flock:ology

Ready or Not...Mobile is Coming!

2011-09-04T20:18:45-04:00

Ready or not, mobile is a growing trend that your church needs to deal with. Many churches have barely launched websites let alone reach out to those in your community using mobile messaging and applications.

Many people in the church believe this it is unnecessary. Many people believe it is just a fad.

The data suggests otherwise…

Mobile usage is growing….and getting smarter.

According to a presentationgiven at Google’s Thinkmobile conference in February 2011, mobile platforms are hitting critical mass across the globe. According to Cisco Visual Networking Index, they forecast that global mobile data traffic should grow 26x over the next 5 years. Smartphone penetration is growing exponentially across the globe.

Here are some trends going on across the globe…

Explosive growth of Mobile in Africa: Africans are buying mobile phones at a world record rate, with take-up soaring by 550% in five years, research shows. Growth is expected to remain robust, says the Information Economy Report, published by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). The regional mobile operator MTN forecasts an average mobile penetration of 80% by 2012 in its 15 African markets. A 2009 ITU report provides details on the explosive growth trends in Africa.

A Move to a “Smarter” Asia: According to a report from “M-Commerce Trends,” the smartphone market in Asia will reach 200 million users by 2016, double that of the 100 million level in 2010 and growing at a compounding annual rate of 12 percent. This constitutes over 32 percent of mobile subscriptions in the region, which is expected to increase to 54 percent penetration levels by 2015. In a region where PC access is limited, web-connected devices are the great enabler – giving Internet access to people even while they are on the move.

A “wireless”connected Latin America: Mobile Connections in Latin America exceeds half a billion or 88.2 percent of the population vs. 6.4 percent for fixed broadband and 23.4 percent for fixed line telephones. Latin Americans’ love to text with nearly 200 billion mobile messages weresent over Latin America carrier networks in 2008. 68 percent of wireless subscribers in Latin America use their SMS functionality at least weekly; nearly double the rate in developed nations.

Rising Smartphone penetration in Western Europe and U.S. According to Nielsen Research, show 40% percent of mobile consumers over 18 in the U.S. and Western Europe now have smartphones, according to July 2011 data. Fifty-five percent of those who purchased a new handset in the past three months reported buying a smartphone instead of a feature phone, up from 34 percent just a year ago.

U.S. Youth text more than text or watch TV. According to Nielsen research, today’s youth out-text all other age groups. In Q1 2011, teens 13-17 sent an average of 3,364 mobile texts per month, more than doubling the rate of the next most active texting demo, 18-24 year olds (1,640 texts per month). They also talk on the phone 32 percent less than older groups and 40% less television.

Mobile serves as a key source of connectivity within the U.S. Hispanic community. According to a Nielsen report called “A New Digital American Family,” U.S. Hispanics are more likely than the average household to have cell phones with Internet (55%) and video (40%) capabilities and text more than any other race or ethnicity, sending 943 texts per month. With smartphone penetration of 45 percent, Hispanic cell phone ownership matches that of Asians.

“Apps” over the Mobile Web show the future of smartphone usage. The average Android consumer in the U.S. spends 56 minutes per day actively interacting with the web and apps on their phone. Of that time, two-thirds is spent on mobile apps while one-third is spent on the mobile web.

African-Americans and Latinos continue to outpace whites in their use of data applications on handheld devices. According to PEW Internet, Latinos and African-Americans in the US are more likely to own a cell phone than white Americans, and they are more likely to use their device to access the mobile Web, email, social networking or to purchase a product.

The results are in…ready or not, your church needs to jump on the “mobile bandwagon.”

Whether it is teens in the U.S. or people in the street in the Philippines, mobile communications is becoming the de facto method to connect, communicate and relate to one another. Mobile provides real-time connectivity, 24x7 in the palm of someone’s hand.

Are you ready to place your church within an arm’s reach?

If this is not a call to action, I don't know what is!

2011-03-24T09:49:59-04:00

Going through my morning reading routine caused me to stumble across an article called "Organized religion 'will be driven toward extinction' in 9 countries, experts predict" on CNN Belief Blog on CNN.com.

Organized religion will all but vanish eventually from nine Western-style democracies, a team of mathematicians predict in a new paper based on census data stretching back 100 years.

It won't die out completely, but "religion will be driven toward extinction" in countries including Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands, they say.

It will also wither away in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland, they anticipate.

They can't make a prediction about the United States because the U.S. census doesn't ask about religion, lead author Daniel Abrams told CNN.

But nine other countries provide enough data for detailed mathematical modeling, he said.

"If you look at the data, 'unaffiliated' is the fastest-growing group" in those countries, he said.

via religion.blogs.cnn.com

For those of you who are interested in the academic paper that was presented, here it is.

Given the decline of the mainline denominations in the United States, this is a deadly serious trend that most have been ignoring. We have been burying our heads in the sand for too long. We have ignoring the problem and hopin it goes away. We attempt to blame others for the decline, instead of taking a long look in the mirror.

Christ called us to "make disciples of all nations." We are in the process of losing nine countries. What are you willing to do about it? Or will we do nothing and fade into obscurity?

Let the children lead...

2011-03-23T13:45:43-04:00

As I think about the church, I get a little discouraged by the manuevering and the politics, expecially as we think about the 2012 General Conference for the United Methodist Church coming next year. The caucuses are already positioning themselves to make a run at establishing their agendas, and people are all ready to fight.

Then, my wife posted the following on Facebook:

"As we think about prayer this lent and going to God with an honety and open heart ... let the children lead the way. Look at these kid's prayer from Granger Church. It will touch your heart."

Are we willing to go to God with our toughest problems? Are we willing to be this honest? What would be the result?

What if we as the church stopped whining about our specific agendas and focused on answering these children's prayers. How can we help those who hurt, feed those who are hungry and work to eliminate suffering?

Are we willing to turn our churches over to God? Are we willing to listen to the voices of children to discern God's small, still voice?

If so...let us pray. Let us listen. Let us follow.

Piecing together a story using "Storify"

2011-02-24T08:13:00-05:00

As we start to see information distributed through social media, there are new tools to help us to tell and spread the story. One tool that I found is called Storify. It allows people to turn what people post on social media into compelling stories. You can use it to collect the best photos, video, tweets and more to publish them as simple, beautiful stories that can be embedded anywhere.

I first learned about Storify from Mashable's article "Use Social media to Tell Interactive Stories." It also provided a code for me to get into the private beta. (FYI...do a google search of "Storify.com invite code" to find yours.)

Here is a quick explanation:

Here is a story I built using Storify to give my take on this year's Super Bowl 2011 commercials. It allowed me to piece together Facebook posts and Twitter streams along with video to tell a story.