We Are Light | in darkness

Perhaps, the title is a little  radical.  Still, it represents my blatant opinion of what Christians should be doing in Web 2.0.  By the way, if you are a Christian, and you don’t know what Web 2.0 or social media means, you are the perfect person to subscribe to this blog.  A subscription will help you follow along.  You can even sign up to have new posts emailed to you.  I know, pretty neat!

I have another blog that I started to advocate for literacy; it hasn’t been updated lately because it’s due for re-construction.  Meanwhile, this is my first entry for this new blog that I have started to gather information that is primarily useful for Christians who are beginning to use  or learn about social media to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ,  share Christ with others online, or see Web 2.0 from a kingdom perspective.  To help you navigate, I will use categories and tags that will help you find the articles that are most important to you.

So, why is this blog for Christians who are beginning to use social media?  Why not another blog full of the latest trends in social media?  Simple.  There is a ton of great information out there that caters to a person who already understands the basics of social media - even for a Christian using social media.  Yet, when I started my Christian-based business earlier this year, I learned that there are many Christians who simply don’t understand the basic concept of social media and how it can be used in existing ministries and/or how it can even be implemented as a form of ministry.  Don’t worry. I’ll share some of the more advanced stuff as we go.

I know. Sure. You can take a course on social media and fill your mind with lots of cool and neat little things about social media that you won’t even use when you get back to your church, home, ministry, organization, business, etc.  And, yes, there are great tools like podcasts and webinars you can use to learn more about social media.  We will definitely venture into these items later.  But… since you are a beginner, I want to introduce you to social media in a way that is less “techy” to start.

Often, the beginners I work with really need a series of one-on-one training sessions because they are easily distracted,  discouraged, and misinformed by the plethora of high-tech information available on social media.  This blog is not intended to overwhelm, distract, discourage, or frighten you.  Instead, let’s imagine that you and I are working one-on-one as partners in social media for Christ!  So, this blog is aimed to keep you engaged by taking you through very, very slowly.  I’ll share tips, advice, opinions, facts, findings, etc.  More importantly, there will be Quick Action Assignments that are designed to help you understand and apply the information shared.  Of course, I encourage you to spend 5-10 minutes to complete each of them as they are assigned.  If you join the blog late, no worries, just make a schedule to complete them.

Because most of my readers are not professional bloggers or social media gurus, (I’m not either!), I will also keep in mind that your time is very valuable.  You have devotional time with God.  You have families.  You work. You have ministries.  You have this and that to do.  I totally understand.  And, for all those reasons, this might be the longest post you’ll ever read from me.  Mostly, I’ll submit short,  sweet, and simple items that you can grab and use to grow in social media!

A Bit About The Author

You can learn more about me by reviewing The Author section of this blog.  Here, I am only giving a summary of who I am and why I am here.  So…I’m Monica L. Coleman.

Being lent the gifts of gab, writing, administration, and teaching, I naturally took on the big, adventurous task of figuring out the who, what, when, where, why, and how to apply social media in Christian ministries, organizations, businesses, etc.  Of course, I also started blabbing about all the cool stuff I was learning.  For the last six months, I’ve studied, created, and applied strategies for using social networking to share Christ while advancing Christian-based organizations and businesses. Yep, there are many more people who have been doing this way longer than me. That’s why I’m so humbled that you decided to stop here!

Now, that you’re here, I’ll share what I have learned and what I am learning.   Social media is always evolving; there is always something to learn.  We will learn and serve Jesus Christ together by infiltrating His Goodness into this wicked world of Web 2.0. And, yes, it is wicked when the trending topics on Twitter are consistently related to quick silver schemes, sex, drugs, pointless celebrity gossip, etc.  And how many people on Facebook use applications to send virtual alcoholic drinks or engage in virtual mafia wars?  Don’t worry if you have no clue what I’m talking about.  We’ll walk through it all one step at a time.

Quick Action Assignment #1

One of the greatest things Christians can do online is share information that is aimed to advance the Kingdom of God.  If you find this post or any future posts helpful, please leave a response about it here and share it with others. You should know that your response about completing this assignment would be a blessing to future readers. To share this post, simply click on the button below that says, “Share/Save.”  Once you click on it, the tool will guide you through the other steps.  If that’s a little above your speed, you can always copy the website link and email it to a friend.

Until next time, remember…

We Are Light | in darkness

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