Rob Jacobs

In a meeting the other day, my team and I were brainstorming about how to ship or transfer the Saddleback Church DNA to the 12 new Saddlebacks we are launching around the globe.

We had toyed with the idea of “Church in a Box”, but we realized that everything we are using will eventually have to be digital.

I said, “If it’s digital then it will eventually be accessed from the cloud. It’s not church in a box, it’s church in the cloud.” Church in the cloud. That is the global digital church future. 

International telecom companies have a goal, to connect the entire world with Internet access.

Storage and hardware is also becoming cheaper and more available.

Most churches want all their content digital. Once it is digital it can be easily broken into smaller and smaller bits, or assembled into huge files of digital bytes.

A ubiquitous Internet will provide the power grid or the pipeline from which all this digital content can flow.

And because the Internet is social…all of the digital content from churches can be shared. No. It will be shared.

Because open source platforms and the philosophy of openness is becoming more expected by people and the organizations (churches too) that people work and interact with.

The cloud means we spend more time creating quality content and less time about where to store it or ship it. It goes on the cloud.

And once on the cloud the social sharing nature of users combined with openness of platform will spread the content far and wide. And one thing we know already, the better the content, the wider the distribution.

The potential for global distribution via social sharing is always one click away in an Internet connected world.

Church is going to the cloud because technology enables it and people demand it.

A Church Plant is not a smaller version of a megachurch

It’s a startup…in other words it’s a learning experiment centered around a vision. 

Build—>Measure—>Learn….(repeat) 

We all know the power of social media to connect and reach out. That is not disputed. I am advocate for social media as a ministry tool. It is a powerful part of many ministries including my own.

But I have been considering the other side of the social media coin. There is a dark side. 

The Web

• The web is such an appropriate name for the Internet. It truly lures us in, captures us, and is so sticky, it becomes nearly impossible to escape. 

• It entangles us. Ensnares us. Traps us.   

Social Media and our Spiritual Life 

• Is Social Media detrimental to our spiritual disciplines?

• Can you go without media, without being connected to friends and family, without getting jittery and anxious?

• Can you say the same about praying to God or thinking about God? 

• Does being cut off from social media make you feel like you are missing out?  

• Social Media stokes our appetite for attention and to be known and loved.  “Friend” is now a verb “like” is now a noun.

• Facebook does not discriminate between our intimate friends and family, interests, and news. Friends become “fans” and we become “brands”.

• We consume info and manage relationships/connections in ways we never could face-to-face with people.

• It’s all facilitated by a corporate entity that is harvesting all our data and the info of our lives. 

• We have commodified relationships. Friends and family…with ads. 

Networked Individualism

• Our system of friends unbound by time or location. 

• Physical location is not as important. We don’t have to be present to be considered present. 

• And at the center… it’s not a location, cause, or common identity- but rather the individual- that is at the heart of social media. 

• On-demand social connectedness.  We control and manage others access to us. Don’t like you…block you.  

• Dialed down human contact. Guard against commitment. Autonomy vs. Belonging. 

• Insensitive to surroundings- we are not able to be present, while we are face down in our smart phones or iPads. 

• We don’t have to look up and see the messy people around us…we see the “digitized perfect reality” of those somewhere else. 

Christian Community

• Physically far away from those who are near. - We excuse ourselves from the call of God whom we serve and the situation/circumstances of those around us. 

• Are we missing something…not actively connecting mind and spirit?

• Ignoring people…God’s creation. People that Jesus died for. 

• Christian community requires real presence- with real people with real differences.

• People who are not like us. People with needs. Broken people, unattractive people, people who will put demands on us, people who require attention, who require our time. 

• This is at odds with social media-  all choice, efficiency, control. 

Technology and Discipleship

• Is technology is more than just a tool? 

• It shapes us and embeds itself into our social practices.

• The new etiquette allows technology bleed into every aspect of our lives. 

• What does sacrifice, servant-heartedness,  or selflessness look like on-line?

• What does sacrifice or servant-heartedness look like surrounded by Google or Facebook ads? 

People as Channels

• We have all the technology we need to ignore those physically around us/near us… and feel we have a good reason to do so.

• We don’t join as a family or jointly with our spouse— we have to join individually and participate individually.

• When we go to church or small group we are with people.

• When we go online…we are alone…even when surrounded by people. 

• Typically we express an idealized reality of our lives….not the painful dirty reality of our lives.

• We let people in, but we manage them via privacy settings. 

• It’s the digital veneer that we project…not the raw reality of our needs, pain, and hurts. 

• We have turned people into media channels that we tune into, turn off, mute, or ignore. 

God vs. Social Media

Think about your time with God and with people. 

• Do you have push yourself to carve out time to pray, read, meditate, and connect with God?

• Do you have to push yourself to stop and make time for people…messy people with messy problems? 

• Do you constantly, almost without thinking pray, reach out to God, and reach out to others. 

• Does it require effort? 

Think about your time online. 

• Do you have to push yourself to go online, Like, Friend, Tweet, post…to disappear into your screen and the web of social media.

• Do you constantly, almost with no effort go into your online into social media? 
• Does it require effort?

• Is it easy? Maybe to easy?

Happy Mother’s Day to my amazing wife…

1. I love you more today than even ever. Growing deeper in love with you is so awesome.

2. You are an amazing mother….you love deeply our son deeply in advance.

3. You are such a model of Jesus…You love our son deeply, though he does not even know us yet. You love our son knowing he may resist at first…but your love will overcome it.

4. You love Jesus and will model it for our son.

Happy mother’s day….you are amazing.  

Strategic Hope + Strategic Imagination +Strategic Vision +Strategic Collaboration

= World Change

Like food, we all consume information. If we treated information like food then we may realize that…

1. Some of us need to go on a diet. We are consuming too much information.

2. Some of us need to add more variety. We are consuming too much from the same.

3. Some of us need to get off the junk food. We are consuming way to much junk. 

4. All of us need to ensure we are getting the essential information we need each day. 

1. Local Church has advantage of the largest participation.

2. Local Church has widest distribution. The church is everywhere.

3. Local Church has longest track record of good. For 2000 years the church has provided health care, cared for poor and orphans, and educated people. 

4. Local Church has fastest expansion. Nothing grows as fast as the church. 

5. Local Church has biggest motivation. LOVE.- the Great Commandment

6. Local Church has greatest authority. God has authorized us.- the Great Commission

7. Local church has the simplest organization. Use ordinary people where they are. 

8. The Local Church has the greatest conclusion. We know how it will end.