It was a normal January day.  I was in my 3rd year of college and living in a house on Cantwell with David Irons, Brian Hake and Greg Bloyd.  OkState was  playing Colorado in Boulder that night.  The game wasn't televised, but it was on the radio.  I loved listening to Bill Teegins do the play-by-play. We lost the game that night by 10, but that wasn't all we lost.  The local news was reporting that one of the planes had not returned to Stillwater yet.  My roommates and I were glued to the television.  Just waiting to hear something.  After about an hour had gone by they had told us that the plane that didn't return had crashed.  There was no report on survivors or dead and no report of names of the people.  It wasn't until a lot later that night that they reported who had died in the crash.  I knew the names of all of them, but 2 of them I knew really well. Nate Fleming was an Edmond boy like me.  He was a walk-on and well liked.  Anytime we were up by a lot we would start chanting, "Nate, Nate, Nate" we wanted him to get in the game so bad.  I sat next to Nate in a History class the semester before.  He was wel liked and really funny.  I would think back to days in class and remember sitting next to him. The other name that really affected me was Jared Weiberg.  I had met Jared the summer before at basketball camp at Oklahoma Christian University.  Jared was a former walk-on who this school year was a trainer.  He wanted to be a head coach like his dad.  He was smart and he knew the game very well.  The semester before and leading up to the plane crash I would be on my way to class at the same time T-TH and would run into Jared getting out of his car heading to the bball offices.  We would talk for about 3-5 minutes and then I would head on to class.  I never thought those conversations would end like they did.  He loved talking bball and would talk to anybody.  I went to his memorial service in Tonkawa at NOC.  It was in the gym.  It was only fitting for Jared.  The place was standing room only.  He touched so many lives, including mine.  I will always remember Jared and the little time I spent with him.  He would have made a great coach. It's hard to believe that it happened 8 years ago today.  It seems like yesterday in so many ways.  I will always remember, and I have never been more proud to be a Cowboy. We will always remember the 10.

This guy is amazing.  I have been following Carlos on Twitter and his blog for a while now. I am amazed by the conversations that are generated in the comments section of his blog.  For instance, in a recent post he blogged about his gas and it has generated over 40 comments.  FYI, he also blogs about other stuff as well, and what is amazing about it is that people have conversations on there and talk about life. Online community can happen and we will see more and more of this. Carlos has created a culture of authenticity and honesty on his blog that you don't find in very many places.  A Church, or even the Church could learn from this I think.  The more honest you are, the more honest people will be with you.  Carlos talks about his struggles and his pains and his joys and his love.  People then resopond to these posts with their honesty and real problems. I think this is a great example for online campuses and even online churches that we are going to see pop up.

Church online is a fairly new thing. Obviously this is new territory.  Not every Church will agree that you can even do Church online.  Some will be early adapters to it.  Some will adapt years from now.  Some will never adapt.  The fact is, Church online is here and is not going anywhere whether you like it or not. Here are a few of the Churches out there with an online campus or in the process of starting one.  Flamingo Road, New Hope, Alive Church, NewSpring and Lifechurch.tv. This is just the tip of the iceberg.  I bet each one of these Churches will tell you that their way is not the way everyone should do it, but that the way they do it works best for them. We will see more and more Churches start to hire Online Community Pastors. We will see Churches use many different mediums to launch their online campus. They will either use their own that they developed or there are other options out there. USTREAM and Mogulus are great places to start if you don't have a large budget or the IT/staff to pull it off. Churches and Pastors will be using Facebook and Twitter more often. We will see more and more Churches doing online small groups thanks to Tokbox. The potential for what the Church can do online is astounding and unimaginable.  This really is just the beginning. Please add your input and ideas for making Church online an engaging and fun experience.  What are your questions?  Does your church have an online campus?

How do you move your church from Local to Global if that's what you want for your Church.  I know not all churches are doing this, nor should they. I think the local church is very important.  We need churches who are only local, but there are also a lot of churches who are trying to go global. How can you be both local an global?  Is there middle ground? I know as a church odds are you are both anyways, but it is probably skewed one way or another. How can you get to 50/50 local and global?  Does it take an internet campus, Facebook groups or Twitter? What is the key to a Global Church?

For some reason I have always been an early adapter to new things and ideas. Yes, I paid $600 for my iPhone.  Do I regret it?  Not at all. I got my Facebook account the first month it was offered to only college students. Twitter - Not so much an early adapter, but I did have an account before the majority of my friends had ever heard of it. So, now you might be asking, "What does this have to do with social media and the Church?"  The answer is easy.  Everything. Yes. there are a lot more social media tools you should have if this is the direction you want your church to go, but these 2 are the first 2 you should invest the majority of your time dabbling in. If you work in a church in any capacity you should sign up for Twitter and Facebook immediately.  If you work in youth and you do not use Facebook you are missing out on tremendous ministering opportunities.  Odds are 90% of your students have a Facebook account. You might not understand why, immediately, but it starts to make sense the more and more you use it.  These tols will change the way you do ministry, but in a good way.

Can someone please explain to me why we do this?  The funny thing too, is that people tend to slam churches they have never even visited.  And the worst part about it is that you are slamming the Bride of Christ.  I'm not sure that is something I want hanging over me. Craig Groeschel has some great posts on this exact thing right here and here. What got me fired up today was seeing a comment on another blog.  This comment really slammed my home church in OK and the first church I ever worked at, which is Lifechurch.tv.  I love this church just as much as I love every other church.  But this Church is dear to my heart.  I love what they are doing with tech.  I love their worship.  I love their internet campus and their other multi-site campuses.  I love their staff. Whether it's pride or insecurity or whatever it is, please stop bashing other churches and other pastors.  You just look ignorant and make Christians look mean spirited and unloving.  Which is the opposite of what Christ called us to. So, before you slam lifechurch.tv or any other church or pastor think about doing it somewhere else.  I will delete your comment if you talk bad about another church or pastor. By the way.  I am not saying I am perfect.  I know there have been some times when I have said something I shouldn't have about a preacher or a church, but that all changed when I realized it was the Bride of Christ I was talking bad about.  Just plain stupid.

I'm tired of being good enough or average.  Are you?  I feel like in my life right now, where I am at, I am just average, just good enough.  Not doing the using the gifts God has given me to their full potential. I'm currently reading The Dip by Seth Godin.  It is a really good book and has really got me thinking a lot lately.  When to stick and when to quit is the main jist of it. Do you ever feel like you are doing something that is not you at all.  That's where I am at right now.  Don't get me wrong.  I do love my job.  I just don't think it is my career.  I love ministering to people, and that I get to do everyday.  I just don't think where I am right now caters to my strengths. If you read this, please be praying for patience, direction, guidance and wisdom for me.  I know God has given me talents, and I feel like I have been avoiding what I am great at to do things I am mediocre at.  I majored in Broadcast Journalism at Oklahoma State. I get social media in the church and online.  Now, I just have to figure out how to put those two things together and go and use them to further His Kingdom.