One of the perks of being a new dad (or a new mom for that matter) is the increased level of sleepiness in the mid-morning. Last Sunday, we were supposed to go to Church at 10 in the morning. But after asking our yaya to take care of Baby Coco, we fell asleep. When we woke up, it was 15 minutes past 10!

We decided to stay home the whole morning and attend church in the evening instead.

There was just one problem. The vesper worship at Good Samaritan United Methodist Church, where we attend here in Quezon City, starts at 6 pm. Coco’s bedtime is usually at 6:30.

Uh-oh. Not gonna work. I didn’t know of any United Methodist local church that has an afternoon worship service. So, I ended up looking for the schedule of Bread of Life’s Crossroad 77 church at Mother Ignacia in Quezon City.

Like most young adult United Methodists, I also attend other churches occasionally. I also admit that I like Bread of Life over the other evangelical churches because of their intentional and strong emphasis on Filipino spirituality and empowerment. I also like the ambiance of their Crossroad 77 Convenarium, which got me wondering whether the circular, stadium layout of contemporary megachurches contribute to better worship attendance compared with the rigid lines of pews of traditional denominations. But that’s another post for another time.

Looking for a church’s schedule online

Let me say this, and it’s important for churches who are in the cities:

In the age of Social Media, people should be able to find a church and its worship service schedule through the Web within 5 minutes. Please don’t make it difficult for people to find you online and off.

Guess how long it took me to find the worship schedule of Bread of Life?

2 minutes? Nope.

5 minutes? Nope.

It took me about 30 minutes of browsing and searching through Bing and Google, and going through more than 10 websites.

And still, I didn’t find their worship service schedule. Granted, I saw the schedule of Bread of Life somewhere in San Mateo, Rizal through a WordPress.com blog. I also check the Bread of Life Facebook page, but it was equally unhelpful.

Here’s my conversation with a friend about it.

Please. If you’re reading this and you belong to the Bread of Life church, you do need to upgrade and revitalize your website.

Read more…

GET A CHANCE TO MEET AND GREET SUPERBOOK’S GIZMO!

Are you a Superbook fan? Would you like to see Gizmo live in action? Here’s your chance to meet and greet the super cool robot Gizmo.

Visit Superbook’s Super Photo Blast Corner in Robinsons Galleria Jumpstreet activity center from May 18 to 24 (mall hours) and experience a fun time with Gizmo and with other Superbook kids.

Pose and have your pictures taken with Gizmo and the rest of your favorite Superbook characters,  watch trailers of the all –new Superbook episodes coming this June and learn more about the re-imagined Superbook.

What a perfect way to spend time with your family while at the mall! Invite your friends, too. Don’t forget the dates: May 18- 24 at the Robinson’s Galleria Jumpstreet. See you!

For more information, please visit CBNAsia’s website.

Ministries, such as churches and Christian non-profit organizations, set up websites to tell the world about the schedule of their worship services, what kinds of ministries they implement, and why people should come visit them. Too often, though, ministries setup an online brochure and nothing more. In my own denomination, only about 1 in 5 church websites are updated. Most of them just show static content placed there last year (or was it 5 years ago?). Makes you wonder if churches really do have an idea in using the Web for their ministries.

But if you’re one of the few ministries, and that includes individuals who are keen on having an online ministry, then you should consider the three elements of a good ministry website.

Read more…

Thanks to the Christian Stewardship Association and the Asian Theological Seminary, I led a seminar on Social Media Marketing on May 9th. Here’s my Prezi:

In the next few weeks, I’ll be elaborating on this framework to help you implement an online communication campaign for your ministry.

The Internet and the Web ushered in a period of interconnectedness unprecedented in history. Businesses and organizations rushed in to create their own websites and use these technologies to sell their products, offer their services, and broadcast their message online.

The problem though, as I complained in a previous blogpost, Christian leaders and organizations are slow to use the web and New Media technologies for ministry.

If you’re still in the sidelines and want to use the Web for ministry but somehow, unable to move forward, here are five reasons why you need a ministry website.

(When I say ministry, I mean your church, your church organization, and yes, it could even be your personal advocacy.)

Provide resources online.

Many Christians are looking for resources for various purposes–spiritual growth, leadership articles, sermons, and how-to articles. If you’re a Pastor, most likely, you’re preaching for 4 Sundays every month. That’s 52 Sundays for the whole year! Church members who go to church every Sunday can listen to your sermons. But if you upload your sermons online, those who fail to attend church can also read your sermon. Members who love your sermons can also go back to your previous ones. Not only that, you can even record your sermons in audio or video formats so that people can experience them better. Read more…

For more than three years now, I’ve been challenging Pastors and Church leaders to start blogging and use Social Media for ministry. It wasn’t entirely fruitless. I have about 5 converts. Five!

At least my efforts yielded something.

But seriously, Filipino Christian leaders, especially from Mainline, Protestant traditions tend to bes slow in using new technologies for their ministries. Heck, I have yet to see a Filipino Bishop who’s really into social media. One of the few active Pastors on Facebook is Ed Lapiz, but he’s not a bishop, so he probably doesn’t count.

In the country, Victory Christian Fellowship is the only Christian Church that has successfully integrated Web and Social Media technologies into its overall ministry and communications strategy. Not convinced?

All VCF Pastors have their own ministry blogs. Dennis Sy, Joey Bonifacio, Paolo Punzalan, Joash Paunil, and Steve Murrell, of course. Even some of their not-pastors, but active Christian members have really good blogs. Chinkee Tan (okay, granted, I’m not really sure if he’s VCF or not), Randell Tiongson, and the social media guru, Carlo Ople. Read more…

As a Netizen, I’m no longer a big fan of TV. But occasionally I find myself watching news, or (gasp!) Soap operas at Channel 2. Well, my wife works at ABSCBN News Channel so that figures.

Every time the soap opera ends, the main characters promote a little known service being offered by the station: in case you missed your favorite TV Show, you can always watch it online at http://iwantv.com.ph.

As a true-blooded netizen, I didn’t own a TV until after I got married. The last TV I owned was a Black and White one, which got burned with the rest of my things and probably 50 other houses at Pook Ricarte in UP Diliman back in 2001. Let’s just say that I didn’t really miss anything, except for those times when the country seemed to be in the cusp of major major change or it’s on the verge of chaos.

With the ubiquity of the Web these days, even soap operas and other TV programs are available online. Go check it out.

Iwantv.com.ph used to be exclusively available to Sky cable and BayanDSL subscribers. What happened? ABSCBN realized the importance of the Web and jumped right in.

Online video has arrived. According to YouTube’s Statistics, 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute! Here’s the rest of the statistics:

More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages
In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth
Millions of subscriptions happen each day. Subscriptions allow you to connect with someone you’re interested in — whether it’s a friend, or the NBA — and keep up with their activity on the site

Some of these content are duplicates, of course. If you search for your favorite TV program, either on ABS-CBN, GMA, or Channel5, you’ll find hundreds of people uploading content they don’t own to capitalize on the growing interest of people to watch these videos online. Read more…

The Great Commission is like the Last Will and Testament of Jesus just before he left our planet. But what if, before leaving the planet, he had access to the technologies we have now?

I could just imagine Jesus, nail wounds prominent in the sunlight, handing out his business card, containing his phone number (kinda like prayer, you know), and his Twitter and Facebook account, to his ragtag followers. The disciples then take their mobile phones and readily store the information. Jesus prepares to ascend and tells his followers that he’ll always be with them.

And after a few minutes of looking up, full of wonder and lots of unanswered questions, the disciples’ phones ring one after another. Since they follow Jesus anyway, they get the same Tweet:

All authority on heaven and earth is mine. Go. Make disciples. Baptize. Teach em to obey my commands. I’ll be with you till the end. TTYL

But that is not how it happened, right? Read more…

Text: John 21:1-19

Introduction

Have you ever been to a Worship service that’s not United Methodist? Ecumenical? How about one of those CF’s: VCF, CCF, GCF?

Try attending one worship service at CCF in Ortigas or pretty much any VCF in Metro Manila, and I bet that you could see 3 or 5 Methodist young people in attendance.

Or, probably, try watching the Social Media accounts of our young people, and you’ll see them Checking In and talking about the worship services at any of these “new” and very dynamic churches.

I grew up a United Methodist. I was probably singing in the choir already when I was still in my Mother’s Womb. Attended Sunday School, and ditched several episodes of Voltes V. I attended School for Christian Youth Development for three years, and since 1993, I’ve been a regular delegate of Christmas Institutes, except for about 3 years of College, where I grew my hair long, listened to screaming metal music, and tried to make sense of my faith, my life.

Right off the bat I could say that the United Methodist Church has a solid Children’s ministry and an awesome youth ministry which produces leaders in the church and in the society. But after that period of involvement with the UM Youth Fellowship, something happens.

Either there’s a hunger among young professionals/young adults we can’t address or their commitment to church gets buried in an avalanche of new experiences, new experiences, and ‘new’ expressions of faith.

And yes, I confess, I attend Bread of Life Crossroads 77 occasionally, when I feel like it.

What do they have that we don’t? Why are they able to attract more people while we seem to be floundering, declining, even?

Or maybe, those are not the right questions to ask at all? Read more…