Today, we are often faced with many challenges that inhibit us from attending a church on Sundays. Many churches that I am in communication with are now having a worship service on Sunday evening, that have two main goals. One of those being to allow members/attenders to worship because they are not able to make it on Sunday mornings. Two...to give room for more people to attend on Sundays.

Another option I have noticed here more recently is the advent of streaming the services online. This seems to be a more cost efficient method with the popularity of the Flash video encoding. This allows the video/audio image to be crisp and clean, yet not too bandwidth consuming. Even so, the turnout seems to be good for the services.

Many people have family situations or have to work in this day and age on Sunday. They can still connect with the church via a video stream while also allowing them to worship and be fed spiritually at the same time. This is hopefully another reason that churches allow streaming of their services.

Back in the 80's and 90's, many churches had to pay a lot of money to have their services broadcast on television stations. This was a lot of work and expense. Trust me, I worked at a church doing this. I think with the advent of the internet, it is more feasible for churches to send a live video and audio feed to the online community. This would require about the same amount of money up front to purchase and maintain the systems, but at the same time, internet broadcasting is a much cheaper medium of sharing God's message. Plus, you are not limited to a specific time block. You can stream the entire service because the ministry controls what goes out there.

I "attended" a church stream about a month ago. I was fascinated with how it worked, mainly because this church had a chat room contained within. Viewers could chat with pastors and seek prayer for specific needs that the person had. I thought this was a great asset to add to the streaming service. That way, it makes the viewer feel more connected with the church's broadcast ministry.

I want to hear from you guys. What do you think about online worship services? Do you have any experiences that you would like to share?

Thanks for taking the time to read.
-Ken

Labels: 316 networks, Buckhead Church, Chapel Hill, church, digital, FIrst Orlando, Flash, God, gospel, informative, internet, internet growth, Media, North Point, Orlando, Scott Link, simulcast

This week, I had the amazing opportunity to connect with some people that I have been in conversation with over Twitter in the last couple of months. I must say, it was a great experience, just knowing and getting to physically know the people you have been interacting with. I told them that it seems to go against everything that your parents have taught you about "meeting people online." You do have to use discretion though. I know a few people if they every brought up the idea of meeting I would "come up with an excuse not too."

-Ken

Labels: friendships, internet growth, microblogging, relationships, social networking, twitter

So, I am at a landmark place with my personal Twitter account. I almost have 1,000 updates. In my advancement of life, I have been able to see and be a part of the social networking spectrum. It seems as though the growth and advancement of the internet leads the way for the growth of social networking.

As with anything, we all find yourself settling with some type of social network that we are comfortable with, such as the types of clothes we wear. You would never wear clothes that are not favoring of your personal style. Currently, my favorite social networks are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I am most comfortable with those. I also use Google's Reader to subscribe to numerous blogs that are of interest to me.

Social networks are a great way of staying connected with current and past friends and colleagues...and in addition also a way of making new friends that you may have lived your life without ever meeting. It is very interesting some of the people that I have stumbled upon. I know, I know...what is going through your head at this point, "Oh my goodness, you shouldn't ever meet people online! That is dangerous!!" Yes, you have a point, but as long as you are smart and careful about it, everything should be fine.

In addition to following and meeting people, I believe the social networks have a great opportunity to convey information to groups of people. Such as school news, church events, or news media outlets (the good ones, at least). There is much potential for these networks to "bring" information to those that subscribe to them.

So...now it is your turn:
What are your views on social networking? What are your three favorites?

Labels: facebook, google reader, internet growth, linkedin, social networking, twitter, updates