Echo Conference

Clyde leads the Visual Story Network, a coalition launched to expand a global movement of visual story for the kingdom of God.  It is a partnership that researches, advocates and collaborates on new ways to reach people in our increasingly media saturated world. From 2000 – 2006 Clyde led the development of innovative media initiatives for the JESUS Film Project.  Be sure to check out Clyde’s breakout session, Going Global: A Movement of Visual Story.

ECHO: From your involvement with the Visual Story Network, it’s obvious that you’re a proponent of visual media. Do you think some in the Church maintain a perception that printed and verbal media are better suited than visual media to communicating spiritual messages?
CT: We advocate the model of preach, print and portray. For 1500 years, preaching was the primary communication platform of the Church.  The body of Christ adjusted well with the advent of the printing press and that accelerated the ability to communicate to a broader audience.  We now live in a visual world where it is critical to be able to portray Christ and kingdom.  Preach, print and portray can and should be complimentary.  The problem is too many people are still limited to preach and print and are missing tremendous opportunities to expand their impact.

ECHO: As Americans, we tend to focus a lot on the English-speaking, North American Church. How did you develop a global perspective for visual storytelling and the communication of the gospel?
CT: I was on a trip to North Africa in 2000 and I witnessed first hand how visual media was helping change the way the students viewed Christ.  That was when God began to orient me into the realm of media.  My heart has always been for those furthest from the Gospel.

ECHO: What kinds of things can people expect to learn in your Echo breakout session, Going Global: A Movement of Visual Story?
CT: We believe in 5-10 years it will be possible that every person encounters Christ and His kingdom every year through relevant visual media.  We’ll describe what it will take for that to become reality.

Drew Goodmanson serves as CEO of Monk Development and is co-founder/pastor at Kaleo Church.  Monk is an internet strategy and development company and Kaleo Church is a missional community, multi-site church planting movement in San Diego, CA. Drew spends much of his time thinking about church planting, web missiology and blogs about it at goodmanson.com.  He is teaching two breakout sessions at Echo that you won’t want to miss!

ECHO: Tell us a little bit about the State of the Church Online project.
DG: The State of the Church Online project was created to answer the question “What are the best practices for churches online?” In order to answer this question we are five months into our research and are beginning to document the findings. There are two areas of focus, the first is a church’s website and the second is the church’s social media engagement with sites such as Facebook or Tangle and private community providers such as MemberHubs, Church Community Builder, Unifyer or Cobblestone.
In the Church Website Study, we have over one hundred churches representing 20,000 members who have participated, over a thousand survey responses and 20 years worth of combined Google Analytics data to help us understand what is working, what people are doing, where they came from and what church members seek when they visit a church website.  At the end of the day we hope to share as much of this data to churches so that we all can benefit and the Kingdom advances.  I released some of this information in a series of webinars I did that are posted on Vimeo.  Articles will be published at Church Website Guide.
On the Social Media & Community Study we also have over a thousand survey responses and have numerous Christian social media sites and private communities participating.   We will look at analytic behavior on these sites as well as surveys and interviews of people and ministries using them.  We are excited to participate in this with several other leading companies who all desire to see the gospel shared.  We should have some initial results on this study in July in time for the Echo Conference.  This project is led by Kevin Ring of Unconventional Method. Kevin brings years of experience leading research projects – designing and executing strategic customer/competitive research and analysis across multiple industries, including work with companies such as Google, Yahoo!, Citibank, Hewitt Associates, Gallup, Bank of America and other Fortune 500 companies, ministries and non‐profits.

ECHO: So far, have you been surprised by any of the results from the research?
DG: Yes, but maybe surprised isn’t the right word.  On the church website study, based on the behaviors we are seeing, I believe most churches are designing their websites for the wrong primary audiences.  For example, many websites do a poor job of connecting new visitors and encouraging behaviors that are of value to the church.  We will seek to employ a triperspectival design process to quickly and effectively present the church’s vision (normative), impact the visitor toward sharing this vision (existential) and seek to encourage behaviors (situational) that the church desires.  These behaviors could include:

·        Low Value Behaviors: Subscribe to RSS, podcast, engage the church Twitter account.
·        Medium Value Behaviors: Sign-up for an Email, complete a Web Form or join the church’s Facebook group.
·        High Value Behaviors: Show up to a service, home group or other relational meeting.

The strategy will target new visitors but also seek to move the existing church community deeper into relationships and involvement.  We put together a Church Web Strategy Cooperative for early adopting churches who would like to participate and re-envision their web engagement based on this market research.
It is too early to say much on the Social Media & Community Study, there will be a much clearer picture in time for the Echo session.

ECHO: In what ways does Kaleo Church, where you’re a pastor, leverage media and technology?
DG: In many ways I have been waiting to learn from the studies so we have put a lot of things on hold until we could implement a new strategy.  The biggest thing we are doing is moving our community into Cobblestone, this private church community allows us to administrate our Missional Communities (groups of 10-20 people doing life together), classes, discipleship, connect people to serving opportunities and much more.  Secondly, we’ve always had a strong presence online so Kaleo Church has been an effective tool connecting people in San Diego to our community.   One sample of this was targeting people seeking a pastor to marry them (http://www.ekklesia360.com/church-assimilation-and-growth/) where we’ve seen people become Christians.

ECHO: Can you give us a preview of one of your Echo breakout sessions, Beyond the Web 2.0 Noise: How to use the Internet to Disciple & Create Real Community?
DG: Personally, I believe using technology to disciple and create community is where a lot of churches are wanting to move.  Technology can assist the local church so that people can spend more time on the relationships and rather than the facilitation of small groups or discipleship communities.  In this session we will look at what churches are doing, what is working and what may be a waste of time.  The session will include the data from several of the leading products used by churches, case studies and much more.  Again, while we have the data from congregational surveys I want to wait until we collect user data and do follow-up interviewing before I say too much.  I guess my encouragement would be if you want to know, attend the Echo Conference!

John Dyer works at Dallas Seminary as the director of web development where he also earned a theology degree. He is actively involved in several open source web projects, builds ministry resources such as www.bestcommentaries.com, and blogs about technology and faith at www.donteatthefruit.com.

ECHO: I find the combination of a web development career and a theology degree pretty interesting. How do those two things complement each other in your life and work?
JD: It feels like a pretty big responsibility. God has give me the chance to deeply study the greatest of all messages while also allowing me to work with one of the most powerful of human mediums. Along with a beautiful wife and wonderful son, I am a blessed man!
Early on, the worlds of technology and theology didn’t interact for me very often. Then I took a class on “Theology and Society” and read some books on the history of technology, and my eyes were opened to see that technology has been a major force in the world and in the church.
I continue my job in the technology world because I think technology has a place in the redemptive story of the Scriptures, restoring some of what was lost in the fall. At the same time, I think it can influence us in subtle ways, and we sometimes get a little too excited about its potential. Technology is shiny and fun, but when it comes to transforming lives it is terribly underpowered and overpriced compared to the Holy Spirit.

ECHO: Your technology & faith blog, www.donteatthefruit.com, is relatively new. What kind of feedback and response are you getting so far?
JD: So far the blog seems to be doing pretty well in terms of getting traffic and comments. There are several excellent resources out there on using technology for ministry, but not too many that look at technology from a theological perspective and ask questions about how it might shape who we are as humans created in God’s image.
Regarding numbers and web traffic, Dwight Shrute’s blog used to crack me up because below every post it said, “95 comments already.” That little word - already - seems to perfectly expose how we can sometimes get caught up in numbers and speed when talking about our blogs, followers, and friend counts. It’s tempting to think that popularity in numbers means that we’re actually doing something godly.

ECHO: Your Echo breakout session is titled, “Using Technology Without Technology Using You.” What is one way to know if technology is using you?
JD: I think a good thing for all of us to do is sit down with someone whom we normally thing of as not “getting it” about technology and really listen to what they have to say about how we in the technological generation look with all our gadgets and internets.

ECHO: Is there a new technological tool or trend that you’re particularly interested in or intrigued by? If so, why?
JD: There seems to be a trend of high profile individuals quitting facebook, twitter, blogging, and so on. These folks aren’t just cutting back or taking a break – they are deleting accounts altogether. I think this is important for all of us to take note of because if those who are at the top have trouble controlling these technologies who are we to think we’ll be immune if we reach the same level of success and popularity?
The other trend I’m happy to see is that people are taking note of authors like Shane Hipps and magazines like Collide which are attempting to think well and Christianly about technology and media, neither blindly rejecting it nor always eating the fruit.

Matt is the Director of Communications and Media at Lawton First Assembly, in Lawton, Oklahoma where he develops creative solutions in communications, brand development, and technology for ministry. Prior to joining Lawton First, he worked for television stations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom.  You can connect with Matt through his blog or on Twitter.

ECHO: Tell us about your background in digital media.
MK: For 14 years I worked in Broadcast News all around the United States and in United Kingdom. My work has been seen seen on all the major news networks in the United States and featured on SKY News and the BBC in Europe. I got my start as a TV Photojournalist in my home town of Harrisburg Pennsylvania at two local TV stations while in college. I then then ventured to Europe where I worked internationally as a photojournalist with the BBC in East Riding, England. After returning to the United States, I worked as a reporter in Springfield, Missouri.
In late 2002, I became the Director of Photography at a FOX Owned and Operated duopoly in Minneapolis, Minnesota where I was a mentor and leader to a group of 30 full-time photojournalists and 7 full-time editors.  In 2005, I was sent to Rome to cover the fragile Pope John Paul II and ended up covering his death, the mourning, and papal conclave for FOX News Channel and several other FOX affiliates around the country.
In 2007 I had the honor to lead my staff to national honors when the station was named runner-up as the National Press Photographers Association’s Station of the year as one of the best stations in the country for television photography.
My work alone has won many honors, including: Associated Press Southwest Press Photographer of the Year; 20 Emmy Awards; 2 RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Awards and more than other 70 Regional and National Awards.

ECHO: What led to your transition from working at TV stations to working at Lawton First Assembly?
MK: I have always been a person of great faith but never had the interest of working for or in a church. In saying that, I have always had a love for the kingdom and always felt communication and media should be focused and uniform in message. I’ve had what I like to call divine interruptions while working in TV, but a number of years ago there was a cataclysmic event that really got my attention.  While attending a church we never attended nor new anyone there someone interrupted a sermon calling me by name and delivering a word directed towards me, that I would use my gifts and talents in communication to help the kingdom one day.  Dude, that got my attention.  Another event happened like that almost 7 years later when I took some FOX VPs to the Willow Summit.
Those moments showed me I was desperately unhappy, I needed to change. Through that time God really began to work in me more through situation and the Holy Spirit and opportunities and conversations began to pop up.  Our move to Lawton First was not a flyby-night decision.  Matter of fact, it took almost a year-and-a-half for us to make the move.   Many would see the transition as bizarre or difficult, but it has be nothing but excitement and a blessing.

ECHO: What kinds of things are you working on at your church?
MK: I wear multiple hats at Lawton First, but I mainly oversee the Communications Department, including Print and Publication, PR, Creative Services, and Media.  My role is responsible for leading and developing the Lawton First strategy, increasing widespread participation and awareness of the overall vision. This includes capital campaigns to be conducted through various methods (e.g. donor events, grant applications, direct mail, online networking).
My true passion is simplifying and honing all communication corporate wide through the power of story.  We tend to make things a lot more complicated and more difficult than it really is. We are working on corporate wide re-brand and advertising to focus on being intentional about storytelling. We are reformatting the weekly Bulletin (yes we still have a bulletin) to include a storytelling element like a brief testimony and head shot. We are changing all promo videos to tell stories instead of just giving the four W’s. My experience and research finds that a good story is better than a good, factual promo video or someone telling you what they think you want to hear.
To put it simply we are going to stop recreating the wheel and go back to the tool of the Master which is “STORYTELLING.” In many ways, churches have focused to much on the cultural wave  that they lost their own unique voice. They lost their brand, their market place, and created fractured communication and presentation. Churches need to shift to less distraction and greater content. Or to put it another way, in the words of my dear friend Kem Meyer “Less Clutter, Less Noise”. Genuine communication that is simplistic wins.

ECHO: For people who are coming to Echo, what can they expect from your breakout session?
MK: Video production has changed; lightweight gear, no time…“make it good – fast”. Your ability to craft a look with digital cameras is more important now than ever. While there is a description for the session I want it to be kind of open and let the attendees direct where they want to camp the discussion.  But I’m planning on using live demonstrations with cameras and lights to teach simple, powerful techniques to use creative lighting in the studio and on-location to get dramatic results!  I hope to also show how if you don’t have the equipment, you can use everyday light to get the same effects.  If the readers on the blog want me to cover something different or specifically, please leave a comment, tweet me @mknisely, or send me a message on my website.