Kingdom Journalism

America.gov - “Telling America’s Story”?

Steve K. — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:12:09 +0000

I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but apparently America (i.e., the United States of America) now has its own website, and the tagline is “Telling America’s Story.” Well, I have no comment on that, but one of the resources that this site points to is a publication called eJournalUSA, which is “an electronic journal of the U.S. Department of State” (funded, in part, by my tax dollars). The thing that really caught my attention was the December 2007 issue of eJournalUSA is all about “Media Making Change,” with articles on new media technology, citizen journalism, user-generated content, new media vs. old media, hyperlocal websites, etc.

(HT: @justinbaeder)

God Wants I.T. Missionaries

Steve K. — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:11:34 +0000

YWAM’s Create International ministry has posted (on CalCast - the Gospel Gadget Podcast) a video message from YWAM founder Loren Cunningham on the subject of “IT Missionaries and the Internet.” Cunningham shares “how he believes that God is raising up a new type of ‘I.T.’ missionary that will use the Internet to advance the Kingdom of God.”

Watch Cunningham’s message here (scroll down and click on “Vidcast #19 - IT Missionaries and the Internet”):

Click here to get your own player.

Other CalCast Podcasts to check out:
Missions in the Digital Age
New Media for Missions - Part 1
New Media for Missions - Part 2

Be Aware, Be Very Aware!

Steve K. — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:22:51 +0000

Apparently today, May 1, is “RSS Awareness Day.” Since I was just speaking yesterday to a group of SIM leaders about communication and mission (and urging them all to get an RSS reader), this seems like a particularly appropriate time to re-link the “RSS in Plain English” video and to re-post a clear link to subscribe to my Kingdom Journalism RSS feed.

UPDATE: Here’s a great post from Abraham Piper, the Web Content Editor at Desiring God Ministries, on RSS and how to use Google Reader!

Be The Message

Steve K. — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:30:57 +0000

For a while now, I’ve been promising a blog series on Shane Hipps’ book The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture. I feel the time for that is drawing nearer and nearer … (Does that sound non-commital enough for you?) Anyway, Shane was in New York this week speaking at the Q Conference, and DJ Chuang was able to liveblog some of his comments via Twitter (remember: read from the bottom up and this will make much more sense):

And this quote from Os Guinness—also from Q, also posted by DJ via Twitter—relates directly to mission and communication, and, frankly, it is devastating, but we really need to ponder it and work out what this looks like (here’s one example of what this might look like):

The Rule of Thirds

Steve K. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:10:02 +0000

Here’s a nifty illustration to explain the photography/videography “rule of thirds,” which “gives you eight elements to work with — four lines and four intersections. Placing points of interest along the lines or at the intersections tends to create a more interesting composition”:

(HT: Kung Fu Grippe via The Life of JaWS)

Online Video Is Just Expected Nowadays

Steve K. — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:18:58 +0000

I’ve been saying essentially this same thing about online video, but it’s always encouraging to hear someone else say it so I now have someone reputable to quote:

“We’re talking about a generation that doesn’t just like seeing the video in addition to the story—they expect it. And they’ll find it elsewhere if you don’t give it to them, and then that’s the link that’s going to be passed around over e-mail and instant message.”

—Danny Shea, 23-year-old associate media editor for The Huffington Post

(Source: New York Times)

Ready to Step Things Up?

Steve K. — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:29:34 +0000

“The [technological] advances have been so breathtaking and the platforms of distribution that are available to us today far exceed the wildest imagination of any Christian broadcaster from a generation ago. The challenge, of course, is that since consumers of electronic media can get their content so many different ways, it’s incumbent on us to raise the quality of our programming; its creativity; to tell compelling stories and interesting stories with high quality production values all while maintaining our faithfulness to biblical truths.

“So the opportunities have gotten wider, but the challenge has gotten greater and the Church of Jesus Christ has to step up to that challenge.”

—Dr. Frank Wright, president of the National Religious Broadcasters organization

(Source: ASSIST News)

Kingdom Journalism Training … from CNN?

Steve K. — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:40:50 +0000

Last month, CNN launched a beta site for their iReport program, which engages “citizen journalists” in providing stories, photos, and video to the cable news network. The tagline is “Unedited. Unfiltered. News.”, and that pretty much describes the iReport website—a holding tank for information that has not yet been vetted by the professionals in the CNN newsroom.

The iReport homepage boasts “89,944 iReports worldwide. 915 on CNN last month.” I’m not a math genius, but even I can see that there’s only a small percentage of iReports that actually make it on TV. That’s not really the point. The point is that the role of major news organizations like CNN (and, likewise, communication professionals in mission agencies like SIM) is changing. Our job is not to try and report on all the stories that are out there (because that’s impossible), but rather to find the stories that are already being told by the people (the “citizens”) on the ground and closest to the story themselves, vet them, and promote them to a broader audience.

As the iReport blog explained on day one, “We know the news universe is changing. We know that even here, at CNN, we can’t be everywhere, all the time following all the stories you care about.” That sounds very much like the pep talk I give new SIM missionaries when I speak to them about communication and mission. The onus is on everyone to be a communicator and to “describe God’s mighty deeds” around the world (Acts 2:11).

Fortunately, we have folks like CNN who get this and are offering new tools to facilitate what I’ve dubbed “kingdom journalism.” The iReport website offers a great toolkit with helpful tutorials on:

Storytelling
Photography
Video
Audio

I think I’ll be adding these links to my list of resources as part of the communication training we share with SIM missionaries. Thanks, CNN!

I’m An Award Winner

Steve K. — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:07:21 +0000

I’m a few months overdue in mentioning this here, but the Wikiklesia book to which I contributed a chapter on communication and global missions won a prestigious award last year—the Award of Merit (non-profit category) from the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR).

Other 2007 SNCR award recipients included Microsoft, Sun Microsystems (corporate blogging initiative), Cisco Systems (Second Life initiative), and Coca-Cola / Eepybird Marketing for their YouTube viral marketing campaign with Mentos and Diet Coke “fountains.”

I’ve added the SNCR banner to my sidebar in recognition of my involvement in this wonderful project. My thanks to John La Grou and Len Hjalmarson for inviting me to be a part of making history with Wikiklesia.

Live Webcasting/Streaming

Steve K. — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:10:13 +0000

My friend DJ Chuang, Director of Digital Initiatives at Leadership Network, recently invited me to join the Digital Leadnet blog, which covers “the latest technology trends and what that means for the church.” The goal of this team blog is to answer questions such as, “What do I need to know in the tech world now and for the future? What do I need to keep my eye on?”

My inaugural post (on “The Democratization of Live Webcasting/Streaming”) went up this morning. If you think that providing a live webcast of an upcoming mission conference, special event, church service, etc. is too costly and complicated, I think you’ll be surprised how easy (and cheap) it’s becoming to offer these kinds of high-tech services. Take a look and let me know what you think of live webcasting/streaming. What are some of the ways mission agencies like SIM can and should be taking advantage of these new tools? Post a comment and let me know what you think!