Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM)

The third recap article of the BibleTech event centers in on the main presentation by MMM - Mobile’s Christ-Led Encounters. First a bit of background:

One of the reasons for speaking on the topic of mobile as a doorway into Christ-led encounters was to deflect some of the attention off of the newness, or the shiny, that mobile has become. Its a truism that mobile has hit some sort of collective consciousness and tons of folks want to know how to use it to better do ministry or be connected with others.

With this in mind, I made a point to reconnect and listen more to what people were asking about mobile – compared to last year at BibleTech where I did more talking. Here are some of the observations:

• Using mobile alongside social networks efficiently
• Using mobile as an avenue for non-online content
• SMS engagement and service strategies
• Mobile as a personal broadcasting point
• Mobile as a community learning point

There were a few other conversations, but these were some of those pieces of mobile which tended to stick out a good bit.

There were about five presenters total who spoke on mobile directly, with another three or four mentioning mobile as an element to their strategy. By, the time day 2 rolled around, and it was time for MMM’s presentation, the ground was set to chat about being Christ-led and mobile enabled.

The presentation can be broken into two parts, the expanse of mobile, and the intention of the believer with mobile. In the first half, I talked about mobile in relation to statistics spoken of last year, along with some global trends. To that end there were 10 characteristics of mobile that were covered:

• Communication (voice and text)
• Consumption (passive media)
• Charging (monetary transactions)
• Commercials (targeted and response advertising)
• Creation (user generated audio and video content)
• Community (social networking)
• Cool (fashion and psychology)
  Control (telemantics, remote control)
• Context (status, location, environment, adaptivity)
• Cyber (augmented reality, plants, animals, etc.)

Its within these areas that opportunities for mobile to enable ministry lie. I also made mention to reference the presentation from the previous night as mobile isn’t just a technological change, but a cultural one.

And then my phone rang. No. Really. Got a phone call in the middle of the presentation. I had a feeling it would happen. But you know, having your presentation interrupted by an unknown phone number on the projector is kind of funny – and a lot embarrassing. Thanks to the audience for rolling with that one.

Part two of the talk centered more on the believer who takes on mobile as a significant aspect of the great commission. There are a few statements here which are items that will pretty much carry the next (hopefully) 5 years of MMM:

• Go. Teach. Disciple.
• You disciple with the spirit of God and you maintain the connection with mobile devices. (thanks Vajaah for tweeting this one)

The first point we talked about before. “Go.Teach.Disciple.” as a short form of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and as a long form for the impact that we are to have as we engage a culture that is growing increasingly digital and passive.

Therein lies the meat of things with the second point. Yes, there’s the big mobile-enabled world out there. And there are a ton of needs. But, without the Spirit of God – aka the Holy Spirit – our deeds are just that, deeds. We effectively bring the living Gospel to others when mobile becomes a handshake to something more than just something shiny.

And that’s how the presentation ended. Similar to the VSN Presentation, MMM’s encouragement is to use mobile as a handshake towards inviting others to the reality of Christ’s passion for them. Whether that’s directly in words, or indirectly in creating a cure, this is our mission. And in Christ’s leading, mobile becomes one powerful tool on our belt.

As with previous presentations, this one is available for viewing here.