Author: Jonathan Blundell

I'm a husband, father of three, blogger, podcaster, author and media geek who is hoping to live a simple life and follow The Way.

Everything Must Change

Just finished reading the first section (or 6 chapters I think) of Everything Must Change.
Right up my alley. Great stuff.
We’re reading it as part of Headphonaught’s Book Club.
Looking forward to the discussion and reading more.

Here’s a quote that really stuck out to me:

A message purporting to be the best news in the world should be doing better than this.

If we as Christians have the greatest message ever – which I believe we do – shouldn’t we make that a little more believable than just telling people how they can have a good afterlife? Shouldn’t we also be concerned about making our current life better and bringing about the Kingdom of God here on earth – now?

U2-3D

Yessssss…..

Shot during U2’s visit to South America on the Vertigo Tour, the film is directed by Catherine Owens, with additional direction from Mark Pellington. Owens, longtime collaborator with U2 on live-show visuals, says ‘this was the ultimate challenge in presenting U2’. The results, she predicts, will startle audiences.

‘There is no comparison with a traditional concert film seen in 2D. One minute you are on stage with the band and the next you are at the back of the stadium. ‘The best way I can describe it for the viewer,’ she adds, ‘Is that it’s like being on the wings of a bird flying around the concert stadium – it’s really something else.’

The 3D shoot took place over seven shows in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina in February last year and the film is being produced by 3ality Digital in Los Angeles, edited by Olivier Wicki with music produced by Carl Glanville, who has a long list of U2 production credits. Director of 3D photography was Peter Anderson and the Director of photography was Tom Krueger.

Does our waste say something about our view of God?

December 31st 2007: Canterbury: In his annual televised New Year Message the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams reflects on how a ‘disposable’ attitude to living can affect other areas of life and that ‘God does not do waste’. Filmed in Canterbury Cathedral and at a nearby recycling centre.

Social networking and the church

So I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not – but there’s this phenomenon going on around you – Web 2.0.
I don’t know that anyone’s really settled on a definition of this new wave of Internet sites but I think everyone can agree on what it’s not – stagnant, outdated websites that simply push information onto people, rather than allowing them the opportunity to pull the information they want/need.

Think about sites like Flickr, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter where there’s a broad wealth of information and content that is typically user driven and user created. No more Mr. Corporate America telling people what they will and can’t read. Users are sharing content and connecting in new amazing ways.

Last week as Laurie and I were out and about I received an update via txt message from my mate Thomas over in Scotland. He was watching the final episode of 24, Season 6 with his wife.
I commented that I knew more about Thomas than most of my friends who live within a 30-45 mile radius of my home — and Thomas and I have never met in person. Thomas later commented that he knows more about Laurie and I than he does our next door neighbor – maybe a good thing and a bad thing.

As part of my job here at DCCCD we’ve been discussing our district’s and specifically our department’s Intranet presence. I was forwarded an article (must be a member to read) yesterday from Communication World that suggests most Intranet sites are built around early 1990 standards, not the new Web 2.0 ideas. I would hardily agree – at least of the few that I’ve seen.

Most companies chose to block Web 2.0 sites and applications from their users – I’m sure Laurie can give you an earful on how annoying that is for her where she works. She’s now blocked from visiting our own personal blogs and sites at work. She has to use a work around by using a VNC viewer to access the web over her computer and our DSL at home – very clever on her part.

The article in Communication World also suggests that because these Web 2.0 platforms work so well, people are finding their own work arounds for sharing information and building communities – even work related communities.

So what about our churches? Do we know folks we’ve met through Myspace or Facebook better than those around us at the ultimate community – our own church? And can churches use Web 2.0 ideas to build community – or should they?

After reading the article in Communication World it occurred to me, there may also be some Open Source Social Networking software out there. Sure enough – there is.
I found Elgg which looks like it’s super customizable (and also appears to have their entire website built around a Wiki). Could churches use software like Elgg to build their website, or at least expand on their current website? Or should churches simply build communities around social networks that are already out there?

I tend to believe we should be where the people are – not pulling them into separate realms or worlds but I don’t know. Maybe something like encounterSpace or iencounter would be beneficial. Right now our average attendance is between 180-250 each week. By far MySpace seems to be the most used social networking site used by folks at our church. We have 75 MySpace friends, we have 21 members in the encounter Facebook group and 4 or 5 people who have submitted photos to the encounter Flickr group. But would those numbers increase and communities form on a separate network “exclusive” for encounter folks? I don’t know. I participate in a semi-social networking site for geocaching but I don’t typically seek out other geocaches on places like Facebook and MySpace. Yet while my university offers an Alumni Social Networking portal, I’m more likely to connect with folks from UMHB through MySpace or Facebook. What do you think?