Book 7 of 2013 -- The Definitive-ish Guide for Using Social Media in the Church

For a while I contemplated going back to school to do a D.Min.  I have since realized that I have not the time nor the money to do that (nor, apparently, the burning desire).  But if I did it was with the intent to do focused work of Social Media and the church, well computerization and the church generally but a specific focus on Social Media.  Why?  Because I think that topic area is one of the growing edges for the church both in understanding and utilization.  While I have pretty much laid aside the D.Min idea it may become a Sabbatical topic in a couple of years (I am eligible for a sabbatical in 2015 but likely wouldn't take it until 2016 due to the fact that I will be Presbytery chair in 2015--and that is NOT a sabbatical task).

So when I first heard about this book I knew I was going to buy it eventually.  Eventually happened to be this summer.

This book is a good start on the topic.  A very good start in fact but still only a start.  And I strongly suspect the author would agree with that statement.  Social media is such a new topic and much of the church is still getting its feet wet in it that a start is all we can have at present.

But this is also a book that church leaders (lay and ordered, local parish/pastoral charge and judicatory) need to read as we make decisions on how we will be the church in a world where social media is the norm.  It is a book I will need to go back to and review again in bits and pieces.