Audio Book Review: The Church of Facebook by Jesse Rice

12/2/2009

This is my first stab at an audio book review. It's a little long, around 12 minutes. I tackle Jesse's book and some of thoughts about his material. The book may not be what you think it would be about.

4 Comments

Dale link

12/5/2009 12:42:31 am

Jeremy,

Good audio review. Good review in general. YOu laid it all out there, you're positives and negatives. As you already know, I had fewer reservations about the book, but I also agree with many of your reflections. I too may have been disappointed that it did not delve as deeply as I would have hoped into deeper aspects of online psychology and social psychology, because now that I have read this book , I am pretty sure that Jesse could engage some of these deeper delvings quite ably. But he did use a lot of anecdotal stuff, which were interesting, but as you say, not neccessarily dead on.

I was very struck, however, with the issue of authenticity. I feel very estranged from the church right now. And that, in itself, hurts. I believe in the church. And I feel it has not been a place for me where I have been encouraged /enabled in authenticity. But Jesse also emphasized how we can become too "consumer oriented" (ie What do I WANT, rather than what can I OFFER). It's almost like a chicken and egg thing. A community where I am nurtured enables me to nurture, which in turn results in my being nurtured.

This is all contributing to my own decrease in my idealism about online communications. A decade ago, I would have been focusing on what online communications do better than face to face. I still believe those things. But in the end, something is not there for me (even when I pour myself into the online world) in the online expeirence when I consider how "unconnected" I feel in the ftf church world.

I still consider myself an "evangelist" for online community and feel called to help the church utilize online tools to extend community, as well as allow the church to be present in those spaces. I am just more sesnitive right now about how "hyperconnectivity" has somewhat skewed our attention to ftf community a bit too far away from the "gathered" (physically gathered), so that fewer people seem really "present" and alive to the NOW when we are ftf.

There's a whole lot more to this, and lots of deep roots in church and web; I hope that more books will come out that deal with additional issues such as the tools themselves and how they do as a "medium" and how they enhace/detract from what the church needs to be about.

Dale

Jeremy Hoover link

12/5/2009 01:27:30 am

Interesting perspective, Dale. For me, Jesse's book was too prescriptive. I think much of what he says is in the eye of the beholder. Can FB be way too over-valued, self-promoting, and undermining community? Sure. But it can also be the opposite, depending on how folks like you and I and Jesse use it.

I like your emphasis on authenticity. I guess I struggle with that, too. You know the usual canard about pastors struggling to relate to their congregations. It's tough to simply be with congregants as a pastor. I feel this has more to do with their perception than with my ability. I'd love nothing more than to watch a game with the guys.

For me, then, FB and Twitter allow me to be more authentic online than I think I can be F2F. For example, a congregant might post something about their life that they would never say F2F (for a variety of reasons). My ability to be authentic in that context surpasses what I can do F2F. Who knows--maybe it is my inefficiencies as a pastor, though.

Sorry you feel disconnected from the church. I wish I could do something about that, but know that I feel a connection between us and am glad you tweeted me earlier this week and initiated this relationship and sharing of ideas!

Dale link

12/5/2009 02:22:16 am

Jeremy,

When you said : "For me, then, FB and Twitter allow me to be more authentic online than I think I can be F2F. For example, a congregant might post something about their life that they would never say F2F (for a variety of reasons). My ability to be authentic in that context surpasses what I can do F2F. "

this is very much why I am a proponent of online communications. It often is the case that I express myself MUCH better than I do ftf. It's just that I have much higher confidence in my writing than in my ability to articulate ftf .....not that I can't, it's just that I can "speak" (ie write) much more freely. I am also enthused about how online conversations can be "found" via all the tools like search, tags, etc. You just can't "find" the conversations you want easily in ftf, since those conversations don't usually have someone holding up a sign that says : "We're discussing X. Please join us." In fact, we are often wondering whether we would indeed be welcome by the people in that conversation. And both parties (us and them) are poorer for the lack of connection.

Jeremy Hoover link

12/5/2009 05:56:24 am

Great insight in your last paragraph. I still feel like online conversations are good connection points, even when not entered into with tags, search, etc.

I'm enjoying the conversation.

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Audio Book Review: The Church of Facebook by Jesse Rice

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