Let’s Stop the Arguments and Speculation Online

I am not a pastor. My primary job day by day is teaching about and developing internet marketing strategies for business. When I do this teaching and development, I am always careful to express and remain aware that published media online can have a powerful influence. It can impact your business or ministry for good or bad depending on how it is used.

I am concerned about some pastors and missionaries I find using the internet, especially blogs, to express controversial opinions or have heated debates on the news of the day. This concern is especially acute in the world of Baptist Fundamentalism.

Let’s say for instance that a Pastor or prominent Christian has been indicted by the news media in some sort of scandal. Several sides to the issue are expressed online and then linked by a Christian blog in an attempt to initiate discussion. The blog comment section then becomes a hotbed for speculation and opinionated rhetoric of all sorts.

Most of the comments are from Pastors, missionaries, those in Christian education or other official areas of ministry. Some are definitely on the borderline for communication that is “good to the use of edifying” and many are lengthy and represent a significant commitments of time and thought.

After numerous, vigorous and often tedious exchanges of wit, hyperbole, assumption and other jockeying for ideological-position, pretty much everyone involved begins to believe this dead horse has been sufficiently beaten. Was anything accomplished? Almost without exception, the answer is no.

How does this reflect on the character and ministry of the people involved in the debate? In my experience, almost always poorly.

Businesses often understand a principle that people in ministry don’t get. They know that everything they say is important – especially when it is said in a public and archived forum that is readily accessible to anyone, for any purpose.

If you are the minister who has written lengthy, opinionated rants on the hottest Christian news, what have you potentially expressed  (in a subconscious manner) to readers?

1. You have plenty of time on your hands. – I am astonished at how prolific some full-time ministers are on their own blogs and the blogs of others. I see comments in the morning, more bloviating in the afternoon, a fully researched article at night and sometimes a few Twitter posts as well. When, exactly is the ministry of their local church getting done? If I am thinking this, expect the lost and non-spiritual to do the same.
2. You are sold on your own opinion. – Many seem to be experts on nearly every theological issue and political or sociological debate. What’s more, even a greater number speak authoritatively on subjects with which they are clearly unfamiliar. This is what we call punditry – and it can be a significant turn-off for those seeking legitimate information.
3. You enjoy a good fight. – I will never understand why so many feel the need to argue over such a vast array of subjects in a public format. If the article makes us mad, we should think very long and very hard about responding, especially in a public forum.
4. You are willing to muddy the waters. – Speculation is a huge problem online. Let’s face it, most of us are neither trained journalists, nor have the time to track down the facts of the matter we are about to sound off on. If you have any inclination whatsoever to say “I don’t know all the facts, but…” – just don’t do it! This is not Godly behavior and could end up being a disaster.
5. You can be quoted at any time, for any purpose. – If you write something online that is wrong, incorrect, unbiblical or just flawed in some way, expect it to come back to bite you. Visitors to your church may see it, enemies may use it against you and when a public controversy arises, it may be quoted in the newspaper.

You may think this post is unnecessary, as most full-time ministers will obviously understand these dangers and avoid them altogether. Well…if you believe that you probably don’t read very many popular Christian blogs. This is a serious and very troubling problem that is getting worse, not better. If you are interested in some examples, please let me know and I will send them to you in private.

Our testimonies are at stake in these matters. My advice to blogging Pastors and other full-time ministers is to either disallow comments or regulate them vigorously and strictly. Publishing is serious business. It can cost a for-profit company sales and market-share (I have seen it), but it can cost a Christian ministry something far more costly: a good reputation.

Let’s think before we click, folks.

The Lost Content Dilemma

When you produce great content for a website, ideally, you would like the largest number of people possible to consume it. If you promote it on services like Facebook or Twitter upon release and it doesn’t find its way to the audience (for one reason or another) that would have appreciated it, there is a good chance it will be sitting in your archives, unread, for a long time.

I was thinking through this problem as I surfed the archives of a really great designer. Some of his older content was fantastic, but I had to do some serious searching to find it. Not a great thing.

Our best, most effective internet media should be front and center when someone visits our website. That doesn’t negate the need for regular, new articles, which are also very important. The thing we don’t want is the really great stuff our readers “would” care about, if only they could find it.

I’m still thinking through all the potential ways of making this happen without cluttering up a page with more links. If you have any brilliant ideas or examples you would like to pass along, let me know. I think this is of particular interest to those of us who are ministering full-time and blogging rather casually or – when we have a moment. It is crucial that the articles and other items on which we have spent our valuable ministry time are utilized, enjoyed and applied.

Why Internet Media?

The definition (in part) of ‘media’ according to the Dictionary of Marketing terms:

Channels of communication that serve many diverse functions, such as offering a variety of entertainment with either mass or specialized appeal, communicating news and information, or displaying advertising messages.

When we talk about internet media here, we are referring to the variety of mechanisms with which you can communicate online. Simple text remains the best format, in our opinion. We also encourage the frequent use of photos, video and audio, if possible.

The great thing about the internet is that virtually all ‘mediums’ of communication can be presented with minimal cost and relative ease. So…when we say we want to help you imagine, plan and create internet media that will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ – that can mean a lot of different things. Most of all we want you to communicate truth in a principled and excellent way. Let us know if we can help.

Building a Presence

We are taking the advice we will likely give many of our clients: begin interacting and buiding a presence on some of the higher quality social networking sites. I wouldn’t just choose the top five and create an account however, as the most popular are not always the best for your personality or objectives. We chose networks we feel offer the best technology in their respective niche or provide a feature we can’t easily recreate on our own site.

Take a look at all of our accounts over at FriendFeed (one of our favorites). Perhaps we’ll take a more in-depth look at the reason we chose these services in a future post. In the meantime sign in or sign up and look for us under the username Abounding. It’s likely we’re already engaged in a conversation about using the internet to reach people for Christ.

Building Blocks: Great Church or Ministry Web Media

1. Start with Great Technology

There is absolutely no reason your ministry should not have the best stuff. It is almost never a question of money today when it comes to managing a terrific website. Many of the best content management systems, blog applications, video and audio tools and graphic editors are totally free. This website, along with many of the greatest on the web are built almost exclusively with Open Source solutions.

Open Source generally always means free. If not free, certainly at a far lower cost than the competition. These tools are built largely by a community of developers instead of one single company. They are open for edit and modification by day to day users and other contributors who are motivated by building a better system rather than simply cash. While it doesn’t always mean great or even good, looking for a General Public License (GPL) wouldn’t be a bad place to start when doing your initial investigations.

A couple of GPL programs you may want to investigate first: WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. You can also contact us at any time for advice on either the Open Source concept in general, or specific programs you may want to try.

2. Ideas Should Always Come First

Don’t start building a new website – then start thinking over the reasons behind its creation afterward. Site visitors are going to recognize thoughtlessness when they see it. It will be both a direct and indirect signal that you are lacking a level of care and attention to detail that is necessary to minister effectively. Don’t do that. It would be better to wait, develop a strategy, then move slowly to accomplish goals.

3. Commit Some Time

If you are hoping to “set it and forget it” you are probably not going to have a great deal of success. Any ministry that is worthwhile will take commitment, work and time. These are absolute imperatives for the development of internet media.

That being said, it is not as though we are talking about dozens of hours per month. We hope the vast majority of your time is spent interacting face to face with people you hope to reach and would never even suggest you should suspend those activities for your devotion to the web. You can start very slowly and in very small ways. Set aside an hour a week to write, take some pictures, capture audio recordings, video or do something else creative.

One way or the other you need a plan for keeping the content of your site fresh. The days of the dormant website are pretty much over. People look for interaction – and that’s a big opportunity for reaching out and making connections with those in your own community or around the world!

Stedfast, Unmoveable

Emerging technology has sometimes been avoided by conservative Christians. The theological liberal, by his very nature is more inclined to use that which is “new”. I find myself on the other end of the spectrum,  a big fan of  flannelgraph and most often encouraging the use of time-tested, perhaps downright “old” tools of ministry. It seems like most were well thought out, have proven their effectiveness, and offer little potential for conflicts of doctrine or conviction.

We don’t have to do something innovative to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The methods taught by our parents and grandparents were generally good and should rarely be jettisoned without compelling reason. In other words, we should not be influenced to alter course by constant chants of “change”.

How does a Christian fundamentalist deal, therefore, with internet technology? Some call it “a modern distraction”, while others see it as “the new frontier for accomplishing our great commission calling”. We believe it is neither.

The Lord’s great commission will not be fulfilled via the internet. The gospel still needs to be presented face to face, one by one and “by hand”. We think, however that the internet may help; like flannelgraph, a chalk board, a church sound system, or a tract.

I Corinthians 15:58 – “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

Most people in Western society are using the internet for one purpose or another. In its own way it has changed the world forever, placing a wealth of information at our fingertips and providing the average person with a forum for the expressing views.

The internet is no longer a medium we can ignore if we are committed to “abounding in the work of the Lord”. It should be used by those who are charged with proclaiming truth to, with humility and conviction, relate the words and ideas of scripture.

Abounding Media holds a traditional, conservative, fundamentalist Christian view. We believe every word of the Bible is true and should be taken into account before coming to conclusions or taking action. Read the Abounding Media Principles to find out more.