Surprise! CTM 2.0 Unveiled
Posted on February 16, 2009
I feel like I should jump out and yell “Surprise!” so here goes.
Surprise!
After making a big deal that I was done here, I am coming back to let you know that even though I was done, God was not. Over the last month, He has let me know in so many ways that there is still so much left to do here.
My wife told me it was a mistake to walk away and some others indicated as much and the straw that broke the camel’s back came one night recently as I was having dinner in Tulsa with Kirk Longhofer.
Kirk is a good friend and I respect his opinion and I came right out and asked him what he thought of my decision. He immediately said he thought it was a mistake and I really need to get back in there. That didn’t help me at all, because deep in my heart, I knew I couldn’t go back. I can’t even explain but even though I’m still passionate about tech in church, the chapter that involves CTM, as it was, is over for me. He went on to suggest maybe I should open it up to guest writers and that almost had some appeal but it also seemed like an administrative nightmare keeping up with things and lining writers up. So, that didn’t quite gel either.
What came next was exactly what I needed: a late night, 2 hour drive home. In that time, what I am about to share began to take shape in my mind and it was right. The question that began to resonate in my head was:
Why not invite other church tech volunteers to write posts and shift the focus of CTM to be entirely focused on volunteers and the challenges they face?
I have always had a heart for the small church, yet never quite knew how to effectively reach out to them. In fact, I wrote a post a few years laying out a vision to essentially create a network available to help support the smaller local church. Ultimately, this concept fell flat, however it did generate a lot of conversation.
What I realize today is that the way to reach the smaller church is to reach the tech volunteer that needs the support.
So, in a matter of days, I was able to bring together a group of tech volunteers that are eager to share their experiences and knowledge through CTM. God has been stirring in all of us, it seems, and we have quickly banded together and came up with a plan to reach tech volunteers worldwide.
We are ready to cut loose and see what God can do through this group of dedicated servants.
Our prayer is that this project will reach thousands of church tech volunteers and even staff and help all of us to equip the church to effectively use technology to reach people for Christ.
My role in this is to let go of this site, my baby, that I had already walked away from, and trust it to this group of volunteer leaders, to let them begin to shape this new vision and create something far greater than I ever could on my own.
The plan going forward is you will begin to see a variety of posts from a variety of perspectives and in the near future, each of them will introduce themselves to you and share their background and areas of expertise. I am very excited and you are going to see that this team is very talented, passionate and dynamic.
Early in this process, I quickly learned that the best thing I can do at this point is make a few suggestions here and there and seriously get out of the way. Since this is our first collaborative effort of this magnitude, there are some things we don’t quite have figured out yet and we will make some adjustments along the way. Instead of perfecting every aspect, we felt it was better to just go live and fine tune it as we move forward.
Please join us on this next leg of our journey as God uses this group of talented, passionate people to lead us and begin to connect the community of church tech volunteers.
http://www.youversion.com/esv/Prov.19.21
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Proverbs 19:21Proverbs 19:21
English: World English Bible - WEB
21 There are many plans in a man’s heart,
But Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.
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Comments
10 Responses to “Surprise! CTM 2.0 Unveiled”
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I’m a 24 year old volunteer tech guru at our small Church in sw North Dakota. We recently installed a new sound system, with capabilities we’ve never had before, and a brand new set of challenges as I try to learn every tiny thing I can do with it. I look forward to the new direction CTM is taking. I love seeing different viewpoints on how to get things done, especially on a nonexistent budget.
Welcome back.
There really is a huge need out there within the volunteer community. People are trying their best, but struggling to know where to get help, support and ideas.
People treat volunteers as if they were professionals, wanting more and more from them. They sometimes forget that these people have jobs and lives of their own.
Graham, from the UK.
Thanks for stopping by guys! Although the contributors will be posting on regular topics, we’re looking to the readers for direction on what they need. That’s why the forum was launched.
The forum should be a tool for all of us church volunteers to use to get answers, advice, recommendations and most importantly SUPPORT from like minded folks.
Again, thanks for being a part of CTM.
I have church media questions. One idea is to set up a contact form for submitting questions. Then, the volunteers could pick through the questions to base posts on. Just an idea.
Thanks, this is a needed resource.
Carl that’s a great idea. you can also use twitter to submit your questions by sending them to @chruch_tech and I’ll make sure the group knows the question and we can get the answer from one who will know the answer for you.
-Chris Duckett
I’ve been thinking of starting my own little blog with help for the small church or little church. Now maybe I’ll just hang out here and see what you guys are doing. Kudos on a great idea. I’m sure God will bless.
Hey everyone.. thanks for your comments and encouragement as the CTM contributors seek God’s guidance and wisdom in all this we welcome your prayers and I will continue to lift CTM and our community of techies up in prayer…
Tim Golden
CTM Contributor
http://twitter.com/goldeneye
http://churchtechmatters.com/ctm-contributors
Carl, I agree that this is a great idea. Besides sending them to the Twitter @Church_Tech, please submit them to the forums @ forum.churchtechmatters.com for the time being. We can see about setting up some other form of ranking system, but even just the general discussions in the forum will give us some idea of what’s popular and what needs to be addressed.
-Peter Schott
)
CTM Contributor (to be – still editing
http://twitter.com/paschott
Hi Graham – good to see another UK voice here and I hope to be posting some stuff that has a unique UK slant but I guess would help others at the same time.
[...] Go here to read my intro post to this new effort and I invite you back to Church Tech Matters, which is now “A site for tech volunteers, written by tech volunteers and those that lead them.” [...]