Book Update! "Grace and Gigabytes: Being Church in a Tech-Shaped Culture"

I learned yesterday that my publisher, Fortress Press, delayed the release date of my book due to uncertainty around COVID-19. Instead of releasing the book on September 1st, Fortress anticipates a new publication date of December 2020 - just in time for the holiday rush!

Ultimately, the delay of a book release represents a trivial inconvenience when compared with the drastic disruptions that continue to affect nearly everything the world had planned for 2020. While I am disappointed by the delay, I completely understand the rationale. At least now I'll be able to focus more energy on coaching and watching football this fall (I hope!).

I still anticipate that the book will bring clarity and inspire innovation amidst a time of deep uncertainty: for church leaders, for church-goers, and for anyone curious about the future of religion. The book will likely be available for pre-order in early November.

As I've observed what churches are doing during the pandemic, I've seen ministry leaders validate the book's core ideas. Churches rapidly learned the tactics and the tools for digital-age ministry. Church leaders quickly discovered how to communicate effectively in digital spaces and how to establish and maintain community through social media. Before the pandemic, fewer than half of churches had a website. Fewer than one out of one-hundred churches used live streaming.

While we don't yet have the data on live-streaming or website launches, we know that churches have truly adapted to the pandemic with remarkable agility. Many have started live-streaming worship, conducting Bible studies over Zoom, and connecting with messaging apps. As I hypothesized when I began work on this book, we already had the potential to use digital tools, we just needed the impetus to get started.

But being church in a tech-shaped culture has always been about more than social feeds and Zoom accounts. Once the pandemic ends, ministry will be about more than one-way streaming and well-organized communications.

That's why I am writing a book that takes a good look at our shared digital culture to explore what it means to do ministry in the digital age, a time of free-falling church attendance and increasing skepticism about the future of religion.

The book identifies four shared cultural values of the digital age, the values of questions, connections, collaboration, and creativity. Drawing on experiences in the tech industry, I explain how these values emerged and how they shape our culture. It tells stories of ministries that have engaged these cultural values and invites readers into a conversation about how these values call the church to change.

Throughout this unprecedented time, I've also heard many church leaders asking questions that align with those posed in the book. What would it look like for churches to cultivate a space for candid questions and raw uncertainty, especially during a time such as this? What would it look like for a church to engage its community as co-creators and collaborators, and not merely as content viewers? And would it take for church leaders to engage all of the stories within their community, instead of a few professionalized perspectives?

In the coming months, I'll share more on this site around these questions as we explore what church will look like in the digital age. With this site, I hope to start a conversation that will culminate with the release of Grace and Gigabytes this December.

So while I'll have to wait a little longer to share the book with you, I look forward to the conversations and questions to come, as we all anticipate a return to togetherness.

Being the church in a social distancing version of Holy Week

Let's allow ourselves plenty of space to lament the disruption of normalcy. Let's grant ourselves permission to grieve the experiences we have lost, the time with friends and family we'll never get back, the memories we had hoped to form that will now exist only as imagination.

Most importantly, let's allow ourselves to step outside the walls of our home, to hold up in thought and prayer those suffering from this pandemic, and especially those risking their lives to provide healthcare and treatment. Let's permit ourselves to dwell within this time of sorrow and sadness, for the times are unprecedented, and the valley appears deep indeed.

But let's not allow ourselves to be misguided by the idea that virtual connection is not "real" connection, or the idea that virtual church is not "real" church.

Though we may call this a period of "social distancing," in reality it is a time of "physical distancing." With YouTube, Zoom, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and countless other tools, we must remain grateful for the opportunity to remain socially connected, albeit in a different way. And we must remember that though we are physically apart, the spirit draws us together all the days of this pandemic.

This Palm Sunday marks the start of a Holy Week different from all other Holy Weeks the church has ever or likely will ever experience.

As we gather in front of phone screens and televisions, with YouTube or Facebook Live, we'll still be connected in a very real way. Though we may wave homemade palms of paper, or no palms at all, the shouts of "Hosanna" will be as real as ever.

Though we may not gather to wash feet or celebrate the Lord' s Supper on Maundy Thursday, Christ's service towards us, and our service towards one another, continue uninterrupted.

Though we may not gather in a church on Good Friday at Noon, our presence at the foot of the cross will be as true as always.

And even though we may not smell the lilies or wear our Sunday best, the tomb will be empty on Easter morning, just as it always will be. In these times where the reality of death is rampant, the promises of Christ's resurrection remain stronger. Though the stone that closes the tomb is heavier than it has ever been, God's commitment to rolling it away is greater still.

Virtual community is indeed real community. Church from home is indeed real church. The cross and the empty tomb are indeed as real as ever. Whether we go to church, lead a church, or have no interest in church, let us pause as we begin this Holy Week journey to realize the many surprising ways that the Spirit continues to draw us together. Let us recognize the many often subtle ways that God is turning the world around for the better. And let us remember that God will empty the tomb, wipe away our tears, and enfold us in the everlasting promises of the Easter season - this week, and all the days of our lives.

Writing as the ultimate side hustle

Last week, I was lucky enough to start an extended stretch of paid paternity leave, thanks to Zendesk's generous employee benefits. During this stretch, I hope to fit in some writing during my daughter's (infrequent) naptimes - because for me, writing is the ultimate side-hustle.

I've been intentionally focused on writing for the last four years, a span in which I started a blog about religion and politics, wrote a master's paper as part of a graduate school degree, started this website, and completed my first book (to be released September 1st!).

All of this has confirmed my assumption that there are very real psychological and even spiritual benefits to writing - but it's also shown me that writing can be a meaningful addition to just about any vocation.

These days, all organizations, and increasingly all vocations, are burdened with an excess of frenetic moments. While technologists once assumed that automation and artificial intelligence would afford more opportunities for leisure and reflection, we know now that the opposite has occurred. Never before has a culture spent so much time in the office, committed so many hours to workplace communications like email and Slack, and taken so little paid time off. In our vocations, we are busier than ever, so trapped in the pace of organizational growth that we have sparse time for the personal reflection that facilitates learning.

This addiction to freneticism (perhaps a dominant ideology of the 21st century) isn't confined to our hours on the clock. Increasingly, our life together is structured around 280 character communications, carefully-edited image feeds, and 24-hour news programs that define everything as "breaking news."

I once heard a speaker analogize the pace of life as a bustling party where all the attendees are crowded closely together on the floor. One's vantage point is restricted to the frantic movements of those around them in this great sea of bustling humanity.

But overlooking the party floor is an empty balcony with a limitless line of sight. By climbing on to the balcony, one could escape the noise and bustle and see the big picture. This speaker suggested that all learning in today's culture depends on our ability to cut our way through the clutter and the crowds in order to stand atop this balcony. Only by standing at this vista can we see fully see and appreciate the people, places, and systems at work in our culture. It is this vista that empowers one to grow, to lead, to transform.

The party floor of my life is especially crowded right now. Between work at a bustling tech company and parenting a lovely yet sleepless 3-month old, climbing up to that balcony has become more challenging - but also more important than ever.

That's why writing has become so meaningful to me. To reflect and to write is to access an express escalator to the proverbial balcony. When we write something meaningful (Tweets and emails don't count) with intention and focus, we transcend the barrage of push notifications, digital advertisements, and social media feeds. We create coherence out of chaos, insight out of sensory overload, signal out of noise.

Everytime I write, I picture myself at work in a side-hustle. A side-hustle is simply a vocation pursued in addition to one's full-time job. 43% of workers have some form of side-hustle, which are defined not by their consistency but their diversity. Some side-hustlers I know create freelance mobile apps, others install home security systems. Some roast artisan coffee, some provide personal training, others have ownership stakes in minor league sports teams. Some, but not all, side-hustles involve compensation, a nice bit of extra cash for that spring break road trip or March Madness bracket pool.

I might suggest that writing is the "ultimate side-hustle," in that it provides an opportunity to process, analyze, synthesize, and create - which is to say, it helps us to learn and to improve. And while it's true that amateur writing isn't lucrative, it does have one benefit that other side-hustles don't offer: it declutters.

Writing produces organization, it reduces the busyness of the mind. While other side-hustles might require additional time on email, additional hours dedicated to administrative minutiae, and additional energy lost to the same frantic chases that may characterize one's 9-5 job, writing doesn't require any of this. It's the only side-hustle that puts you atop the balcony, instead of blocking your path with more people and more noise.

With that in mind, here are a few tips for getting started with your writing "side-hustle":

• Select a theme that you are relentlessly passionate about. As a talent development professional, I see the connection between career skill development and the writing process - which is why much of my writing focuses on leadership development, instructional design, church leadership, and coaching. But not everybody is a work nerd. Some want to be as far away from the office as possible after closing time. Whether you write beer reviews or book reviews, political commentary or sports analysis, write about something you love. It's only by doing this that you'll find yourself coming back to the writing process, time and time again.

• Keep a backlog of topics. For me, the most difficult step of the writing process is deciding what to write about. I try to have 5-10 "backlogged" topics written on a list at any given time. That way, if I'm stuck with an hour to burn at an airport, or with 30 minutes to pass between meetings, I can access my list and start typing out ideas.

• Carve out a consistent time. This is perhaps the most important. Writing, like exercise, mindfulness, and other healthy behaviors, is a habit, and habits are supported by scheduling. I use the last hour of Friday afternoons at the office. I find it's a cathartic way to end the week. With my Friday afternoon writing sessions, I can leave the office with some closure.

• Use Evernote or Google Keep to jot down ideas as they arise. My phone is a repository of fragmentary writing ideas, of quotes I like, of stats I find compelling, of expressions and idioms that I want to build from. I think of my Google Keep account as a box of lego blocks. As I jot down ideas, I am adding new and colorful blocks to make the next project all the more fulfilling.