The Definitive-ish Guide for Using Social Media in the Church [Kindle Edition]

Bruce Reyes-Chow (Author)

Book Description

For anyone who has wondered if and how social media can benefit the church, Presbyterian pastor and social media early-adopter Bruce Reyes-Chow steps in with answers. He deftly weaves practical how-to's with a convincing rationale for why social media matters for the church. Social media novices will find an accessible introduction and ideas for getting started, while more experienced users will discover new ways to use social media in congregations. Readers will learn from Bruce's experiences managing information overload and navigating social media issues during a pastoral transition. This is a book to pick up for both practical purposes and Bruce's insightful and inspiring commentary on the ways social media is changing our culture and the church. Learn how social media allows Christians to be in the world in new, powerful, and God-honoring ways.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A compendium of every thing, every term, and almost every insight anyone could ever need or want for effectively integrating social media with God's business in His Church,Definitive-ish is also conversational, personal and pure pleasure to read. - Phyllis Tickle, Author, The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why and Emergence Christianity: What It Is, Where It Is Going, and Why It Matters

About the Author

Bruce Reyes-Chow is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a technophile, and an active and prolific user of social media. He is keenly interested in social media as a force of cultural change both within and outside the church, and frequently writes about these topics as a blogger for Patheos, The Huffington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Reyes-Chow pastored Mission Bay Presbyterian Church in San Francisco for eleven years and served as Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). He lives in San Francisco with his wife and three daughters.

Product Details

• File Size: 673 KB
• Print Length: 99 pages
• Publisher: Shook Foil Books (June 26, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008FCXKXE
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,749 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great into to social media and its role in ministry June 28, 2012

By Dawn L

Format:Kindle Edition

Are you confused about hashtags, tweets and status updates? This book does a great job providing an introduction to facebook, twitter, and so many other platforms available today, as well as how they can be used in the church. You'll find some more useful than others, depending on the needs of your church, but it will be helpful to know what's out there and what it can do, and being aware of these tools will open your worldview and enable you to connect with others in your congregation who are using them.

No matter who you are and what size church you serve, you'll find something of value for your ministry in this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It's all about Connecting and Growing in Community July 3, 2012

By clyde

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I found this book quite helpful. I do our church's website and constantly there is a battle, er, holy discussion, about what should be on the homepage etc. Not everything can FIT! Nor should it. Websites should be simple, inviting, informative about who you are, how to come to the church, and it should be very easy to navigate to find basic information IMHO. It is fairly static. It cannot substitute for other media communication tools. Kvetching aside, I had no other answers to offer the homepage crowders, to fix their very real needs.

This book lays out a practical plan to follow for many kinds of church missions, relates the author's own experiences, the pitfalls, but most of all, tells how to do it well. It is very clear, I think others who know nothing about this, will be more inclined to branch out with some success. I like the tools he mentions for volunteering and queries. Bruce's ideas (I feel I am on a first-name basis now) for newsletters, how to "do" Facebook well, taught me a new way to use these. I confess, I am still not sold on Twitter, but, as Bruce says, lots of people use it, so find someone who wants to take that on. THANK YOU. This is a huge help. And he put to rest my argument, "How many people would this actually reach anyway? All this energy on posting, and who looks at it?"

In the future updates (he plans to update yearly to keep this viable) I would like to see more in the Glossary and again, more on Twitter. Perhaps some simple illustrations of some of the things discussed would help (screen shots). How it looks to RT, @ and #. You have got me stoked to go to my long dormant Twitter account and see how people do it. Or maybe it is on YouTube somewhere...

Thanks!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not ish at all - Definitive for sure! December 30, 2012

By Carol M. Crittenden

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Easy to follow instructions and theologically sound reasons for bringing worshipping communities into 21st century and on to Web 2.0.

More About the Author

A native Northern Californian and 3rd generation Chinese/Filipino, Bruce is a San Francisco-based pastor, writer, speaker and social media consultant.

Bruce is committed to expressing a Christian faith that is beautifully complex, unimaginably just and excruciatingly gracious. He tackles a variety of issues such as faith, technology, race, politics, parenting and San Francisco living. His writing appears on Patheos, The Huffington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bruce has been an ordained Presbyterian pastor since 1995, was elected Moderator of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2008 and in 2011 was given an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree by Austin College.

When not online you'll find him on his motorcycle, at a baseball game, at a local cafe or chauffeuring his three daughters around San Francisco where he and his wife have lived since 1988.