Jims ThirdSpace

Can’t ministry happen in a virtual world?

The debate continues on utilizing technology as we try and minister to people.  I’ll be the first to acknowledge that there is a time and place for face-to-face ministry. I’ll also say that there are plenty of times that a virtual touch will have a bigger impact, than a face-to-face-at-the-front-door visit with someone that just visited your church.

We have to use our heads and our hearts as we determine the best medium to “do ministry”.  Take a look at this article from Collide magazine about the evils of Twitter and Facebook: http://www.collidemagazine.com/article/238/the-evils-of-twitter-and-facebook.

Oh yea, you’re either reading this from a RSS reader, Facebook or my BLOG.  For most of you, it’s the only way you’ve heard from me lately, not face-to-face, but virtually, a lot.

What do you think?

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Tags: BLOG, facebook, Twitter, virtual ministry

What is community?

“I don’t really know what ‘community’ means and I never use it” says Chris Hughes co-founder of Facebook.  How can that be?  How can someone that is partially responsible

for building the world’s largest social networking platform, creating e-communities, and being one of the individuals that is credited with helping elect Obama, because of his ability to rally individuals across the nation and connect them into a virtual Obama Nation, not know what community is?

I think a community is a group of people that are linked by location, or common perspectives or joint action or combinations of these three.  If this is true, how many communities are you actively a part of? And, how about you, what are your your descriptors of community?

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Tags: Chris Hughes, community, facebook, Obama

Huge third space

Talk about a third space, if you haven’t poked around on Facebook, you’ve missed a virtual third space that is viral.  Day, night, fast paced, lazy, serious, random, off-the-wall, focused, catching up, venting, it’s all there.  It’s like being in a large room at a party, taking part in a conversation, over hearing three other conversations, looking at pictures someone has brought of family, or just walking through, it’s amazing.

Facebook is a sharing platform.  A way to keep up with friends, family and others in a busy world, but it’s missing something BIG. I can’t smell the coffee, or see the smiles, and hear, “that was sooo good”.

Off to Starbucks.

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Tags: coffee shop, facebook, instant community, random, starbucks