CultureFeast » Daniel Dessinger

Wake Up, Church! The Time Has Come for Pastors of Online Ministry

Daniel Dessinger — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:31:13 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

January 7, 2010

Have you noticed that the larger churches have made some serious upgrades to their website in 2009? Churches now have Twitter accounts, Facebook fan pages, and blogs. Their members who are getting it done in the workplace are stepping up and bringing their local churches kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Content that used to be impossible to find is now making it to the Web. Sermons, skits, teachings, music, conferences, testimonies, signs, and wonders are nudging their way toward mainstream availability.

How Do You Measure Success?

What is the measure of your success, and where will you devote your time and energy online? Is it good enough to have a thousand sermon views per month? Is that success? What happens to those people afterward? Who is shepherding them? Who is loving them in lieu of a brick and mortar church? Is your purpose to scatter seed? To evangelize? To administer healing? To deliver prophetic words? To disciple? What is your goal, how will you know when you’ve accomplished your goal, and what will you do to keep from diluting your efforts on unnecessary avenues?

Who Will Man the Webz?

This is perhaps the scariest question of all. Organizations that implement online strategies well may draw significant attention to their websites and social media profiles, resulting in hundreds of comments and questions. Who is manning the interwebz, Church? Whom have you given the authority to respond, answer, pray, and minister to the online sheep? Or do you just want to wildly cast your seed out into cyberspace and hope some of it lands on good soil? Is that what a faithful steward does with the talents God has given him?

Assuming you’ve graduated to the point of actually allowing comments on your site, fan pages, and profile pages, who is handling responses? Have you dumped these responsibilities on your pastoral assistant? Your receptionist? Your youth pastor? Who is qualified to do this? Who understands the Web well enough to not insult people by acting against standard social media community protocols? Who can afford to dilute their current focus?

It’s the same problem businesses without a solid understanding of social media are facing right now. They have no employees qualified or available to man the sails. Social media profiles and blogs become virtual ghost towns neglected by those who had the idea but not the calling to see it through.

The Time Has Come for Pastors of Online Ministry

The fields ARE white with harvest. And some of those fields are virtual. Entire ministries could be built RIGHT NOW ministering God’s grace and love to people online who don’t attend a church, or whose church doesn’t offer the type of ministry you can provide online.

Right now, people are ministering prophetically through Twitter. People are mentioning their needs and their sorrows online. You can find them with real-time search. Someone could reach them.

Prayer. Encouraging words. Words of knowledge. Words of wisdom. Teaching. Discipling. It’s all possible. It’s all right there. You just need a vision for it and equip your local body of believers to do the work.

And let’s get to it. It’s time for some churches to hire Pastors of Online Ministry. These are web savvy people mature in the faith and trustworthy who can be sent out and supported by the church to minister to the lost online.

It’s time to catch the vision, pastors! It’s time to gather to yourselves those members of your flock who are faithful and equipped and to release them into the virtual highways and byways.

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New Year Resolution 2.0

Daniel Dessinger — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 14:37:33 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

December 31, 2009

It’s time for all of you who take the New Year seriously as an opportunity for personal growth and change to formulate your New Year resolution.

3 Quick Steps

My advice? Have fun with it, but take your resolution seriously. Only resolve to do what you care enough about to change. And make your resolution public.

Okay, let’s see here. Take it seriously? Check. Only resolve to do what I care enough to change? Check. Make it public? Uh… how exactly?

This year, GO PUBLIC

Well, there’s always Facebook and Twitter. But they don’t focus on New Year resolutions, so go ahead and share it with your friends there, but this year, rate your resolution with the rest of the social Web. Visit RatetheResolution.com, submit your resolution, then hang out

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Jack Bauer Interrogates Santa Claus

Daniel Dessinger — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:27:41 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

December 19, 2009

The perfect video clip for the holiday season. Even Jack Bauer can be beaten.

Thanks to Destiny for pointing this out.

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Why Don’t You Update Culture Feast More Often?

Daniel Dessinger — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:31:07 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

December 8, 2009

I hear this one from time to time. I know, I know: it seems like CultureFeast.com goes through periods of hibernation, then bursts on the scene with a flurry of new content, then disappears again.

The short and simple answer is that I’ve grown tired of pop culture. It’s always the same flashing lights. I’m pursuing more substance, which leads me to write more often on my personal site or RenewMyMind.com.

I long for the day when I can write more. But truth be told, I started too many websites. Now I can’t keep them all going. Not without help. I need some serious writers to come alongside me and pitch in.

For now, I’m doing my best, which means a few posts a week spread out across my sites.

My vision for Culture Feast is to get back to more of a sober view of the world and culture today. If you pray, please pray that I will find the time to accomplish this (without losing income, of course).

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My Grandfather’s Radio Show Now Online

Daniel Dessinger — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:10:22 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope you are well and taking this time to cherish your loved ones. Whether they be family, coworkers, or lifelong friends, give thanks to God for the people He has blessed you with.

If you find some time this holiday weekend and would like to listen to something out-of-the-ordinary, my grandfather’s radio messages are now online. Lennard Darbee was a healing evangelist from the 50s to the 80s. His radio broadcast, Rays of Faith, touched the lives of many.

I am making these 15 minute talks available via podcast at LennardDarbee.com. Please take some time to check them out. I plan to post one per week, and I have several hundred, so we should be adding new content for quite some time.

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I Could Care Less about the New Twilight Movie: New Moon

Daniel Dessinger — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:11:45 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

November 25, 2009

I’ve been reading a lot of chatter on Twitter over the past month about the 2nd Twilight movie: New Moon. Here’s where I get real. Confession: I went to see the first Twilight movie with my wife at the theater. Having admitted that, I am compelled to also inform you that I was less than thrilled.

It’s not really fair, I think. We’ve become inundated with vampiric content over the past two years. The CB has a vampire show. HBO or Showtime has a popular vampire show. And Twilight is selling books like Harry Potter (well, almost). So part of my disdain for the arrival of New Moon stems from my irritation with all the other vampire content out there.

Truthfully, I’m not into vampires anymore. I loved the Anne Rice novels in the ’90s. I loved them too much. There is a fantasy and a romanticism temptation that comes along with these stories. Immortality, walking the night, murder for food, romancing the living: all these are intriguing concepts that lure people in.

But these stories don’t bring life. The real danger here is how they might affect the minds and thoughts of our teenagers. Speaking from experience, I was lost in a sea of fantasy as a teenager that I allowed to keep me from living in, understanding, and maturing in the real world. That is not Anne Rice’s fault – at least, not the majority. But the lure and hook are what hold us in complacency and self-pleasuring imagination.

Having said that, I may or may not see New Moon. I can’t really say yet. It’s not a priority, to be sure. The quality of acting and cinematography was good enough that I can respect the talent that went into production of the first film. But it should take more than talent to draw me to the theater. Content and message are more important.

Will you go see New Moon? Why or why not?

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Praying for Our Neighbors

Daniel Dessinger — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:35:27 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

November 3, 2009

My wife and I have lived in this neighborhood since 2003. Prior to selecting our first home, we had visions of energetically greeting our neighbors and offering them friendship and ministry. I saw us opening our home and inviting the neighborhood over once a week for food, fellowship, and worship.

THEN we moved into the senior citizen mecca of DFW. Somewhere in the ballpark of 85% of our neighbors were retired and completely uninterested in making any move to say hello or welcome to the neighborhood.

That’s no excuse. I should have and could have reached out and been a friend. But I didn’t. In fact, I spent so little time in my neighborhood outside my home that I went months without even waving to a single neighbor.

The point: over the weekend, I heard that my neighbor’s 20 something year old son died of cancer. He was bedridden for months. We only heard about his condition for the first time maybe a month ago. We weren’t involved in our neighbors’ lives and people are dying.

If that weren’t enough, my neighbor on the other side of us lost his wife a couple years ago. I never knew she had died. She had Alzheimer’s and never really left the house. One day he just mentions in passing that his wife died a year before, and I stood there in disbelief. How could I not know the pain and trouble my neighbors were feeling?

Easy. I don’t spend time with them. I don’t know them. I am embarrassed and a little ashamed. The truth is, I didn’t have the faith to pray for healing and actually expect healing for the longest time. I don’t know that my prayers would have done any good. But my concern, my time, and my love would have made a difference. I have failed for too long to reach the people easiest to touch. They are literally next door, yet I know more about people halfway across the country because of their tweets.

Confession: despite all this, I don’t have the greatest desire to know my neighbors. We don’t appear to have many common interests. I’m 32. Most of them are 50-75. I have a young child. Most of them don’t. I’m all about the Web. They’re all about cable tv and fixing up their yards.

It’s not that I can’t find a way to bless them. It’s that I don’t see them as potential close friends. And because of that, it’s more difficult to will myself to step outside my comfort zone and talk to them. But some of them may be very lonely. Some of them don’t get many visitors. I wonder what I could do to bless each one.

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Will Fallon Pull Off a Saved By the Bell Reunion?

Daniel Dessinger — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:24:11 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

August 4, 2009

Are you hoping to see Zach, Screech, and Kelly reunite? Follow the URL listed at the end of this clip to sign the petition requesting a Saved By the Bell Reunion.

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Evian Powered Babies

Daniel Dessinger — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:52:43 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

July 9, 2009

Who knew? Better run out and grab some Evian!

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Honor Thy Mother

Daniel Dessinger — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:34:54 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

May 10, 2009

If you haven’t yet, take a moment to reflect on the woman who gave you birth. In all her glory. In all her flaws. Picture her in your mind. Do you see her? Good. Now smile, and thank God for placing such a woman on this earth to carry and give birth to little you.

Whether you live with her, miss her, or can’t remember meeting her, God placed a woman on this earth to house and nurture the miracle of life within her body. You were that miracle. She was that safe place. No matter what your story today. She endured for you. She bore you. She allowed herself to be used by God to bring you to earth as though from nothing.

If you are not or have never been a pregnant woman, this may be somewhat more difficult to imagine. But think of it. The raw, sweaty, painful discomfort of it all. The fears. The questions. The concerns. If for no other reasons than these, honor thy mother.

Some of us are grateful. Some are wounded. Some confused. Others resentful. We each have our stories. But we each owe our lives to an amazing woman.

If your life is a bright and happy one, and you are deeply thankful for your mother, you likely won’t need this reminder. But many of us have less than perfect stories. Our lives are riddled with joys and cuts. Wounds and hopes. Hopes deferred and paths chosen. And to each of you, I say, “Honor thy mother.”

Not every woman is endowed with pre-birthing wisdom and insight into how to nurture a child’s heart. Not every woman received the same love and nurture from her parents. We all venture out into that somewhat terrifying world of parenthood with strengths and weaknesses, insights and blindspots.

Remember that the woman who gave you birth likely wished she was more than she was. We all wish for something similar in ourselves. And if you have the opportunity, I beg you to take a step. Forgive. Love. Thank. Pursue.

A woman with regrets may feel her best lot in life is to stay out of the way… to not interfere. Though you might have held out hope way into your adult years that eventually she would discover your heart and cherish you like you always dreamed, she may not believe she deserves another chance. She may feel like a failure. She may hide from the pain of mistakes long forgotten by you and your siblings.

We never know what lurks in the hearts and minds of others. Rather than assume she has withheld, seek her out. Ask her questions. Questions you’d want answered from your best friend. Get to know this woman who gave you life. Find out who she is and cherish her for what you discover. There is always time until there isn’t.

Waste not.

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The Only Newspaper Job Worth Having

Daniel Dessinger — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:07:41 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

May 4, 2009

While some journalists get excited about how big a story they land, I look at news reporting as a bottom rung type position. At least based on today’s media, 90% of reported news isn’t important enough for me to know. That means there are too many people running around feeling self-important for no good reason except that something they did is earning them attention, and getting attention is what so many of us want.

But a columnist, now that’s a different animal entirely. A columnist must write what she thinks. She must share her own opinions with the world in a compelling enough way that people will be glad they read it. Especially in 2009, we’re all about advanced search. We have niche interests and we search for niche information. Nobody really searches for random opinions.

So the columnist has to establish a voice quickly and powerfully. This voice is her only sales pitch. Is her view of the world interesting enough to warrant another read tomorrow or next week? Unless she’s fabulous, a columnist will always be writing to a new audience – i.e., a group of people who wander across her column’s path. Opinion is not a news topic, so someone reading the column either happens across it and is giving it a taste, or he/she has read the columnist before and enjoyed it enough to seek it out again later.

I have no great love for journalism. I took journalism as my elective in high school for one year until I wisened up and switched to choir. I actually love to sing. I didn’t love reporting about track meets or composing yearbook layouts.

Fast forward seven years, and I was semi-dating an actual reporter. She was very intelligent and funny, but I never understood why she cared so much about the news. Whether a company launches a new store or product line isn’t compelling information to me. I simply don’t care that much about the news.

What fascinates me is people. I like to know what makes them tick. What motivates them to tell the truth, tell a lie, force a smile, endure sacrificially. I like observing people making choices, and analyze why they chose that specific option. I guess that’s why I respect successful columnists. They put themselves out there and live or die by the skill of their pen.

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The Power of Personal Silence

Daniel Dessinger — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:29:37 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

May 3, 2009

Have you ever heard an amazing insight into life, rushed off to tell the world, and later found that you never actually took personal possession of that insight? It’s like it somehow slipped through your fingers and you never even noticed.

I am reminded of the parable of the sower. There were several types of soil that the seed was cast upon. Without overspiritualizing it, I think the immediate need to share a revelation somehow triggers the loss of that same revelation. In other words, if we don’t stop to meditate and soak up all the subtle flavors of a new truth, we have yet to own it for ourselves. And when we share it with others, we feel a premature sense of satisfaction for having helped others see something they needed to see.

Perhaps the payoff is partly image-centric as well. Each time we rush off to share some amazing revelation, we get the credit of being the source – the first person they know that knew this truth. And being the source brings with it the recognition and reputation. Where the truth itself would have made a nice addition to your inner you, you have instead settled for the appearance of a deeper and more profound you.

The bottom line is simple: We own what we know in silence. And anything shared prematurely dies. Would you rather own the truth, or act on impulse?

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Hulu: An Evil Plot to Destroy the World

Daniel Dessinger — Sat, 02 May 2009 10:37:06 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

May 2, 2009

Check out this video. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

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The Need for Reputation Management Increases Across the Web

Daniel Dessinger — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 14:36:46 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

July 17, 2007

As I mentioned previously in ReputationAdvisor.com, the "web 2.0" space (sorry Nathan – I know how much you love that term) has grown and matured to the point that the what is written or posted on the Internet can make or break a company's profitability. Reputation was a priceless commodity back in 1950s small town America. Then cities expanded and companies branched out and a bad rep here or there still allowed for success in other towns or regions.

The consumer had no way to expose a fraud or a bad deal to the masses. Newspapers, books, and radio were the primary methods of communicating to the public. Television obviously took over as the most popular mass media communications method, but the stations were run by the rich minority, leaving the public with little more than gossip and petitions to spread the word of malpractice.

The Internet levels the playing field once and for all. Even the most average person can create a blog or join a forum and post their experiences and opinions of the various businesses they've encountered. We live in an unprecedented age of consumer power. A timely message delivered in the right place online by a single consumer can literally cost a business millions of dollars in sales and reputation repair.

The Internet also allows for corporations to flood the space with positive messages and claims to good intentions and benevolent deeds. Any business willing to dedicate some time and money can seriously spin their online image in any way they see fit.

The Web is the battlefield, and some corporations are just waking up to the realization that cyber slander can destroy their profits. I'm thinking of one small to mid-sized oil and gas company in particular. A disgruntled ex-salesperson posted a slanderous accusation against the company on a very influential investor forum. This forum was already crooked to begin with, since the forum owner propagated false accusations against similar oil and gas companies in order to win the confidence of the seeking investor. The owner would then direct the disillusioned investor toward an "honest" organization which he coincidentally benefited from.

This is a black hat marketing method which earns no respect from me. This forum abuses the power of its influence to slander others in order to keep the spoils. But this oil and gas company now finds itself in a dilemma: what do we do about these horrible things which our ex-employees and competitors are saying about us?

That is the million dollar question (or multi-million dollar, as I've seen businesses drop like flies). Bad online reputation may not end your business, but it can undo years of costly progress.

If you and your business have already suffered loss from bad online reputation, there is no time to wait. Contact a reputation management professional immediately.

If your business is expanding on the Web, now is the time to put a campaign into place that will protect your reputation in the future. Unsatisfied customers are inevitable. You can't please everyone all the time. But you can proactively protect your business from bad press that could cripple your business.

For more information about protecting your good name on the Web, contact me at daniel@culturefeast.com.

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Christianity Today Faces Problems Not Addressed in the Bible

Daniel Dessinger — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:20:42 +0000

By Daniel Dessinger

March 14, 2007

A lot of people, even those considering themselves to be faithful Christians, find the Bible difficult to read. Not only are the stories not presented in chronological order, but they are written to address problems of 2,000 to 4,000 years ago. It’s fair to say that a little has changed since then.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong (as unlikely as that is), but it appears to me that the most drastic change affecting our perspective and approach to Christianity is Christendom. For those of you wondering what the heck Christendom is, it’s defined as

“Traditionally, the part of the world traditionally dominated by Christianity: most of Europe, Australasia and the Americas, plus parts of the Third World (thanks to http://www.csa.com/hottopics/religion/gloss.php).”

So when we speak of Christendom, we’re referring to world as influenced by Christianity. What I meant by calling Christendom the largest difference is this: we face a unique set of challenges, questions, doubts, resentments, and teachings which we must overcome that the pre-Christ world and early church had no way of predicting. No one who wrote or influenced the writing of Scripture had to deal with Baptist doctrine, Presbyterian doctrine, Methodist doctrine, Charismatic doctrine, etc. None of them grew up in a country claiming to be Christian. They grew up in a country claiming to be God’s chosen nation, which is somewhat similar, but they didn’t have the same Gospel message or road to salvation to deal with.

Pick twenty people off the streets in the United States and ask them what it means to be or become a Christian. On some level, you will hear twenty different answers.

My point is this: when a message has been around for 2,000 years, people are bound to screw up the details. That’s just how it is. Back when the New Testament was being written, people were being introduced to what they considered a “completely new religion”, even though it was only the planned transformation of Judaism. They didn’t grow up with Jesus being so common that they used the name while swearing without even realizing that they were mentioning deity. It just didn’t happen.

In today’s culture, Christianity is so “obvious” that most people assume they’re a part of it without even knowing what it is. Even those of us who think we know at least the fundamental ins and outs still have to deal with our stupid self-improvement culture that looks for the 7 Steps to a Fulfilling Life or the Top 10 Ways to Be a Good Christian. The Bible wasn’t written like that (yes, I realize that there were a Top 10 of sorts when it came to commandments). It was written to people who didn’t live based on the fundamentals of marketing and self-improvement. When they were told that Christianity is about relationship with God, they understood it on a level most of us have yet to fathom. For us, we tend to skip over that relationship stuff and look for a list of things to do to check off. We tend to believe that if we’ll say a prayer, tithe, read our Bible, pray over meals, avoid X-rated material, be faithful to our spouses, and avoid hurting other people as much as possible, that we’ve done our duty.

Someone has to address this crucial misunderstanding to the masses. It’s not enough that pockets of people are getting close to God at some churches. We live in a country of 300 million people who need to understand that God is not who the televangelists say He is. They need to know that God is not after their money (though He will require us to give it). They need to know that just because some old white haired guys and purple haired ladies with too much makeup get up on fancy stages on television and act like buffoons doesn’t mean that Christianity is a ruse.

And most of all, they need to know that it’s okay to throw out the rulebook and start from scratch… that God won’t be offended if they approach him with sincerity, even if they come with STDs, guilt, shame, depression, anger, lust, addictions, fears, doubts, or any other problem. People need to know He will accept them. They need to know it like they need to know that a real human being will accept them with all they’ve got going on inside and outside.

They need to know. It’s not fun to stop our ranting and raving about the coolest gadgets or websites or whatever drives us nuts. But there’s more to life than going to a Billy Graham crusade and working like a dog for the rest of your life. There’s more, and it’s my hope that we’ll cover more of this in the months ahead. I won’t burden you too often, since I know we all need to take in important truth in small doses until we grow accustomed to it. But we’ll take this journey together, throwing American religious traditions out the window and approaching God with fresh eyes and as few preconceived notions as we can manage.

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