Something that church leaders know but I’ve never heard discussed is the pastoring of hybrid Christians. What I mean by this is that in our world teaching and theology are “in the cloud”. At any given moment I can listen or watch a sermon, podcast, lecture, debate, teaching, discussion, etc. by any leader that I am drawn to. I can download a book, article or go to a post online in a heart beat. I can engage in discussions about any of these by various mediums – all outside of a community of believers.

So as people assimilate more and more of these fragments or pieces of theology, it is my contention they become hybrid Christians. I would say that most, but not all, Christian people that I talk to these days are not strictly Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian…they are hybrid. They simply do not fit into one tribe. They carry bits of teaching from the flavor of the month or from a leader who really communicates in a way that speaks to them.

So what does this mean for us in pastoring people and communities?

What does it mean when we still often stand up & teach on the weekend as if we are the lone or most important voice in a persons spiritual journey?

How do we protect those entrusted to our care?

How do we enter the conversation or facilitate it?

Do we use others as the teacher in our communities and just play off of or work off of their teaching?

Is there a danger to so much being assimilated individually outside of communal presence? (I ask this question because I believe there is a certain amount of damage that happens because the Bible is often read and interpreted individually – especially those letters or documents that were written to groups/churches. We often take communal statements & make them personal or miss the emotion or the tension intended by the author in a community reading.)

What do you think?

Really late last night, or was it early this morning…I updated my Facebook profile to use Timeline, the new Facebook layout that is coming within the next week. I have to say after just a few hours of usage, I like it and to be honest I think in some ways it really is a “new” Facebook and not just a new layout.

Facebook has its amazing features and simple features and tools that draw us in and keep us stuck there or keep us coming back. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the word addictive used in the same sentence with Facebook. While I have to admit that I enjoy Facebook at the same time I have found myself at times to be a little over some of it – not the content or the people, but the clutter. At times my screen feels like a mess. Timeline at first glance seems to resolve several of my tensions.

Timeline is for sure not just a tweak to Facebook. It is that move from Middle School to High School; the same features and people are there but it’s just different. The Timeline idea, being able to capture your life…the most important events in one flow, is really nice. Depending on your level of engagement and comfort you can really capture your story in one space. I really like the idea of being able to go back in and enter pictures and events from my story. Facebook auto inserts many important events on the timeline which seems to me to be a really good guide to help you figure out where to dive in and…then it’s just a matter of filling in the blanks. I’m sure some people will not be comfortable with all of this and they then can decide how much of their story they want to tell.

After just a little time spent playing with the new features, I like…

1. The dateline feature on the upper right is nice. You or your reader can click a decade or year and go straight to certain points in the story to browse.
2. The cover shot. This is one of the tension solvers for me in that Facebook at times becomes cluttered and there are a million competing messages on every page. The cover shot says…this is important. I’m sure we’ll see innovation that allows for a carousel type feel, but whatever pic(s) you put there grab the eye. This is your first shot at saying who you are…the image get’s beyond the clutter.
3. The blue is back on the edges. I’m a huge fan of all white but this blue frames the page nicely and thank God, there appear to be fewer ads…due mainly to the cover shot size and to how it pushes other text/streams/info down the screen. The dateline on the right also pushes ad space down. I’m sure ads will still be a huge part but they seemed to be pushed down.
4. The section under your cover shot seems to be the second most important area to me, behind the cover shot. The cover shot will visually define you but this middle section has everything that I am always needing/looking for on people’s profiles right in a handy place. Friends, pictures and maps/places are very easy to see and get to and the about button is a nice ad. Once you click any of these pictures, you again get blue framed pages that are much cleaner and sectioned. The cluttered sea of information is ordered and cleaned up. I really like what they’ve done here. Maybe the setup just works for me visually but all of the information seems to be much easier to find and read.

   This space is also setup naturally for the further expansion of apps that make Facebook a one stop location for social interaction, gaming and who knows what else. I can see Spotify or other media apps working well right here in the center of the page. (video, gaming, presentations, video chat…all could pop or play right here from prime screen space.)

5. The updates and activity are streamed down the page on a tree/timeline that seems to flow forever or in my case back to 1970. Major events or stories that garnered attention are larger and you really get a sense that you can go back in time. You can see the story.

The personal/back end/user side is setup similarly and one really nice feature is that you can type in a friends name and see what your page looks like to them. You can also do this with simply a public view.

To be a tad redundant…I like the update and I really think where it goes from here will be really interesting. I do see some pitfalls for Timeline. I’ll talk about them tomorrow.

Peace ~

William

So my family got me these for a combo birthday / Father’s Day gift. They’re the

Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Solo HD Headphones

Wow!

I feel like I’ve got 2500+ songs in my iTunes that I’ve never really heard before. I’ve been listening to old favorites for the past couple of hours and I simply can’t believe all the stuff that’s in their that I was missing.

And as awesome as they are, I’d have to say I was reminded today of a couple of other things I’ve been missing…
*Really wanting to worship with our community. When you start a church and are part of almost every facet weekly, it can become a grind. It is a thing you do. You just move from thing to thing; you’re so tired from prepping for the thing (often shorthanded) that you just don’t really care about the thing by the time it get’s there. The last two weeks have simply been a huge breath of fresh air for me & I think our community. Moving our worship gatherings to Sunday mornings while making me nervous at first have proved to be an energizer. I love that we struggle to start worship because people are standing talking. I love that people aren’t leaving. I love that their are new faces. I just love taking it all in. Beautiful.

*Time with family & neighbors. Our spring got madly out of control. We literally had something every night of the week….not all of us every night but at least one of us somewhere each night. STUPID! But this summer we’ve slowed a bit and I have gotten to sit down for dinner with my family three nights this week…at our table(s) and also we’ve gotten three nights with neighbors/friends. It’s good to have that relational space and actually just get to sit and listen and eat and drink and share and laugh. I am praying for more & more of that over the summer. My soul needs it.

& oh yeah to get my dissertation research turned in

So, thanks fam, friends and Dr. Dre!  You guys are awesome. I feel like I’m hearing the music again and that’s a really really nice place to be.