For many people the idea of social media seems to be a fad or something that is inconsequential in today’s society. For much of the last decade it was seen as the place for teens and unproductive young adults. Today it has become a force to recon with. This video pulls together some amazing statistics on just how social media is transforming our culture and our world.

This reality is on of the driving forces behind many NGO projects like the One Laptop Per Child program designed to decrease the digital divide between the haves and the have not’s. It is this same reality that makes the online presence of your church so important.

So, what is your church doing to be a part of the Social Media Revolution?

Let us know in the comments below.

Video by Socialnomics – Sources

It has been really exciting for us over the last 18 months of development, dreaming, planning, and working along side substance church in developing the software to the point that it is at.

The feedback we received from people visiting our booth was amazing. We loved getting to connect with people and hear about what God is doing in their ministries and churches.  It’s always a great reminder of just how big and awesome our God is.

Our plan from here is to continuing to develop the software to be even more cutting edge and integrative than it already is. There are some big plans in the works that we’ll be unveiling over the next several weeks here on the blog and over at nineteen05.com. So if you haven’t subscribed already… make sure you do!

Photo Left: Pastors Carolyn, Peter Haas, and Mark Mellen (Substance Church Staffers)
Photo Right: Haas’ with Myself and Jordan Prins (Nineteen05 Staff)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Following up our post on the Evolution of Video is this 4 minute video (by MadV)  that uses a communities response to a video to form this compilation of hope. I found it very inspiring, I also tried to find the original video clip but it was taken offline for some reason (likely when the owners account was hacked last week).

While there is a lower production value due to the heavy use of web-cams, the impact more than outweighs that drawback in my opinion. Your thoughts?

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Sometime over the next couple days we will no doubt hear about this man, Yves Rossi, in an aside to the news as he flies across the English Channel with a jet-pack. It will be a first and the Swiss born former fighter pilot is ready to give it a try.

Personally there are tinges of jealously and excitement as I hear about him setting out to do this. I don’t remember the number of tee-ball games I spent daydreaming in the outfield of doing amazing things like this. But what has come of nearly all of those childhood dreams? almost nothing.

While it is unlikely that anyone you or I know could pull off what Yves Rossi likely will, there are many things that those close to us, and those in our churches have dreamed of doing. Of the people in the pews next to us and those we meet up with for lunches and coffees there are two different types.

Two Types of People

First there are the go getters who will start something new at the drop of a pin. We tend to call these people entrepreneurs if they tend to be successful more then not. When they tend to fail more then succeed we call them something like overly ambitious (or other more flowery terms). To get these people going you just have to let them know its OK to give it a try. Many times by simply making a blanket statement encouraging people to try something new will be enough to light their fire.

Secondly there are those who have similar dreams and passions but hesitate to put those dreams into action. Its important to realize that those who fall into this group (the vast majority of the population) aren’t any less skillful or successful then others when it comes to accomplishing/reaching dreams. They do, for many different reasons, need encouragement and a friendly push to get started.

Many times I have worked with people who just needed a sounding board to talk through problems with and as time went on they realized that they really did get it. Their confidence grew, and their dream became more and more of a reality.

Lastly it’s important to realize that dreams don’t all have to be big and grandiose (like our rocket man above). Many people would love to just be welcomed into helping fix things, or to improve the way something functions.

We in the church need all kinds of people, otherwise God would have made us all the same. My question for you is;

What can you do this week to help others turn their dreams into reality?

When leaders don’t fail, no-one else will ever innovate.

Who has ever heard of someone achieving success without failing first? Every professional athlete spends more time practicing and lets not forget they were all amateurs before turning pro.

So why do we manage as if we should only experience/expect success and not failure. Those failures are the building blocks of their success. They might be of yours as well if you don’t push them away.

Leaders have to take risks that both succeed and that fail. Without this no one will feel the freedom to take steps of their own (in addition to your explicit encouragement). This molds the culture that your organization projects, both externally and internally, and will determine if you will raise up innovators from within or not.

The problem here is that we love boasting and reminiscing in our successes. If we only have success, or never talk about our failures, those around us will fear trying to live up to your standards. The more humble we are, the more accessible opportunity (and then innovation) will become to those around us.

In the last post we talked about how the focal point (mission statement) can inhibit innovation through suffocation. Here we’ll talk more about developing that culture.

Do you live on the wild side?

I’m not talking about late nights out, or alternative sports (as in the pictures). I am talking about making mistakes because of trying new things on a regular basis. Trying things that in all reality probably won’t work, but trying them because if they do it will

The next step is to manage your people and resources loosely. I realize that you are working for a non-profit and these resources are hard to get. But if you simply sit on what you have it can’t do anything to help your mission. You have to take chances, and let others take them as well.

If you aren’t, then you will be creating an atmosphere that doesn’t encourage others to try new things. This doesn’t mean that innovative people might not come into your organization, but if you can cultivate them you will have many more.

Note: I’m not encouraging you to throw what has been trusted to you away. But you have to take measured risks if you want to see growth.

It’s important to make sure all efforts are towards the mission statement (see Strategic Planning), and that they are measurable. When things are successful this gives numbers to empower others, and also allows you to pull the plug when ideas don’t succeed.

Here are some quick tips to starting anything new:

• How does it fit into the mission?
• How are you giving them freedom to fail?
  • What reward will their be regardless of its success?
• What measures it as successful (time and amount)?
• What is the projected end goal of the effort?

Additional Resources

Strategic Planning: A bunch of resources (I recommend this and this) by the Free Management Library

Plan Implementation: Strategic Planning FAQ – Implementation by the Alliance for Non-Profit Management

Images: Unknown and Lance at the Midwest Skier Open 2004 by Paul Prins