It is amazing how divisive the topic of using social media in the church setting can be these days.

It’s being treated like a completely wild animal on the loose by some.  Some pastors’ take is to ban all social media and prohibit church staff and lay leaders from using Facebook and other social media — people in this camp position it as Satan’s work.

But what happens when social media becomes more than a fad?  But a new mode of communication like the telephone, or fax, or email, or . . .is it proper to ban it altogether vs. find some other creative approaches to address the concerns at hand?

I’m guessing the fundamental position on social media in the church is largely determined by how one perceives how and where the social web fits into the picture today and in the future.

Here’s one take that makes the bare bones basic appeal for the church to use social media.   On one hand, I’m surprised that such arguments have to be articulated out loud.  On the other hand, I guess the web 2.0 world has evolved so fast relative to other emergent technological innovations in communication that it can’t be addressed enough.

Check out this short video segment of a presentation on social media any why the church should embrace it. . . (more…)

When the web started entering into everyone’s vocabulary, churches began to feel the pressure of getting on the web. Today, the web has become part of daily living, and it is a critical touchpoint to reach people before they physically enter your church doors.

It’s just a fact of life now: more people will visit your website first before they first visit your church.

But something new and old is happening. In one sense, it feels so familiar — just like the seismic shift we saw with the mass adoption of the web itself. But now it’s about something different — every church feels like they should be figuring out what to do with. . . Facebook and Twitter.

For those still sitting on the fence, it’s sometimes helpful to hear what others are doing. Some church tech companies are starting to share case studies and tutorials for how to approach the new social media platforms. Here’s one video webinar that you may want to watch: CLICK TO WATCH.

This presentation is aimed at medium-to-large churches, but it’s a good glossary intro for any sized church on why your church should be considering reaching out to those on the social media platforms.

Today, Facebook flipped the switch on Len Sweet. Apparently a “hater” reported one of Dr. Sweet’s Napkin Scribbles podcast links as “hostile.”

It goes to show you that the power of the press is certainly alive. It also shows how the Internet has democratized everything. The power of one can shut down a megaphone for Xtianity with one simple email. We are at the mercy of the Google’s, Facebook’s and Twitter’s of the world.

Perhaps it is time to see the power of P2P networks and figure out how ‘the people’ can harness it for syndicating content via our micro-blogging venues. But that’s a whole different blog post.

Because of this one hater report, his iTunes podcast landing page URL actually got onto some of the major URL blacklist / spam lists for ISPs within hours — and it will stay blocked via various means until they do a manual review to wipe it off. (for example, tinyurl.com won’t allow you to create a shortcut URL to it because it thinks it is malware now).

Well in the meantime, here’s the actual podcast that got Len Sweet banned from Facebook and other places. Sit back and enjoy some censored content right now:

We won’t know what the original report had an objection to, but can you find anything in this podcast that might be deemed offensive or hostile?  Leave a comment below.