1 October 19, 2011 Dear Faith Bible Chapel South friends and family, As some of you may have noticed over the past few months, Faith Bible Chapel South has made a lot of new changes in our online presence. I’m writing this letter to let you know about everything we’ve been working on, what’s ahead, and what you can do to get involved. Starting this past May, our church’s presence in the digital world expanded immensely. We added a Facebook page and additional social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Issuu, and Flickr. Now for those of you that don’t know a “tweet” from a “tag” or “friending” from “following” we’ll go through what each of these different platforms allows the church to do. Facebook (facebook.com/faithsouth) is an online social network where people can share anything from short status updates to long notes about what is happening in their lives. People can also share photos, videos, and other content on their personal profile. FBCS has created a church Facebook page that allows us to remind people about upcoming events, communicate news updates, share photos and videos from church events, direct people to our website, and connect with people that weren’t at service, such as those who were sick or our missionaries. Twitter (twitter.com/fbcsouth) serves us in a similar way to facebook, but it allows for quicker updates and anyone can get Twitter updates on their phone (once enabled). FBCS uses Twitter to communicate urgent updates and to connect with other ministries that are also on Twitter. YouTube (youtube.com/user/FBCSouth) is a video-sharing site where FBCS posts videos that we make about events (such as the recent Community Picnic). YouTube also allows us to connect with people that often don’t come to church or are unfamiliar with church altogether, because our videos may be suggested to YouTube users that would never think of putting a step inside our building. Eventually, we may make videos of sermons and post them on YouTube. Issuu (issuu.com/fbcsouth) is a website that allows FBCS to share our church bulletin online. So, if you miss a service due to illness or travel (or you simply came too late to get an update), then you can check the bulletin posted on our Issuu account online. We also post our Issuu Chapel Updates on Facebook and Twitter for those that follow us there. (This letter is posted on Issuu.) Flickr (flickr.com/photos/fbcsouth) allows FBCS to share pictures and videos of church events, happenings, and announcements on the Internet for those without a Facebook account. Flickr also serves as a great outreach platform for FBCS because Flickr is an online community of photographers and other media people that may have never considered church before. Currently, we’re working on adding some more online platforms for FBCS, including a podcast and a new and improved website. The FBCS podcast will allow anyone to download an audio version of the Sunday sermon to their computer via the iTunes program (itunes.com). iTunes is a completely free program, and the FBCS podcast would automatically sync and download on a person’s computer if they chose to subscribe to the podcast. You could listen to the downloaded audio file on your computer, or you could upload the file to your iPod, smartphone, tablet, or laptop. We’ll be sure to let you know once we have this up and running.
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We’re also still working on a completely new website for Faith Bible Chapel South. You can get a peek of what we’re building at fbcsouth.org. The website will enable us to communicate everything about our church to anyone in the world at all times of the day. Once it’s complete, you will be able to do anything from post a prayer request, sign-up to volunteer, connect with our social media, find out details about our ministries, read the biographies of our leadership team, check the church calendar, find our contact info, or submit feedback, questions, or ideas. (The reason it’s taken so long to get the site up and running has been because of my not-so-good health this past summer, but the website should be done before the end of the month.) So what do all these online expansions mean for the church? First of all, we’re communicating with current church members in ways that increase efficiency and that continue throughout the whole week. This means that more people remember events and are able to find the information they need in order to participate and easily invite their friends or family. Social media platforms also enable church members to get to know one another better by sharing notes, photos, and videos about their life throughout the week; visitation time doesn’t become limited to a three-minute conversation between worship and the offering. Second, our new digital presence allows us to reach out to our community and the world. Anyone from Estonia to Englewood could find our website and join us for church the next Sunday (or listen to our sermons online). Many people outside the church would never think of going to church or learning about Jesus, but through online social media, they are more willing to connect (initially) and see what these FBCS Christians are up to. Through the relationships we build online, people are more likely to accept an invitation to come to church. Our outreach and evangelism can increase a million fold online and bring more people into our fellowship of believers, but only if we put in the work to connect with people online. The new media platforms we have online will equip our current body of believers to connect with more people outside of the church. Third, we’re putting our church out into the most active portion of the marketplace. In Acts 17, when Paul was evangelizing in Greece, he didn’t just go into the synagogues where the religious people were; he also went into the marketplaces, the forums, and the courts in order to share the good news about Jesus. As a church, we are now accomplishing that same level of public evangelism through our online presence. Even if we never see a person’s face at a church service, FBCS can share the gospel message with someone halfway around the globe. Our activities on the Web are not just for us or for local outreach; they’re for the entire world. Amid all this online activity, there are a few things FBCS is not trying to do by expanding onto the Web. First, we’re not trying to replace the good news of Jesus Christ with a slick advertising campaign or marketing scheme. Outreach is at the heart of our efforts, not website statistics or financial number crunching. Second, we’re not trying to replace in-person fellowship or communication with channels that are more artificial. All of these web platforms are only tools for creating better relationships; they are not replacements for real-life interaction. Just as much as the telephone aids in communication with a family member but doesn’t replace being there for that family member’s baseball game, so the online communication of FBCS doesn’t replace our
3 fellowship with one another. So how does all of this apply to you? To begin, you can get involved. The more people from the church that we have involved online, the more we’ll be able to reach out to those who aren’t in the church. Right now, our Facebook page has little interaction because so many people either don’t have Facebook accounts or choose not to interact with their church members online. How do you think our Facebook events would look to an outsider if the event only showed two people as “attending”? To outsiders, it would look like our church isn’t very involved with one another or that we simply don’t care to say that we’re coming to the church picnic. Your involvement (yes, you, the person reading this right now), your involvement will make a difference in our efforts online. Even for the Internetilliterate, everything on the Web is becoming more and more user-friendly, and there are tutorials for just about everything you have questions about (just click any nearby “help” button you see). For those of you who are just starting out their adventures online, a good place to start is Facebook. Out of all the social media sites listed above, it’s the easiest, most customizable, and the most versatile. Start by going to facebook.com and filling out the sign up information on the home page. After that, tutorials will walk you through every step of setting up your new account, including the privacy policy and security settings (so that you know with whom and what you’re sharing and when). After you set up an account, type “Faith Bible Chapel South” in the search bar in order to find the church Facebook page. Then, click the grey “Like” button just after the words “Faith Bible Chapel South” near the top of the page. Twitter, YouTube, Issuu, and Flickr all have similar set-up processes and tutorials, so if you feel more adventurous, then you can try out those websites as well. If you’re the kind of person that’s already heavily involved in online social media, then be sure to friend, follow, and subscribe to our online platforms. Your involvement and connection with others is needed just as much as anyone else’s, and if you’re too ashamed to connect with your church online, then how will you be able to witness to a non-Christian in person? If any of you have questions about anything regarding FBCS or social media or if you have a great idea you’d like to share with me, then feel free to talk with me before or after a Sunday service or connect with me online. I’m always up for feedback, questions, or new ideas. Remember that this entire process of online expansion is about reaching out and connecting with others and then sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with them. There could be no greater cause. Your brother in Christ, —Bryce Merkl Email: bwmerkl@gmail.com Facebook: Bryce Wesley Merkl Twitter, Issuu, YouTube, Skype: bwmerkl