Netcasters is a short yet deep read (12 chapters, about 175 pages). In it, The author (Craig von Buseck, @churchwatch) dives into the question of “why” it’s important to consider digital spaces as applicable for missional, teaching, and discipleship activities. He then describes some of the activities happening online such as EveryStudent.com and Internet Evangelism Day. He then goes into some practical steps that computer savvy and not-so-savvy ministers and lay persons can take towards casting their net online. The content focuses more on social networking and pull-marketing-like methods in order to find, reach, and enable online ministry – though mobile and SMS is mentioned in passing.
Normally, I don’t have much a problem going into reading a book. I can usually get around everything from opinions to facts and simply enjoy the read. With Netcasters, the challenge was a lot different than I was accustomed to in respect to reading. Not only was I reading a subject that I have proficiency in, but I was reading a lot of the same information that I have posted here. It very much felt at times as if I was reading my own writings – and to anyone who knows that feeling of listening to your own voice, you can only take that so long before you need to put your ears into a different place.
That said, I came away from Netcasters feeling that this is still a timely read and useful resource for ministers who might otherwise be feeling overwhelmed with the pace and utilization of Internet technologies in faith, as well as general social contexts. von Buseck’s assessment of the potential for technology to play a part in ministry engagements is in one part still coming to pass, and in other respects is playing out exactly as he and others have foreseen. The challenge, as he notes several times in the last chapter taking about the crossroads of technology and faith, is that we don’t get discouraged as to what we have or don’t have, but just set ourselves towards this digital mission field and start/continue plowing forward.
Netcasters can be considered an old book in respect to writings on technology (published in 2010). When faith is added, there aren’t many solid materials in the faith-technology intersection and therefore this book finds itself as a solid resource guide for those looking to wrap their hearts and minds around the intersection of faith and technology, and what’s possible in this space. I would recommend this to any one with an inkling that digital spaces are ripe for ministry. But, not to stop at simply reading this, take some of the lessons and either join an existing effort or cast a net of your own to further ministry effectiveness in this space.
Netcasters: Using the Internet to Make Fishers of Men
Author: Craig von Buseck
© 2010, B&H Publishing Group
Print and eBook versions available via Amaon, CBN, B&N Publishing, and more
Your Mobile Effect, After Your Life
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011Those are certainly some important questions and caused me to make sure that my digital information and archives are put in a position that emergency personnel and my family/friends are able to make the right decisions concerning my properties. But, I was left at a bit of a loss when I thought about that effect in terms of digital spaces. Especially since I do a lot online (where I’m usually the teacher to my friends/family) and what I do I actually hope that it has more of an effect when I’m done than when I’m working in it.
The last part is what I’d want to open the door to. We have books like Foxe’s Book of Martyrs or even various commentaries and quotations of those who heard many fathers/mothers of the faith and recorded them. This is great, and has left for us an amazing wealth of knowledge and perspectives with which to mature our walk of faith. When we go digital, or our ministry is mobile (mobile = portable, action-oriented instead of doctrine-defining), how much of that becomes left into the residue that becomes the following generations of faith?
For example, you’ve taken Netcasters (read our review) to heart and have created a space where you’ve discipled several believers from various regions on how to create and share Gospel-centered literature. Your legacy looks like that of a pastor-teacher or evangelist, however the fruit of your labors isn’t that people copy your materials to others, but that they develop materials themselves to which is passed on. Does it matter if your name is written into the faithfulness of that effort? Does it matter if you did or didn’t do all you could to make this effort more successful? If you will, can your digital actions create – really, continue – in the rich history of using various technologies to share the impact of the love of Christ to the world?
I often ask, “in 100 years, when someone looks back on my life, will they be able to measure my life/actions against Scripture and it be clear that I am doing something in the same line of faith and love that the Bible records? Or, is what I do and how I live so far off that I’d be considered apostate and a sign of what not to do?” Does mobile (in) ministry look like the fruit of the faith? I surely hope so, but really, that’s something that will be judged better when I’m gone than when I’m here.
Tags: church history, commentaries, death, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, legacy, mobility, Netcasters
Posted in Commentary | No Comments »