Why "You All" Should Be On Facebook

Facebook for Pastors: How To Build Relationships And Connect With People Using The Most Popular Social Network On The Internet by Chris Forbes.

So since my wife and I are moving to Dallas this summer I figured I would start with the phrase "you all" to get more familiar to our soon to be new surroundings.  That aside, "you all" should be on Facebook...and a lot of you already are.  This is a much needed book, and it looks like it beat to the market what is sure to be an onslaught of books on Facebook in the coming year.  Lots and lots of ministries and pastors have already discovered this poweful social networking tool, but not all know exactly how to most effectively use it.  And many are still wondering if they should even be on it, or if there are too many downsides to social networking since one cannot control a lot of the content, but it is rather organized and run by the leaderless community.

Let me begin with some reaons why everyone should pick up this book and read it:

1. It's free.
2. It's an easy to access e-book form.
3. You can read it in an hour.
4. If you desire, you can donate $10 for the book to Hearts and Hands International.
5. In the foreward, Greg Atkinson makes a "bold" and unapologetic claim for why you pastors need to be on Facebook.  And it is good.
6. Chris does a great job of laying out a simple and easy to use roadmap for using Facebook effectively.

I have been on Facebook for almost three years.  It was not by my doing either. One of my student leaders came to college group one night and announced to the rest of the group that he created a Facebook group for us and would be posting information for the ministry.  Within a matter of days our group grew to over 100 students and they were planning events, working collaboratively and exchanging information. Despite my initial objections, I was later won over and have been an "evangelist" for Facebook ever since.

Let me leave you with a few quotes from Chris Forbes:

We can't say if Jesus would or not, but Facebook is where people are.  I have spent the last few months thinking about social media and how it can be used in ministry.  I have come to the conclusion that many pastors could benefit their ministry if they would begin to use social media, and a good place to start your "Church 2.0" ministry is Facebook.

Social media (like Facebook) are not going away any time soon.  A new approach to communications has been opened up in the new media.  The question is will your ministry take advantage of the opportunity for communicating the gospel?  The biggest objections pastors offer for not being involved in social media is that it takes too much time.  Pastor's can't afford to simply "spend" time on something; the nature of their work demands that they "invest" it.  Just like any other investment, it must be weighed against the potential return.  In the past, the areas of highest return on investment of time and effort were found in technologies like the telephone and practices such as door-to-door visitation, but those days are gone, probably forever.  As time and technology have marched on, we have moved into a "Web 2.0" world where many of the old rules no longer apply and strategies that used to work no longer yield the results they once did.

Comments

[Lon]

so awesome, thanks the sharing this one!

[Rhett Smith]

Lon,

Cool. Let me know what you think of it when you read it. Pretty quick read also.

rhett