Collide Magazine

Well, those blinking yellow lights are back, which means school is back in session for some of our readers (or it’s about to be), but for the rest of us, that ship has sailed. However, one thing my father has always told me is to never stop learning.

As Proverbs 18:15
 says, “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out.”

So, as our culture continues to grow and change, this is a challenge we all must take on if we want to stay on top of culture and even lead the way. I’ve personally taken this challenge to heart and am constantly trying to learn new things and skills.

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Lately, I’ve noticed how many great bands are grouped together alphabetically in my iTunes library. (Before we go any further, yes, I realize this might be the byproduct of a mild psychological disorder.) That led me to a random hypothetical: If you could only listen to artists from one letter of the alphabet for one month, what letter would you choose?

Right now, I’m leaning toward “C”: Castanets, Cat Power, Centro-Matic, Cloud Cult, Coconut Records, Cold War Kids, Coldplay, Colin Meloy, Conor Oberst, Cool Kids, and Counting Crows.

That’s a pretty solid lineup in my opinion, but you could make a strong case for “D”: Damien Jurado, David Bazan, David Crowder Band, David Gray, Death Cab for Cutie, Decemberists, Derek Webb, Doug Burr, and Dr. Dog. Not bad.

Scroll through your library and let me know what you favorite letter is, and why.

If in some bizarro parallel universe I was an executive pastor (or whoever does the hiring at churches these days) and I was interviewing candidates for a ministry position that involved working with people between the ages of 12 and 30, I’d ask you about your vision and strategy for the ministry (youth ministry, college ministry, young adults ministry, whatever). I’d listen with great interest as you talked about discipleship, community, service, outreach, etc. I’d even ask you good questions about how you see those things fitting together and how you’d develop each of those initiatives. Then, when it was all said and done, and I’d heard your vision and strategy, I don’t think I’d hire you if you failed to mention your plan for leveraging social media. At the very least, I’d keep interviewing candidates in hopes of finding someone with similar passion and qualifications who was also social media-literate.

The ways in which 12-30 year-olds communicate and connect has radically changed in the last few years, and frankly, as someone who wants to minister vocationally to that demographic, I’d expect you to understand that. On top of that, there are too many free or inexpensive tools out there—ROOV, Twitter, Facebook Groups & Pages, MyChurch, Flickr, Vimeo, Ning, and on and on—for me to be enthusiastic about a job applicant who is unaware of them and their potential for ministry application.

If I’m choosing between several equally-qualified candidates, I wouldn’t hire you unless without a competent plan for leveraging social media in ministry to emerging generations.

What do you think? Am I overrating the importance of social media-literacy among would-be church staffers? If you are a would-be church staffer, have you thought through your social media strategy?

Well, it has been a crazy week here at COLLIDE, but the Sept/Oct issue is finished and ready for the printer. So now, let’s take a deep breath and look back together at this Week In Review.

• Who is your church website for? Visitors, members, or both?
• Will podcasting be replaced with videocasting?
• Tim Stevens shares some of his notes from the Echo Conference.
• Internet radio Pandora may be on its way out soon. Say it ain’t so!
• Slate recently surveyed the growing multi-site church trend (HT: Rhett Smith). 
• What will churches look like in the future? And no, this has nothing to do with the Jetsons.
• The world’s tallest building is almost completed and is breathtaking. Seriously, if you’re afraid of heights, don’t click on this!
• The free mixtape sharing website, Muxtape, has been shutdown by the RIAA.
• Bigfoot was found dead, and not real. Glad to have that one settled.
• Why should the church care about art?
• Ever wonder what to do with an old book? Turn it into art.
• What’s makes for a good, successful blog?
• Alan Noble gives us 5 ways to avoid pop culture. 
• Brush up on your Twitter etiquette by reading this article. 
• Intel demos a wireless electricity system that’s impressive yet scary. Can’t help but think this will cause cancer.
• Freaky new lifelike animation is, well, freaky and lifelike. Move over Max Headroom.

Have a great weekend and keep your eyes and ears open for the upcoming issue of COLLIDE!

It’s Thursday, which means the Sept/Oct issue is pretty much done. It also means it’s time for Videos of the Week.

If you’re having trouble learning the periodic table of elements, then this video is for you.

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