NOW THAT’S AN DEA


Make your team a storytelling machine R


emember the days of the sanctuary slideshow chroni- cling a summer of missions. Remember how you were transported to another time and place through images of people you’ve never met. Then came the testimony. Story after story of God’s work through the people in your church. Those days aren’t so distant. In fact, the mission trip report is critical to the life of an on mission church. But what if you could tell them with greater power and immediacy as you go? By harnessing new storytelling tools such as Facebook and Twitter, you can make your story our story. This is the power of social media—we own the story we’re being told. The question is how do we use them ef- fectively so the person who stays behind can pray with us and join in our work from where they are? It doesn’t take a whiz, but there are some basic steps to make these tools work their magic.


STEP #1: Visit www.twitter.com and www.facebook. com, and set up an account for your church.


STEP #2: Find out who in your church is on Twitter and Facebook and get in touch with them through these


virtual worlds. Encourage more people to join, and inter- act with them there often.


STEP #3: Social media (that’s what these sites are called) is not just a chance for you to spill your thoughts


or preach digital sermons. It’s a chance to care about the lives of others, and to let them care about yours. So the preaching is fi ne, but we need your life, too.


ON MISSION • Fall 2010 47


STEP #5: Let your younger people train your older people in these technologies. This gives your younger


leaders a fun way to be involved and provides a hands-on way to ease the learning curve. When it comes to setting up your account or typing on your cell phone, no one is smarter than a tween.


STEP #6: Seriously. It’s easier than you think!


STEP #7: Assign storytelling detail to some capable teammates. Make it someone’s job to update friends back home as you


• cross state lines • leave the country


• engage a person with the gospel • encounter a fl at tire • do anything you think folks back home might care about in 140 characters or less.


STEP #8: Now. Tell the story. Open your cell phone and begin. “We leave today for an amazing summer mis-


sion trip. Praying for God to move our hearts and theirs.”


STEP #4: Make social media part of your mission trip training. Most everyone has a cell phone, right? Start


with this basic tool. When you join Facebook or Twitter, you can opt to update from your phone.


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