Twittering In Church (Part 2)

I received a tweet yesterday about a Time magazine article this week about Twitter and church (you know the media is so "leading edge"--I wrote about this over a year ago)

I went to the article and realized it was quoting my friend, John Voelz, who had implemented Twitter in their services a year ago. John is definitely leading edge and they have implemented Twitter for use in their church (talkback during services, communication and note taking).

The media is all over Twitter now because the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Oprah Winfrey have jumped on it. But people like John are the real users of Twitter. They've learned how to harness the technology for impacting the world with the message of Christ.

Congratulations John! I can now say I know someone who was published in Time!

Twittering In Church

Another Twitter post...

I read with interest today about Mars Hill Church and how they are using Twitter during their services. You can read that post in the hyperlink below.

It got me to think about the ways that you could use Twitter during service. (My friend John Voelz has already used it and you can read about it here)

Some possibilities:

• Talking to the tech team (I sometimes send text messages--why not twitter)
• Talking to the nursery/the parking lot team/security team-etc
• Using it to give information about time changes/weather updates
• Conversations during sermons that are streamed

So, what do you think? Is there a place for Twitter during your service?

HT: Mars Hill Church

Top Ten Reasons For Churches To Twitter

Reasons Your Church Shouldn't Twitter

Twitter Church

Film Festival Winner

As part of our Recreate Conference last week we had a mini-film festival (where participants submit their best video work from the previous year and are ajudicated by a panel).   The videos were great.  Some of them were funny and some of them were serious.   The quality of them rivaled anything that you would see coming from a national TV campaign or such.

Here is the winning video--submitted by John Voelz from Westwinds Church in Jackson, Michigan.  I've already written about John. He's the true Renaissance man (painter, artist, poet, musician, writer, director)as he gives us an artistic look at the topic of temptation.

Recreate-Day 5 (Final)

Today Cre:ate came to an end.  The week ended powerfully with a talk by Anne Jackson and worship led by Josh Wilson.   An extended prayer time at the end of Anne's talk was powerful and moving (thanks Chris and Robert for your prayers over me!)

It was a good day to see Jeff Berry again and to connect him with Pete Wilson and Fred McKinnon and Chris Vacher.   The afternoon ended with a the first ever Cre:ate Film Festival won by John Voelz.

The evening ended with dinner at a local church and worship led by Fee Band.  A great dinner with Dan Perkins was just the thing I needed before I went home.  We helped clean up the venue for Cre:ate and then began dreaming of next year's 10 year anniversary.

This year's conference was truly holy-- a holy brotherhood/sisterhood of like minds and hearts.  It was even more special than last years!  Thanks Randy and Chris.

Pre-Cre:ate--Worship With Wilson, Creating With JVO and Super Bowl

Today 

began the pre-Cre:ate events as we all met at Crosspoint Church and worshiped with Pete Wilson.  Such a great time to meet with Pete and to hear his heart.  He is so genuine.   I met Anne Jackson too who will be speaking this week.  She has a new book and I got to bless her with a little bit of Texas  with a TYLER CANDLE  I just happened to have in my bag!  Made her feel at home.

The afternoon was spent with John Voelz and helping create some visuals for the week's conference along with my friend from Cairo, Mark Jaffrey.  We worked on that until Super Bowl time when we all landed over at Randy 

Elrod's house for the big game. Dan Perkins was there as were Pat Callahan, Randy Parker, Chad Davis, Spence Smith, Brian Patrick and myself.  A great evening of wings and snacks and a great game.

Tomorrow I meet with my seminary buddy Kyle Goen for Breakfast in Smyrna then I'm taxi for Chris Vacher and Robert Comeaux (from Canada and New Orleans respectively) picking them up from the airport.  I'll get to see Jeff Berry tomorrow afternoon at the opening reception. He and Randy have become good friends.

Visual Churches--Westwinds Church

John Voelz is a creative!  Everything in his ministry exudes the creativity that God has given him. Through music, art and writing, John expresses his creativity.

Look at this videos of some of the creative stuff that JVO (short for John Voelz) has done at Westwinds Church, located in the Jackson, Michigan.

I'll get to spend some time with JVO in the next few weeks at the Re:Create Conference.   I'm looking forward to learning more from this creative gift God has given the church.