Christian Social Networking - Linked in Jesus

The Change We Need is not political - it is revival! Repentance from sin and turning our hearts wholly to God.

This week, Christian.com is proud to be a sponsor of the Revival Conference in Atlanta, which you can watch live on-line.

So I’ve been using Twitter and Facebook Status Updates (e.g., “What are you doing now?”) for awhile now. If you are not familiar with them, these “mini-blogs” or as they are official called “tweets” are a way to use the web and your mobile phone to update others on what you are doing. This is fairly new and, as with most new technology, tend to be adopted by Christians and non-Christians alike without any questions regarding their implications.

What I have noticed is that some people use tweets to try to impress others. They only tweet when they are doing something “important”. Perhaps tweets reflect real life, and so it could be argued that the same people who go to great extent to impress others in real life are the people that use tweets to try to impress on-line. But in my limited observations, I have been surprised that some people I think are “real” in person seem to be the ones using tweets to impress on-line.

Some might argue that you should not read into tweets at all, and perhaps I am wrong in attempting to determine intent and motivation for tweets, when perhaps all someone is doing is just sharing what they are doing. But I think tweets do give an indication as to personality, motivation, etc., and as we start to connect and communicate in this way, it becomes the way we get to know people and the way they get to know us. None of us ever took at class on “proper tweet ettiquette” or were told when to or when not to tweet, so it is a very interesting social phenomenon to observe.

I recently heard a sermon by on of our church staff, Libba Tullos, about the importance of getting real with others, taking off our masks, and forming real relationships. The sermon was about letting people in, and letting people get to know you. So my point with my recent “Lee is going to the bathroom” tweet is that as we Twitter and tweet, we should not be out to impress. We need to “take off the mask” and be real with one another. And as we read the tweets of others, we should never feel inferior or that we don’t measure up, because Jesus died for each of us and we are all special in God’s eyes. And we all go to the bathroom.

Pastors are realizing that while only a few mega-churches can afford to preach their message to the world through T.V. and radio broadcasting, almost any church can have a world-wide podcast. And young and old alike, people are not buying cassette tape players or even CD players- they are buying iPods. For emerging churches, podcasting is the new medium of choice.

But even though it is affordable, podcasting wasn’t taught 10 years ago in seminary or Bible college, so many pastors who are not technology-savvy may not know how to get started.   SermonCast makes podcasting easy and affordable!

SermonCast is a service that specializes in podcasting for churches and ministries. SermonCast.com helps churches get started easily by providing a sermon player that churches can easily add to their church website. Through SermonCast.com, pastors and youth pastors turn their sermons into podcasts without the technology hassles, so they can focus on their message and ministry.

Audio and Video options are available.  To find out more about this powerful yet easy-to-use podcasting system, visit www.SermonCast.com

So if you ever think “maybe I should buy two social networking sites and merge them together…that shouldn’t be too hard…”, please take it from me…THINK AGAIN!

It has been a very long month.  Merging HisHolySpace.com and FaithitUp.com together and then relaunching as Christian.com, and trying to merge two leadership teams, redesign the site, etc, etc.  In looking back I am still glad we did it, but really glad to be done with July and moving on to the future of Christian.com!

Hey, we did something this month that I am 99% sure has NEVER been done before- united two large Christian social networking communities together!  Many thanks to Jeff B, Jim, Ankur, D.D., GC, Jennifer, Matt, and many others who worked with me on this and helped make it possible!

The “Pre-Beta” site is now live…now I can turn my eyes to the future and get back to work on the (already very cool) “Beta” site that is in development.

So Goodbye, July 2008…I will always remember you for the month that was the launch of the Christian.com “Pre-Beta” site.

This Friday, July 11th, HisHolySpace.com and FaithitUp.com will join to form the new Christian.com community- the premiere social network for Christians! This unprecedented merger of Christian on-line communities will be discussed on a live webcast this Thursday evening at 9:00 p.m. EST U.S.

Normally I am going to keep my company blog (at blog.christian.com) and this blog separate, but this announcement is a big one, so I am adding it here as well.

We just announced that we are going to merge recently acquired sites - HisHolySpace.com and FaithItUp.com - to become the starting place of the new Christian.com social networking community.

If you are not already a part of a Christian social network, please consider joining HisHolySpace.com…soon to be part of the new Christian.com!

Here is the announcement…

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing something that has been several years in the making, and has already involved thousands of hours of hard work and prayer by myself and many others.

In some ways the journey for me started back in the mid-90’s, but in other ways it is only now beginning. I envisioned an on-line Christian community, a “social network”, many years before MySpace or Facebook were in existence. Finally many years later, in 2008, we are getting ready to finally launch Christian.com, and my goal for the site is ambitious yet simple…to build the best Christian social network in the world.

But not just a social network. The site should be more than a “Christian Myspace” or a “Christian Facebook”. We can do better than a copy-cat of a secular site, and the vision is much bigger than that. Christians need something special on-line, something unique, something…God-ordained. And it has to be something that the community builds- not just me. I am committed to the community - the site members who want to be a part of this vision - coming together and being a part of designing and building Christian.com. It will not happen overnight, and will take some time and a lot of changes and improvements before we get it right. But I think the outcome of the process will be something truly unique in Christian history- a community of millions of Christians worldwide “linked in Jesus” and growing together in spiritual maturity and in love for Christ and for one another.

I hope that you, too will catch a vision of what is possible in the days and years to come…

Imagine a world-wide community of millions of believers, encouraging one another, praying for one another, and engaging in the journey of life together…

Imagine a place that a young believer can come and be walked through a simple process of discipleship, as they grow in their knowledge of God’s Word and in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ…

Imagine a site where each member of the Body of Christ is doing their part…”he who teaches, let him teach; he who exhorts, in exhortation…” Where we are Christ’s eyes seeing people for what they can be in Christ, we are Christ’s arms open wide for the hurting, and we are Christ’s legs running to the prodigal son who has returned…

Imagine a place where unbelievers can come, wondering if they will find hypocrites, division, and condemnation, but instead are pleasantly surprised to find people filled with God’s love, diverse yet working together in unity, and are drawn in by seeing “something different about these people”…

Christian.com is arguably the best Christian domain name in the world, and is something I am honored to be entrusted with. Having the opportunity to purchase the domain was nothing short of a miracle, and God’s provision of resources has been miraculous as well to bring us to this point over the last several years. Many have come alongside to help, and we believe that together we can make Christian.com not only the best Christian domain name, but the best on-line Christian community in the world!

So that is a little about the vision for the future…so how do we get there? That is the question this blog will explore and report on over the next days, months, and years.

So welcome to HisHolySpace.com…soon to be the new Christian.com…and to the journey of building a global community of Christians unlike any other!

God bless,

Lee Raney
Founder and President
Christian.com

I just launched a complementary site to this one- “Christian Social Networking News” on-line at www.ChristianSocialNetworking.org

While LinkedinJesus will remain my blog on this topic, this new site will include news from “the world” of Christian social networking, with news and articles posted by myself and other web ministry leaders.  It will include news about other social networks (not just my sites), and hopefully be a resource for current events and research on this important topic.

I just deleted a comment that someone posted to this blog.  It wasn’t too bad…the guy was being critical, and I did not agree with him.  He is entitled to his opinion, so I would have left his post up, except that he did not leave his name, link to his blog, or anything.  He (or she) commented on my blog…their first time here I am sure…and was critical right from the start.  I was left with 3 choices: 1) Ignore it and leave the critical post up there, 2) Post a rebuttal opinion (which I wrote and it was very good, but I deleted as well), or 3) Just delete it.  Since he left no info about himself or herself, I decided for option #3.

But I am wrestling with the same type of issues on FaithItUp.com.  When has someone gone too far, so that they should be deleted and banned from the site?  I don’t want it to be a subjective decision on my part, since then they will just get mad about it.  I plan to write some guidelines and policies, but does anyone know of some already out there?

Also, what about chat rooms and forums?  Any best practices for moderators and editors?

And back to this case…any best practices for editing your own blog comments?

Please reply if you know of any documentation, white papers, articles, sites, etc already dealing with these types of issues.

We are wrapping the acquistion of FaithItUp.com…

The site is also celebrating its one-year anniversary this month.  Here is our press release going out on Tuesday…

Social Network FaithItUp is the Place for Christian Friends

Fast-Growing Site Connects Christian Music Artists and Fans

DALLAS, May 27, 2008 – Social networking site FaithItUp.com is a lot like MySpace and Facebook, but serves the niche market of Christians seeking friendship and community on-line.  The website is celebrating its one-year anniversary this month, and has quickly grown to over 11,000 members.

The site has a lot to offer Christians, including blogging, chat, video sharing, games, and of course, making new friends.  One of the most popular features of the site is the “points game”.  By inviting friends and contributing on the site, members can earn points and play a game for the chance to win prizes such as Best Buy gift cards and an iPod Nano.

Over 800 Christian music artists are also on the site, connecting with their fans and finding new ones.  Music genres include Gospel, R&B, Rap, Rock, Latin, Praise & Worship, and Contemporary Christian.  Many of the artist’s profiles include a media player, allowing site members to listen to a sampling of the artist’s music on-line.  Each month there is a different featured music artist, as well as a frequent “Latin Artist in the Spotlight.”

The site membership is growing rapidly, and all Christians age 13 or older are invited to join. One member Joyce says, “I love it because it is very encouraging. I hope that more and more Christians will continue to come and continue to make it a great place to be.”

Site founder Manny Ramos attributes much of the site’s success in the first year to the hard work the members put into the site to get the word out.  Manny says, “At FaithItUp I have found some very genuine Christians who were looking and helping others deepen their relationship with our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ”.  The site’s new administrator, Lee Raney, is excited about the future for the site.  “If FaithItUp were a church that had grown to 11,000 members in the first year, it would be big news nationwide,” Raney observes.  “Of course we are not a church in the true sense, but as a community of Christians ministering to one another, serving one another, and doing life together, we can all grow in our Christian walk a little each day.”

In looking back at the success of the first year, FaithItUp is also looking forward to a bright future.  Additional funds are being invested in the site, and plans are underway for a site upgrade including new site features and some partnerships that will help the site keep pace with the ever-changing trends in social networking.  “By continuing to provide a safe and fun environment for God’s kids to ‘hang out’ on-line,” Raney says, “the ministry will continue to grow and reach thousands of people around the world.”

I am as excited today as I was 12 years ago about the incredible potential of the Internet for evangelism, ministry, and discipleship.  In 1996, I felt more than excitement…I believe now that it was a calling from God to be a pioneer in Internet ministry.  I am so thankful for all that God has done in my life since that time, shaping and preparing me in many ways, and continuing to give me insight into how to use the web and digital media for God’s glory and to touch millions of lives around the world.

In some ways the journey for me started back in the mid-90’s, but in other ways it is only now beginning.  I envisioned an on-line Christian community, a “social network”, many years before MySpace or Facebook were in existence.  Finally many years later, in 2008, we are getting ready to finally launch Christian.com, and my goal for the site is ambitious yet simple…to build the best Christian social network in the world. 

But not just a social network.  The site should be more than a “Christian Myspace” or a “Christian Facebook”. We can do better than a copy-cat of a secular site, and the vision is much bigger than that.  Christians need something special on-line, something unique, something…God-ordained.  And it has to be something that the community builds- not just me.  I have a lot of great ideas…and a few “God ideas”…but I am committed to the community - the site members who want to be a part of this vision - coming together and being a part of designing and building Christian.com.  It will not happen overnight, and will take some time and a lot of changes and improvements before we get it right.  “Continuous improvement” is what we will strive for.  But I think the outcome of the process will be something truly unique in Christian history- a community of millions of Christians worldwide “linked in Jesus” and growing together in spiritual maturity and in love for Christ and for one another.

So what is this blog all about?  I want to start the discussion on Christian social networking.  What should the “best Christian social network” look like?  How do we get there?  How can we build a site that is fun and engaging, and at the same time helps people in a simple process of discipleship?  And I am asking for your help as well.  Comments on this blog, as well as participation in the “Christian.com” Facebook group we are starting, are ways you can join in the discussion.  After all, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then Christian.com is your site…what kind of site do you want it to be?

Along the way, I’ll be blogging about things like podcasting, Web 2.0, church media, web ministry, technology news and trends, and what it all means for the Church.  There are many great leaders in these fields whom I already follow and who are already contributing to the discussion, so keep checking my Blogroll for some of these other bloggers who are fellow pioneers in new media ministry.

I’ll also share announcements here about Christian.com and the other sites of the Christian Web Network, as well as news about other notable Christian websites and ministries.  This won’t be a news blog per se, but I’ll share commentary and insights into Internet and technology news and events, and what it might mean for churches and for Christians.

So I hope you “digg” this blog, add it to your RSS reader and your blogroll, and join in the discussion as we continually seek God’s guidance in asking, “How can we use the Internet for Your glory, and to minister to people around the world?”