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If you haven’t seen it already, Twitter released a new app called Periscope.  Periscope takes the social media communication experience to a new level by adding a new dimension of live video to the conversation.  People can now connect with their friends in live time which is a shift from the more static post that was previously available.

What is Periscope?

Periscope provides you the tool to create a simple, live broadcast.  People can join your broadcast and hear anything you have to say.  The conversation takes place as viewers are able to add comments in the box provided.  This obviously brings in some concerns as virtually anyone could join you, and there are few filters on the discussion.  However, like any web technology today, there are pros and cons that we must each consider.  For a church, there may be several ways to use Periscope that can open the virtual ministry of the church, but use your own discretion.

How to use Periscope?

1. Download the App to your iPhone (there is an Android version that was recently released)

2. Sign in using your Twitter account.

3. Click to start a broadcast.  Name it something to entice visitors or share with your followers.

4. Use your phone’s camera to host your live broadcast.

5. Invite your followers and friends.

Using Periscope for your Church?

Periscope has some obvious uses for a church.  The most obvious is to broadcast your church service.  This is a free way to enable live streaming of your worship service.  Here are 3 other ways you could use Periscope for your church.

1. Give a virtual tour of your facility.  Enable the cast and give a virtual tour of your church building.  You can save this video to your phone’s camera roll.  From there, you could upload to another service for display later (e.g. facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)

2. Host a question and answer session with the pastor.  Are you preaching a series that may be supplimented by specific questions?  Host these live on Periscope.  Advertise when the broadcast will be live and invite people to attend and type in their questions.

3. Have a live broadcast to introduce your staff and/or volunteers.  Your leadership is busy and probably doesn’t have the time on Sunday mornings for people to get to know them.  Use this opportunity to interview a person on your team so people from your church can know them more.
Saving Periscope Videos?

Use the comment section below and let us know ways you are using Periscope for your church.

 

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, we live in a lost world.  Like any thing on the web, when we open the doors to do good, the opportunity for bad stuff opens as well.  While there is a usage policy and Periscope Community Guidelines published, there is still content you may not agree with.  Like anything online, use your best judgement and understand that once something is live online, its available for the world to see.  Remember, we are to be a light in a dark world. Matthew 5:14.

We’re doing an informal survey with planters who have launched their churches asking the question, Who from your core group or launch team is left?

Now I realize that semantics can play a big role in this. For most, a launch team is by design not supposed to last once the church has started. That aside, we’d like to know how many people who started with you are still around after 6 months, 1 year, 3 years.

Please respond in the comment section and let us know.

Setup your response as:

start = # people or couples
6 mos = # people
1 yr = # people
3 yr = # people

We’ll hopefully be able to put out the results albeit informally.

Thanks in advance for your time!

I repeatedly get asked by pastors and church leaders about Facebook. Each time the conversation is similiar; usually a pastor that understands the need to utilize facebook for their ministry, yet is concerned about losing the personal touch with people.

Scott Ginsberg, a great author and friend of mine recently posted on his Twitter feed that “You can manage relationships with software, but you can only nurture them with humanware.”  He makes a great point about the balance that needs to be taken between using software to manage your friends, but we still need the personal interactions for more meaningful connections.

Here are a few thoughts for utilizing Facebook for your ministry.

1. Look for personal pages of your visitors on facebook and “friend” them. Seems simple and almost a bit corny, but that small measure could end up being the connection that brings that family to your church. Plus, it adds a great, non-invasive way for you to maintain a connection with your visitors.

2. Keep your posts simple, yet engaging Once again, this could sound like an oxymoron. However, people will appreciate thought provoking posts rather than letting people know how many times you opened your car door yesterday.

3. Share the posts of others. There are millions of people in the social media realm. Follow other pastors and leaders that you can relate with. Almost everyday one of them will post something relevant to your ministry that could benefit the people who follow you.

4. Follow others who share your values and interests. This became glaring apparent today as I found another blog post both re-iterating my point, but also providing a few extra solutions on using social media. Check out Michael Hyatt. His blog post today, 5 Steps to Building a Platform When You Hate Selling Yourself, filled in the gaps of my post and will be very beneficial to you as you develop your ministry social media platform.

 

Many pastors are looking at social media with skepticism while others embrace it. I have heard the arguments on both sides and in many ways can agree with both. There is, however, no debate that people are utilizing social media as a major communication tool and we are doing a disservice to not adapt our methods to include it into our ministries.

If you’d like to know more about how to include social media in your ministry, get in touch with us and we’ll help you out.

How many potential visitors (lost souls) could you have reached last month on Facebook?