I am really excited to share the story of Montrose Church.  Life Changing Community is a brief story of how the staff at Montrose Church chose to utilize Unifyer to help build community through decentralizing communication and allowing member to member conversations.

Watch their story here.

“Knowing The Truth” with Pastor Kevin Boling is a live, call-in radio program providing Doctrinal Dialog, Cultural Commentary and Insightful Interviews with some of today’s foremost Christian authors and leaders.  

Today Pastor Kevin Boling interviewed Matt Frazier.  Unifyer’s CEO and Founder. Pastor Kevin Boling and Matt talked about building community.  Community and Communication - there is a reason why these words are so similar. Communities thrive on relevant and timely communication: without it, they fail.

Listen to the interview in its length at the link below.

RadioInterview_knowingthetruth_20081218_ed.mp3

I was reading Scott Monty’s blog tonight and was fascinated by a document he posted regarding Social Media Predictions for 2009.  This document was assembled by Peter Kim. 

A couple of comments stood out to me right away. 

“Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social media look like the pretty girl at the ball.”  - Ann Handley

As we talk to churches who are interested in Unifyer, many have shared that they are getting rid of their weekly bulletins and newsletters.  With so many churches cutting budgets, it only makes sense to move their communications & announcements online.  But not just online, online in a way that makes their content easily consumable by every member.  Not only are they saving money, but they are freeing up valuable time for staff and volunteers to focus their efforts back into ministry.

“Intimacy touches emotion; emotion powers conversation.” - Pete Blackshaw

Wow, I love this quote.  So many churches are unlocking the power of collaboration and connection by allowing their people to connect deeper through communication that has no limits.  I have heard it said to me several times this week already.  Online relationships are Real relationships.  In addition to allowing their members to talk amongst themselves, the church leaders are now listening!  That is Powerful!

This is the whole document.  What do you think?  What would you add?  Are there some 2009 social media predictions for the church?

Social Media 2009

Tony Steward is the Online Community Pastor at LifeChurch.tv.  Matt Frazier had a chance to sit down with him.  Below is the entire conversation.  Enjoy!

Tony Steward - Web 2.0 (1 of 3) from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

Tony Steward - Web 2.0 (2 of 3) from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

Tony Steward - Web 2.0 (3 of 3) from Unifyer.com on Vimeo.

WOW….It has been way too long since we made our last post.  

A quick summary of what has happened this fall for Unifyer.  Many, Many good things!  We attended several conferences.

This week’s SW comes from Christ Community Baptist Church in Puyallup, WA.  They have roughly 60% of their 13 yr and older crowd using Unifyer.  While they have only be a client for the last 3 months, they have shown what the power of regularly added content can do for the their community.  Below is a SW they used for the last two weeks to promote See You at the Pole for their Junior and High school students.

SEE YOU at the POLE.

Junior and High School Students.  Join your generation Wednesday, September 24, at 7am. Gather at your school’s flagpole.  PRAY for your school, friends, families, and world. CONNECT.  Listen as He speaks to you.

This week’s SW comes from Montrose Church in Montrose, CA!  They have been using Unifyer for a couple weeks with their leadership team.  They are going live to the whole church this weekend with their Life Group launch!  We are really excited for them!!!  Below is the SW image they are using.

Find a safe place to share the journey with others by checking out a LifeGroup - a small group where you can connect and develop meaningful relationships.  You can choose to go deeper with a study group, support group, or a “do-life-together” group.

Click on the Groups in the Unifyer menu and start browsing through the many LifeGroups offered at Montrose Church.  If you want to know more about finding the right LifeGroup for you, contact our LifeGroup coordinator (and they leave the email address here).

I had the privilege of attending the Innovate ‘08 Conference last week.  One of the breakout sessions was lead by Kem Meyer, who is the Communications Director at Granger Community Church.  

She talked about Social Networks in Ministry - How do you use stuff like blogs, Twitter, Facebook and more to have an impact and help people connect?

A couple things really stood out to me.  She mentioned that text messaging and email have helped build relational collateral with a greater number of people that otherwise would not have any interaction.  This has helped the relationships at the church staff level, and at the “hey, whats up” level (my words, not hers).  This is specifically true through text messaging and forms of micro blogging, like Twitter.

How many times do you find yourself walking through the office or church hallways and see someone and automatically say, “hey, whats up?” or “how are you doing?”  Response from the other person, “not much” or “great/fine.”  This does not happen anymore when you are interacting in a social network.  Now when you see that person in the hallway who has just changed their status to “my mom is in the hospital, please pray.”  More than likely, you will not be saying, “how’s it going?”  You now have the chance to have a much more meaningful exchange.  This is really exciting to me and have already been witness to this type of exchange several times!

The other thing Kem mentioned that I really took away from the session was the access to leaders and increase knowledge that takes place among community members.  It really is amazing to me to see how many leaders want to see others benefit from their knowledge.  I think everyone who is passionate about a particular subject really does want to see others experience the same passion.  And more importantly that leader wants to come along side others with common passion so they can collaborate and work together.  This can be a very powerful thing.  It is that ability for collabroation and communication that excites so many church leaders about Unifyer.

We are going to start featuring a Super Widget of the week on Tuesday mornings.  If you are not sure what a Super Widget is, check out a demo here!  

To get things started, we go to New Hope Baptist Church in Parkersburg, WV.  Dave Michael has determined that his Super Widgets will have a bid for action.  Like, “bring a friend” or “now you can serve.”  He is going to use this bid for action as a way to determine whether an announcement is Super Widget worthy.  

…Serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

Snack Suppers are 5PM every Sunday and precede the Sunday evening discipleship programs.  They are free of charge but are supported by your donations.

Snack Suppers are prepared and served by members and friends of NHBC as an act of love to the body of Christ.

If you would like more information on how you can help with this important ministry, please email Associate Pastor Dave Michael. (and he lists his email)

Thanks Dave.  This will be the first of many featured Super Widgets.  If think you have what it takes, let me know and we will show off your stuff!

Matt Frazier was interviewed yesterday by Moody Radio.

Click here for the Interview