Monday, October 5, 2009

3 Lessons from my Twitter/Facebook Sabbatical

I took a one week sabbatical from Twitter/Facebook this past week. I missed being on there to see what is happening in the lives of people. Now that my sabbatical is over, I have had a chance to reflect on some lessons that I learned from the time. 

1. I need to take more scheduled breaks from Twitter/Facebook. The one thing I learned from this thing is that breaks are good. I didn't take off of work, but taking off of Twitter/Facebook kind of felt like a vacation. I didn't realize how often I check the sites to see what is happening. I was a much more focused worker last week. The thing I will take away from this is that I need to only check the sites at certain parts of the day, and I need to take regular breaks from it. My family sure appreciated it. 

2. Twitter/Facebook is a great tool for ministering. The one thing I missed about Twitter/Facebook is the ability to connect with those I have a chance to influence through it. These tools have allowed for me to interact with people who eventually came to church and made faith decisions and were baptized. With over 300 people who attend The Journey and the countless others that I know and interact with through these tools, it allows me to connect to more people in a given day or week than I could ever do by meeting face-to-face with them. I still cherish the face-to-face gatherings, but tools like these allow for more opportunities to connect with people.

3. Twitter/Facebook can lead to discouragement. This may sound strange, but if you follow people in your profession it can lead to comparison. The one thing I noticed in my time away from it is that I quit worrying about what other churches are doing or their successes, and focused more on the things in front of me. I think these tools can be used to learn from others and to be connected to others, but if we are not careful, it can put us on rat-race of trying to measure up to what others are doing. We should focus on who God calls us to be and trust Him for the results. 

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad you did this- it was a good reminder to me that I need to weed some stuff out of my life at times (i.e. facebook) that becomes a huge distraction. I have done fb "breaks" before and it is CRAZY how much time I seem to have on my hands. At the same time, it can be hard b/c sometimes important information is communicated through these wild social networking sites. I need to find a good balance.

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  2. I like what you said about the dangers that can pop up through all the things that other ministries or individual ministers,etc. post...It can be a challenge to not allow some things to distract one's self.

    Sort of like having to re-calibrate so you can be back on the proper speed that God intends for you.

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