Pastor's Puddle

I made it back from New York after doing the airline runaround at JFK to secure a boarding pass. I've had a chance to reflect on the conference, and have some final reflections. Here are three things I took away from the conference. New media is here to stay and is already changing the way we think about and function as church. The best uses of new media will grow organically out of the mission of congregations. A major question still hanging is whether or not geographical proximity is an essential component of church or not. Can church exist entirely online? Most of us would say no because all we know is the church rooted in a location. Perhaps "post geographical" (thank you Jerry Lapp) communities of faith will become the norm. Who can say in a world where a year ago none of us had heard of MOOCs?

For those of you interested in more in depth reading out of the conference the New Media Project web site has the papers presented available at http://www.newmediaprojectatunion.org/pages/downloadable-resources/.