My friend Scott Aughtmon is the pastor of Pathway Church in Palo Alto, California. At one time in his life, though, he was an internet entrepreneur and marketer. One of his best products was a series of recommendations from a group of well-known internet marketers, all compiled into one e-book.

When Scott first told me about that e-book as we visited at a local Starbucks, he also told me that he had a vision to do something similar, but this time gathering the advice of well-known youth pastors.

It was exciting then, to receive an email from Scott about a month ago telling me that he had released the e-book, entitled How To Build A Lasting Student Ministry. Although I’m not involved in youth ministry myself, I purchased the e-book and have read through it, albeit somewhat quickly.

I received my copy of The Blogging Church a couple of days ago.

I’ve been following the progress of the book for months now ever since it was announced on author Brian Bailey’s blog, Leave It Behind. And so it was exciting to finally receive an email from Amazon telling me the book was on its way to my home! But alas, I’m in the midst of a big project and didn’t have time until this evening to give it more than a cursory look.

After it had sat on my desk for a couple of days, I finally picked it up this evening to read a bit and was immediately intrigued by a couple of statements from the Foreword, written by Ed Young, Senior Pastor of Fellowship Church:

I have a daughter in college, and she uses technology in a whole new way. There’s a generation coming that spends a huge part of their lives online. A creative church, a spiritually mature church, is one that is comfortable with uncomfortableness. You wouldn’t be reading this book if you weren’t willing to do a lot of different things, to get outside of the box, in order to reach those who don’t know Jesus Christ. The church has to be willing to change, go into new places, and be uncomfortable, or we will no longer matter to the people who matter so much to God.

and ....

Is blogging about you, or is it about others? When a blog is all about us, we turn inward and get dragged into endless debate that doesn’t amount to anything. We stare at our navels and sing Kumbaya while the rest of the world goes to Hell. When a blog is about others, we swallow our egos and put all of our energy into getting people connected to Christ and His bride, the local church.

There’s so much there that resonates with my thinking. Much of the church today, I think, is uncomfortable with the online world because of a lack of experience, because of the lack of control, because of the unknown. But if we are committed to seeing today’s world reached for Christ, we have to go to where the people of today’s world are, in fact, comfortable, even if it’s uncomfortable for us.

And we need to be making our online efforts about them rather than about us. One small part of Ed Young’s comments which, I think, have great significance is that he sees blogs as a way of connecting people not only to Christ, but to the local church. This resonates with me as well because of my conviction that online ministry should not be primarily about seeking conversions, but rather seeking to introduce people to the local church where they can view the love of God in action (cf. John 17:21-23) which will ultimately lead to conversion in many cases.

Am I willing to go where I am uncomfortable (or get behind those who do if they are better prepared to go where I am uncomfortable)? Are my online efforts for my own satisfaction or to reach those who do not yet know Christ?

Seth Godin, a well-known marketing expert, has just released a new 18-page free e-book called Flipping the Funnel. It’s about how to use Web 2.0 sites such as del.icio.us, flickr, and Squidoo to increase the knowledge of your product or service. It comes in three versions: one for companies, one for non-profits, and one for politicians.

I just finished reading the version for non-profits and found it to be intriguing. It’s not a how-to manual on using Web 2.0, but simply a treatise designed to make you think.

Seems to me it would be a good read for churches and ministries looking to increase their reach.

Thanks to Darren for the heads up!