The Limitless

This post began as a disjointed and rambling series of thoughts on the modern evangelical church, and the state of evangelism in it.  It hasn't changed much, so please excuse me if my thoughts trail off.

I actually began teaching on this subject some in my church, when asked to fill in for people.  I think I might provide a "different" perspective on what evangelism and witnessing is and should be.  In my Marketing 101 class in college, a definition of "marketing" was given that has stuck with me for several years:  the study and act of connecting people with needs, wants, and desires with the goods, products, and services that will meet those needs, wants, and desires.   Or at least it was something to that effect.  I think we, as Christians, can learn a lot from marketing concepts, when it comes to how we connect with people around the Gospel.

The methods by which the Gospel has been shared have changed very little over the last several hundred years.  In that time, the culture itself has changed so dramatically, so many times, that what was relevant to the average person in the 1600's is totally foreign to the same average person today.  I'm not talking about the Biblical methodology of salvation, found in Romans 10:9,10, and 13.  I'm talking about the way we connect with other people, and share the message of Jesus, personally.  I'm sure we can name tons of programs, gimmicks, and special events that churches have used for centuries to get people to come into the church, and hear the Gospel, and accept Jesus.  Some have seen amazing successes in their day, but in an era when the most successful messages are preached around seeker-sensitive talking points, and sin is never mentioned, it's difficult to find a modern counterpart to any of those that actually works.

I think we can learn a lot from how the business world approaches these same changes, and an incredibly important lesson is that during times of true cultural changes, the business world is not afraid to throw out the old and irrelevant methods of reaching people, and adopt new methods.  Since the industrial revolution, we've seen amazing changes in the way businesses sell and market their products.  Once upon a time, what mattered was that you built the best of something, and people would "beat a path to your door."  We've been through times when sales were push-centered, and ads focused mostly on "selling" a product on features and benefits.  We came through the pull-centered era when marketing worked to built interest and desire, and encourage people to come looking for your product.  And now ... well who knows what works.  The internet is in the process of revolutionizing the ways we connect and  communicate socially, and businesses want to be involved in the change.  The problem is, no one really knows quite what it will look like once it really comes into maturity.

During those same times, the message of the Gospel has largely stayed the same.  We're still attempting to reach people using methods and practices that may have worked 200 years ago, but haven't changed in respect to the cultural shifts, and changes in societal attitudes towards Christianity.  We have a relatively secularized society today, where few people "judge' you for indulging in any kind of sin, however not that long ago, you could very easily be a social pariah in some areas for being a pregnant teen, or a light drinker.  As society and cultures change,what is "relevant" to people hearing the Gospel changes as well.  Jesus was a master at making the Gospel relevant for his listeners, by telling parables that related to them and their daily lives.  But we're still trying to reach hi-tech, text-messaging, and connected young people with a message intended for pre-industrialized agrarian peoples.

We have a very real problem . . . and these ridiculous Christian Rock Bands, and skateboard ministries are far from a relevant Gospel - they are hokey imposters.  The problem is this:  in order to remain relevant, the Church has been trying to become more like the world, hoping to attract more people, but has made itself impotent and ineffectual in the process.

I'm hoping that we can begin to rethink how the Gospel is shared, while maintaining the integrity of the teachings of Holiness that can show us how to be sold-out, on-fire Christians who live a life of service to God, and not ourselves.

I left desktop apps behind awhile back.  I love Google's apps, and except for at work where Office is the standard, I use Google Docs, Calendar, etc, for everything.  Everything except Slide Presentations.

I use slide shows a lot at work, and I'm a pretty heavy user.  I like to use animations and special effects, and if I needed to show to be portable, Powerpoint is the de facto standard, and a USB drive could move my presentation into any setup.  Google Docs "Presentation" is woefully inadequate in that regard, and to share, it requires someone to have a google account, or requires me to sign on to what might be someone else's computer to display it.

Amidst about 1,412 booths at SXSW, hawking various social media analytics tools, SlideRocket was a pleasant find.  It's really easy to use, and allows both imports and exports from PowerPoint.  Some Most animations didn't transfer over, and had to be rebuilt, but it does at least allow for great interoperability if the situation calls for it.  For a visual geek like me, it has a number of unique animations and effects that aren't in the standard PowerPoint toolbox, and, unlike about 75% of Powerpoints, they don't come off looking cheesy in a business presentation.

Ready for your presentation, but you have to present from a different computer?  SlideRocket allows your shows to be published to a public link, or even embedded on your website or blog.   

... wow.

For me, the extra online features, and unique styling makes SlideRocket an EVEN MORE compelling product than anything from Microsoft thus far.  Of course, not everything is free.  They have free and paid accounts, depending on your needs.  The one feature I think my experience with SlideRocket leaves me begging for is an online presentation mode, that allows me to walk someone else through my slideshow as they view it.  90% of what I see on GotoMeeting and the like are PowerPoint presentations, and with that feature, I could drop that service as well.

So seriously, try it out and see how it works for you.  I'm amazed at how far web apps have come, these days, and for anyone who makes presentations regularly, you'll be glad you gave it a try.

Where are you?

For the last 4 years, Twitter and Facebook have been asking the question, "What are you doing?"  But in 2010, location is King, curation is Queen, and context is the bratty kid.  I've made my share of jokes about how often the word "location" was used at SXSW this year, but the rise of location-aware apps and services is truly remarkable, and is maturing to the point where I think we can really begin to visualize a world of persistent, relevant, and contextual information.

The real gem for me from SXSW was Whrrl.  A relatively small player, and one that gets no respect from the major sites like Mashable, it seems to be the service that "gets it."  There's some room for improvement, but so is there in Foursquare and Gowalla.  But the things it does right . . . it does them so, so right.  On my first day at SXSW, I was approached by a Whrrl street team member in front of Downtown Burgers, the only place I could find to eat that day.  If I checked in with Whrrl, then I would get 50 cents off my order. . . and a T-Shirt.  Which I never got.  I'm still upset about that.

Anyway, I downloaded the Whrrl app on my iPhone and checked in.  It immediately looked quite a bit different than Foursquare, but I didn't spend much time wondering at it.  I forgot about it until day 3 . . . or 4?  Who can remember... it all just bleeds together into one giant location-techy buzzword festival of colossal proportion.  I had the pleasure of meeting some bloggers that work with Collective Bias, and were Whrrl afficionados.  When I checked in and discovered that each of us check in together could upload pictures to create a joint story ... a shared photographic and commenting experience, I began to see just what Whrrl offered that was so unique.  

I kept playing with the app, and the website, and after getting a friend to try it out on a recent geocaching expedition, and embed it in his blog, I have to say - Whrrl is on to a winning formula here.  They want to help stop Facebook Rut, and I have to say, the gameplay is fun, the collaborative story-telling and sharing experience is so compelling, I've found myself interacting with people in new ways on a daily basis, and getting them to sign in to my Whrrl check in also.

With our society seemingly more and more pulled into accepting the relational placebo of online social sites, these kinds of apps are a breath of fresh air that actually help spark conversations and shared real world experience with other live human beings again.  The uses are impressive, and I've found myself, more than once, trying a new restaurant, or ordering something I wouldn't normally get because of recommendations from other Whrrlers.  I'm excited in general, about where these kinds of services are taking us in the future, and the ability to find new things based on my location, preferences, and social graph . . . and out of all the services I've tried, Whrrl definitely was the one that stood out the most at SXSW.  Now if only it can get the users that Foursquare has, to build up the community to match.

The first couple of days at SXSW have been pretty crazy.  The very first panel I wanted to see was packed out, and I began to worry if this would be a theme for the rest of the conference.  Luckily, most people are not actually here to work or learn, and most panel rooms are significantly larger than the grave mistake of a room that the Social Marketing panel was in on Friday.  

I suppose it could also have something to do with the fact that no one was yet drunk.

For those of us who did attend to actually glean information from experts to take back and improve our careers with, there were some great panels to see.  I've been really impressed by a couple of panels I've been to, especially the Content Strategy FTWsession today with Kristina Halvorson, and I'll be writing soon about how I'm implementing those ideas professionally . . . but for now, I will suffice with this list of things I've learned about SXSW.

Things I've learned about SXSW:

• If you want traffic, you need boobs, kittens, and top 10 lists (perhaps I should've made this a top 10 things I learned?)
• Screenburn Arcade only has 2 booths with a game to play, and lots of people learning to draw half-naked ladies - for use in high-fantasy RPG's, one would assume
• No one actually knows anything about how to make money blogging
• The most promising panels are the most likely to get distracted and talk about memes for 45 minutes
• Google Employees are arrogant know-it-alls with a god-complex

On a tangential note, Aloft Hotels have walls made from paper.  Do Not Want.

Oh, and Capybaras are backseat drivers.