This is the product of an inspiration I received from a buddy of mine that had created a monthly twitter newsletter for his church. To continue in the student ministries desire of being faithful stewards of resources this calendar covers January – May with Jan-Mar on the front side and Apr-May on the back side.

I thought it was a perfect concept for the high school ministry as many of the students are on twitter. You can follow them at hashtag #209.

When I saw these statistics it made me reflect on a church community web site that is going to launch this week. It left me wondering with the connectivity in social networking how are, and can church web sites reflect their true flavor. A flavor that is dynamic, true, raw, and real. A web site that has a balance of information for regular activities and the raw life it’s community is wrestling with that engages. Ultimately “raw life” plays out in the physical relationships with others.

• Do you agree or disagree that the church should engage more in social media?
• What would balance if information and “raw life” look like in a church web site?

In the last three months I have watched about 5 online church services, got glimpses of 3 live church leadership/communication conferences. One was all prerecorded by various leaders around the globe that had nine minutes to share what was on their hearts. It was powerful to see the variety of church leaders and the impact they are making in their respective communities.

I have appreciated the church leaders who have stepped outside their tech comfort zones to communicate in new ways. In addition to these conferences I would follow comments posted about the conference on Twitter. Even though I was unable to be present and missed some of the speakers, I was able to gather various quotes that stuck out to people as they tweeted during the conference. Gone is the day where you only have the option to be present o learn. You can learn and discern through comments and blogs by others. I am not saying that it is not worth while to attend conferences as that is the only way to truely connect with fellow believers, church communication or church leadership folks.

It is my hope and desire that church’s continue to make steps to reach out to people by utilizing technology.

I came across sentenc.es on a couple retweets on Twitter.

Simply put, It is a challenge to avoid extra words that we often put in messages and streamline it.

Between a text message and a status update on facebook or Twitter.

Think about the time saved by condensing it all down to four sentences just like this post.

Hilarious spin on Twitter. Is there programs in church that could be revised?