by Brian Bailey with Terry Storch, foreward by Ed Young
If you don’t immediately recognize the authors of this book don’t fret. If you’re not familiar with Dallas’ megachurch Fellowship Church and its ministries you won’t be familiar with the authors or some of the contributors of the book. But don’t let that keep you from reading this book. Not only is it well written and accessible, its message is one of the most important statements in congregational communications and development.
Bailey is the web director at Fellowship Church and Storch is its campus pastor. However, don’t assume that the book is focused on technological web-eze or Gen X/Y speak. It’s not! As Bailey writes in Chapter 1, “Most people agree it’s (blogging) something odd that’s of interest only to the MTV crowd, like hip-hop, IM, or ring tones. They couldn’t be more wrong.” He then goes on to give the history of blogging and then more importantly, why would congregations use this emerging technology.
The book is filled with first-hand accounts of pastors who discovered, either coincidentally or intentionally, the power of blogs as a communication tool for their churches. The stories make the book accessible, timely, and personal. Bailey does a nice job of interspersing these stories between chapters of technical “how to“ information.
I think what I appreciate most about the blogging church is that it does a great job of explaining how this technology is a ministry tool. Bailey often relates back to mission, vision, and purpose, furthering the Center’s position that technology for technology’s sake is often a waste of resources. To be sure, I am convinced that blogging is not the “wave” of the future but a necessary ministry tool to connect congregations to their communities. And, it doesn’t hurt that the book is a Leadership Network Publication, published by Jossey-Bass which gives it credibility and some authority. I highly recommend this book to all congregational leaders – clergy, lay, or just those who care about congregations!
Check out this resource at http://www.leadnet.org/Resources_Books.asp?IsSubmit=True#422.
Aaron Spiegel