in droves.
4. Write about sex. Christians love to read about sex. Even today, it somehow is a scandalous topic that many Christians think should be avoided. Go against the grain, you’ll be rewarded with a bunch of porn spam hits.
5. Tell others how to be successful like you. Most of the top blogs are blogs about blogging and social media. Whether you have good advice or not, people love to read about social media success. Hence, why I wrote this post.

Anything you would add?

You ever notice how many Christians are quick to attack others when it means keeping their ideological opinions “right”?

And sadly, with social media I believe this problem has taken a whole new level. It doesn’t take a leadership position to be able to speak into a crowd of people with various opinions anymore, it only takes a following on social media.

Last week Glenn Beck said something I totally disagree with and the backlash towards him from many in the Christian community was great.

Just a few months ago Pat Robertson also said something I totally disagree with and the backlash towards him from many Christians was huge.

And I could name plenty more examples of Christians or non-Christians that have been burned at the stake of public opinion by Christians.

So I ask you…what is the point of standing up against opinions you disagree with?

Honestly, I’m sick of all this. It makes me want to ignore social media completely. We’ve abandoned “the truth in love” for “the truth hurts.”

I fear that too many are willing to crucify these men instead of engaging a conversation. Christians can become so completely unChristlike when someone offends them.

And I get it, because (especially within social media) it is a lot easier to gain a following by being condescending, negative, and overtly opinionated, than it is to be uplifting, positive, and gracious.

I think Jesus speaks directly to us when it comes to dealing with those who disagree with us or offend us:

“I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Your thoughts?

I always wonder what the average person thinks about the number of hits, followers, friends, and subscribers people get on social networking sites and blogs. In many ways they are a legitimate form of recognizing those who have had “success” in various venues. In other ways they are just another way for us to be prideful of our success.

It seems that many within social media are always doing everything they can to get more “friends” on Facebook, followers on Twitter, and readers to their blog. As if they will become legitimized if they just get a few more people to notice and like them. Usually this involves asking everyone possible on those mediums to tell others to come read, follow, or friend you. And if you are like me, you think most people come across as desperate and silly.

I’ve done my best to try to avoid talking about my numbers on Twitter or my blog. Too many times I have seen people who go too far and come off just looking arrogant. It probably means I have less readers and such, but I’d rather do things my way anyway.

Then again, each hit, follower, or subscriber is a human being with a beating heart. In a sense, each hit on this blog is a virtual handshake. In college we took 10 minutes in my first business class to go over the art of the handshake and its importance. The numbers matter much like the handshake matters. The argument of, “the numbers don’t matter,” is the wrong argument because each number is a person.

I’ve always kept a “hit counter” on my blog that seemed much more accurate than what a lot of people use, but even that I’m considering getting rid of. I think stats are valuable in that you can gain respect and clout from the person who understands what the numbers mean. But there is a fine line between showing that some of your hard work has paid off, and using your readers or followers in order for you to look better.

So I’m looking for your help. I don’t have impressive numbers in anyway. Not on this blog, not on Twitter, not on Facebook. But I don’t really know what the best way to deal with these numbers is either.

What are your thoughts on the numbers game of social media?

For those of you who care about what happened, I basically switched from a Wordpress.com hosted blog, to a self-hosted blog using Wordpress.org. I would have loved to have done this earlier in my blogging life but I had no idea how to do it or the money to make it happen.

Well along came Paul Bae (@branford for those of you on Twitter) and he was kind enough to offer to code the new look and work with the plug-ins that I would need to get started. I can’t thank him enough, and if you are on Twitter you really should be following him. He spent countless hours putting all this together.

I met Paul through Twitter about 6 months ago and since then we’ve engaged in conversation a lot, as well as playing fantasy football and fantasy basketball together (I should mention I beat him in the league championship game for fantasy football, sorry Paul).

What all this means (the small changes):

• It’s a whole new look. I guess that isn’t a small change.
• You are able to share my posts with Twitter/Facebook with some links at the bottom of each post.
• Commenting and reading my posts in an RSS reader should all stay the same.
• I have a lot more flexibility on what I can put into posts and how the blog will look and feel for you in the future.
• **UPDATE** If you want your picture to show up with your comment, please go to Gravatar.com and update the picture that is associated with your email.

Let me know if you come across some issues. We’ve done our best to work out the bugs as best we can but there are bound to be small issues along the way.

Also, let me know if you have any pointers on how to get the most out of going to a self-hosted blog.

The credit for this new look really belongs to you. Paul was really drawn to the community of people who make up this blog and wanted to help enhance it.

Thanks friends.

Scott McClellan is the editor of Collide Magazine, an online magazine that focuses on technology and Christian faith. Last week he wrote an article for the magazine titled “How to Fail at Social Media.” A pretty catchy title if you ask me.

I’ve been called out for being a “social media cop” plenty of times before so I promise not to go there. And though I do believe it is possible to have a good pulse of what works in social media, I thought the list that McClellan provided was quite interesting. Here are some of the points he made that stuck out to me on failing at social media:

1. Write a sub par article on social media.
2. Try to be something you’re not.
3. Try to grab an audience before you add value or content.
4. Only talk about yourself.
5. Be erratic.
6. Forget to tell a story.

I basically agree with his points, but one stuck out to me, his last point: forget to tell a story. Here is how he explained that point:

Story is the language of the human heart. Facts inform, stories invite. Donald Miller says that stories—character, objective, conflict, resolution—are the way God changes us. That’s a big deal, right? And if our churches and ministries are producing stories of life change, don’t we bear some responsibility to share those stories? I think so, and social media is a wonderful tool to help us in that effort.

Certainly the “experts” on social media have largely missed this. We have learned that social media is all about content and we have learned that you have to add value to be useful in social media.

But if we aren’t sharing our story and the stories going on around us, I think we may have missed the social part of social media. In many ways I have missed this.

Sometimes in blogging the allure of writing something controversial is greater than sharing a meaningful story. And sometimes I give in to that allure.

Let’s not forget to share our stories.

Starting this new job has me looking at my amount of social media usage, including blog writing. My plan right now is to post 4 or 5 times a week, instead of the usual 6. In some ways I hope this allow my content to be better, but it is also just a recognition in myself that I don’t have time to write everyday and have it be meaningful.

I always tell people who say they don’t have time for blogging, that really no one has time for anything with that kind of mindset. Everything we do requires the sacrifice of the thing we could otherwise be doing. All that to say, I don’t want my blogging to get in the way of my relationship with Christ, my wife, or the people I serve with at my church. Those should always have the priority and too often they don’t.

That is what is on my mind as I think about moving forward with this blog. I love this community of all of you who read and engage consistently. I’m just needing to refine a little in order for it to be beneficial for you and me.

Do you have a preference of how often blogs update?

Are their specific topics you would want me to blog about in the future?

With all the power for positives in social media, there is an equal and maybe greater power for negative influence. I saw a couple things happen in the past weeks that have reminded me of this in a huge way.

You never know when something you say over Facebook, Twitter, or a blog will come back to bite you. Just ask Larry Johnson, the now former running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. He bashed his coach over Twitter and called a fan some extremely insensitive words regarding sexuality several times on Twitter as well (no I’m not making this up). Yesterday he was released from the team after having been previously suspended by the team. It is likely he’ll be playing for another team by next Sunday, but he has tarnished his image. Read that story here.

Over the weekend John Piper had this to say on Twitter:

And then yesterday he had this “insight” on elders and porn:

Let me say this. I have no reason not to respect John Piper. He has served Jesus faithfully and never, ever compromised preaching the gospel during his service as a pastor and author. He is a man I look up to and learn from quite often.

I would summarize my thoughts on Piper’s two tweets with this one word: curious. If it isn’t curious, then maybe confusing. I don’t really understand what he is saying, but if you take them at face value he has done a horrible job of referencing Scripture with context (Ez. 8:12) and he has completely offended those who do feel addicted to porn.

The bad part of all this with Piper is that he has absolutely no idea people have been offended or confused by his tweets on porn. He obviously doesn’t check his @ replies because he has never replied to anyone on Twitter, nor has he responded with any sort of follow up after those 2 note worthy statements. So not only has he turned many on Twitter against him, he is not engaging with them in any way. 2 strikes.

I know a lot of people who are truly offended by Piper’s remarks and my only hope is that they continue to be rooted in grace as they reference him (here is a response to Piper that goes too far for me).

I’ve even been guilty of stupid statements on social media myself plenty of times. I said this on Twitter last week:

I meant nothing racial about it. Just about every winner of every major marathon has been from Kenya or Ethiopia in the past 20 years. BUT several people wrote me a message on Twitter warning me that I was dangerously close to offending many with my statement, because it was a stupid thing to say. I apologized to all of those people and kept the lesson learned in my memory bank.

This is just one example when I’ve done something completely stupid on Twitter or this blog. I could name plenty of other examples.

Too often we flippantly say whatever random thought passes through our brains without thinking of the repercussions.

Have you seen the power of social media turn on you in a negative way?

Writing the demise of social media reminded me of all the “mistakes” I’ve made in social media in the past. I say “mistakes” partly because there are a lot of things I would do differently, but also because when the heart behind the mistakes is right, they aren’t totally mistakes (at least in social media…that isn’t a theological statement).

Social media is an interesting thing. I started blogging way back when simply because I thought I had something to say, I had no idea if anyone would want to read it.

I haven’t made a dime off of this. I’ve gotten a few free books and I’ve gained a lot of new friendships that wouldn’t exist had I not started blogging and using Twitter.

But always in the back of my head are the things I would change if I could become a social media virgin again. Some of these things I am in the process of changing, some things I can’t ever do again. So learn from my mistakes.

Here are some things that I would absolutely do different:

• Started with a self hosted blog. I say this because I started with Blogger, switched to Wordpress, and now I’m dying to have a self hosted blog. It would be more work and I don’t have the money to afford to do it, but the freedom and creativity a self hosted blog has would be worth it.
• Stopped trying to be the guy who doesn’t want to follow the crowd, ever. I’m stubborn. Sometimes, very stubborn. I’ll admit that. At first I thought twitter was lame and would fail, and then after a few of my friends joined I was adamant about not joining simply because I’m stubborn and didn’t want to be a late adopter.
• Found a focus from the beginning. This is the biggest mistake bloggers make. They start a blog and they have no idea what they want to write about. I was the same way. I blogged about politics, faith, sports, my life, my family, where I live. This is all well and good, but most people would much rather read a blog that has a specific focus rather than someone who writes about everything.
• Not posted everyday. I’m a consistent guy. I run 3 to 4 times a week, about the same distance, every time. I show up to my job and leave at about the same time each day even though I don’t have set hours. I do homework at the same times each week. When I started blogging I knew the only way for me to do it was to post every day. I’m trying to get away from that internal expectation, but it isn’t easy.
• Left self-promotion alone. I get that part of social media is self promotion. I don’t write this stuff so no one can read it, so part of the process is to get more people to read it. BUT, too often I let that get in the way of just simply serving others with what God has placed on my heart. I wish I would have devoted half my time to posts on others’ blogs and not just my own. I wish I could get over the innate feeling that I have to tell others about my posts because no one else will. And what happens if no one cares about what I wrote?!?! That would suck. My identity would be gone…or something. Too many of us Christian bloggers are more worried about becoming like Carlos, or Anne, or John…rather than just serving the readers who take the time to care about what we have to say.

What would you do differently if you could start over with social media?

I figured out pretty quickly that blogs that don’t have opinions are boring. The downside of this is that to have an opinion means you become controversial and can offend people at times.

I’ve been thinking about this ever since I wrote my post on “the demise of social media” last week. I had an idea that my topic and content was somewhat controversial, I had no idea that so many would have a strong opinion about it.

This has happened before on my blog. Rarely do I post something knowing people will be offended and/or passionate about what I wrote or a question I pose. If you write about politics, call people out, or write something that goes against the grain you can guarantee people will have an opinion about your opinion. And yes I have written posts that all go under those categories. So I thought I’d share some advice on how to go about writing controversial posts. The thoughts I share have been learned from the experience of blogging, not that I have these figured out perfectly.

• Sit on it for at least 24 hours. In this time don’t think about the one more great point you need to make. Think and pray about the subject you are approaching. I read a lot of posts where I can tell that someone wrote and posted something in the heat of the moment and it was too noticable. While giving some time to process won’t necessarily create changes it will give you clarity of mind on what your big point is and how to articulate that best.
• Let more than one person read it. If you are the only person reading/editing yours controversial posts, you’re more likely to offend more people. I always let my wife read my posts before they go up, and often I’ll email it to a friend if I need more outside perspective on my thoughts.
• If something feels fishy, take it out. You know that feeling or thought…in the pit of your stomach or in the back of your head. Something about that one sentence just doesn’t feel right. Don’t put that sentence in your post.
• Avoid over generalizations. Don’t use the word “all” when referring to a group of people. Just trust me, it won’t end well.
• Don’t expect disclaimers to make a difference. Disclaimers do play a role in any post that could be taken as controversial, but they won’t change much. This isn’t the say they shouldn’t be used, but whether you have them or not a post that is controversial won’t be taken differently because of a disclaimer. What they can do is provide a little perspective for the reader and that is a good thing.
• Be ready for the comments to take over the post. I’ve deleted a few comments over the past 2 years of blogging, but I do my best to let people know I value their thoughts. The bad side of this is that comments can take on a life of their own. It is important for blogging to stay this way, but definitely makes it more difficult.

What would you add to this list?

(Photo: Quil)