Using Twitter for Ministry Part 2

Twitter is the “new” thing. Newspapers,TV Stations, Hollywood stars and even Oprah are now using Twitter. Maybe you are wondering, “What is Twitter?”  Twitter says it is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

The brilliance of Twitter is that it is simple. You send out a short (140 character) message to all those who are following you. You follow other people and receive their updates. There are many ways people are using Twitter. I thought I would share with you 5 ways you can use Twitter for Ministry. Last month I covered the first two. Here are the last three.

     3) Connect with Christ-followers in your Church.

Twitter (and Facebook) are a great way to stay connect with the people in your church. My twitter updates automatically go into Facebook.

I use Twitter to show our church what I’m doing. The joke is that a Pastor only works one day a week. When I send out our eNewsletters I have a link that says, “What is Matt Doing?” I want our church to see examples of me out serving in the community. I want them to see me developing relationships with Non-Christians. I want them seeing me taking my kids to sports practice and taking my wife out on a date. I want them to see me studying the Bible and working on my messages.

Twitter shows authenticity and transparency. One woman found us online and emailed me. She said she had a bad experience with a church and specifically had a trust issue with a Pastor. I told her to follow me on Twitter so she could see the real me.

    4) Listen to the Needs of Your Community

I follow and friend people in our church so that I can keep up with what is going on in their lives. I can make comments and encourage them or challenge them when necessary.

We have a woman in our church who uses her spiritual gift of encouragement online. Almost every day she is encouraging people on Twitter and Facebook. She listens for things people say like, “Is it Friday yet?” or “I’m so tired. I didn’t sleep well last night!” and then comments back encouraging words.

I use Twitter’s search functionality to try and listen to what people are saying about our community, or schools or our church. When someone says something positive – I “retweet” it. If someone says something negative I try to discover the need and do what I can to help.

     5) Meet and Develop Relationships with the UnChurched in Your Area.

I purposely follow everyone on Twitter that I notice is from Portland because I have a chance to meet them. “Tweetups” are where a group of people who use Twitter meet up in person. Over the last few months I’ve been to three different tweetups. I have had a chance to meet several people who I follow and who follow me.

When my wife was sick and scheduled for an MRI I asked for prayer. I had many comments from people saying they were praying. I had a few interesting responses from people who are not Christians. One said, “Just in case there is anyone or anything out there—I’ll pray.” Another said, “I’m not the praying kind but I’ll send good thoughts her way.” Another said that she would think happy thoughts.

I have had deep spiritual conversations with people I found through Twitter. Some have been face-to-face conversations over coffee and some have been “virtual” on Twitter. Twitter is a great way to meet people and help connect them to God.

Are you on Twitter? Follow me at twitter.com/mlpayne.

Using Twitter for Ministry Part 1

Twitter is the “new” thing. Newspapers, TV Stations, Hollywood stars and even Oprah are now using Twitter. Maybe you are wondering, “What is Twitter?” Twitter says it is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

The brilliance of Twitter is that it is simple. You send out a short (140 character) message to all those who are following you. You follow other people and receive their updates.

One reason Twitter has taken off so quickly is that there are many ways to access the information. You can go to twitter.com on your computer or m.twitter.com on your cell phone browser. You can download computer software (PC or Mac) like Tweetdeck or you can use Twitter on your phone via text message. If you have an iPhone or Blackberry you could download one of the many applications.

There are many ways people are using Twitter. I thought I would share with you 5 ways you can use Twitter for Ministry. I’ll cover the first two this month and finish-up next month.

     1) Dialogue With and Learn From Other Church Leaders.

I follow all Pastors and ministry leaders because I can learn from them. I follow megachurch pastors and small church pastors. I follow leaders of new churches as well as leaders from churches that have been around for 100 years. I have met many of them face-to-face at conferences.

I hired my worship pastor (@jclayville) through Twitter. We’ve gotten tech advice from our Twitter followers when we needed a new projector and presentation software for our MacBook Prol. I brought in a guest speaker to our church whom I had never met because of our relationship with her via Twitter. As a church we are part of the NewThing (newthing.org) Network and I regularly keep in touch with other Lead Pastors who are in the Network. We dialogue and collaborate weekly.

   2) Promote your Church Website or Blog.

Twitter is a great marketing tool. I send out tweets like this: “Live in Portland and don’t have plans for Mother’s Day yet? Check out Church! at Bethany as we start a new series entitled, “Suburban Legends.” I received a reply tweet that said, “We’re going to come visit your church soon, in the next couple weeks!”

Whenever we update our website I post links to Twitter. Whenever I make a blog post I send the link out via Twitter. More people now come to my blog because of Twitter than any other place.

Are you on Twitter? Follow me at twitter.com/mlpayne.

Where Did Jesus Go?

I grew up in a Pastor’s family and I went to a Christian College. After college I went to churches where I was basically paid to take care of church members. For the first 30 years of my life I was sheltered from the non-Christian world. I moved to Portland, Oregon in 1999 to start a church but God had a lot to teach me so we didn’t start Church! at Bethany until 2006. For several years I spent time working various jobs in secular environments and the result was that I began to love lost people.

As a church planter I have the responsibility of setting my own schedule, which is both a blessing and curse. A lot of pastors find themselves in offices barricaded behind the church doors away from lost people. Our tendency as Christians is to separate ourselves from the world. We have Christian concerts and Christian schools and Christian TV but is that what Jesus did?

Lately I’m asking myself where did Jesus go? As a follower of Jesus I want to do what He did and go where He went.

When I read the Gospels I discover that Jesus went where lost people were gathered. He went to wells and weddings and tax collector’s houses. Jesus spent his time out in the community ministering to people. When I look at our culture I think that Jesus would hang out at coffee shops and go to sporting events and I think Jesus would be involved in the local community.

Because of that belief I have purposely scheduled a majority of my time to be out in the community. Before we started the church I joined the local Chamber of Commerce. I took a Leadership class sponsored by the city and Chamber to learn about the history, social needs, culture, and government of the community. For the past year I have served on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce developing relationships with several business and government leaders.

Instead of spending lots of money on leasing an office I spend my time in coffee shops. Instead of spending money on expensive real estate we meet in a public school. Even my leisure time is spent with people from the church and community attending public sporting events. I spend time coaching in the local basketball league and volunteer at the public school where my kids attend.

For past couple years God has been using me to plant and water seeds. He has moved me from behind a desk out into the community.

Jesus’ last words to his disciples were this: “Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 (emphasis mine).

Where are you going?

Who’s Following You?

Social media is the hot thing right now. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks are growing exponentially. More and more of us are “life-casting” our every activity, thought and feeling via YouTube, Ustream, and blogs. We are becoming a very public society.

I want to ask you a question. “Who’s Following You?”

I get multiple friend requests on Facebook and dozens of new follower notices from Twitter each day. Many are friends from High School or College. Several are church planters and other Pastors from across the country. A growing number of followers however are people who live and work around me. Some are from the church but most are people who follow me because of my association with the local Chamber of Commerce or because I am Portland Trailblazer fan or because I tweet about technology.

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomena taking place. This week a couple of non-Christians I had a Chamber of Commerce meeting with joked about my sermon on tithing. How did they know I had preached on the topic? They follow me on Twitter and I tweeted, “Church went well. Only one person walked out when I started talking about tithing.” Last week a 70 year old Christian woman started a conversation with me about how many coffee meetings I have each day. How did she know that? She reads my Facebook status updates. Now when I call my mom to tell her what’s been going on she says, “I know. I read that on your blog.” My wife even changed her Facebook status to say: “Is it sad that I have to check Facebook to know where my husband is?”

We live in a new age! There are many applications that can analyze your Twitter influence or grade your blog. I’m not so concerned about the number of your followers but I am concerned with what they see. As they follow you what do they see? Do they see an arrogant, uncompassionate, know-it-all or do they see a humble, empathetic, struggling-to-figure-it-all-out follower of Christ?

My prayer is the same as Paul’s in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (NIV) I want my followers to see the real me. I want them to see my struggles. I want them to see my faith in tough times as well as good times. Most importantly I want them to see Jesus!

Followers are young and old. They are Christians and Non-Christians. A caution in this always-connected world is to be careful what you post because you never know who’s following you!