1 of 2

In recent months, media and technology have progressed at surprising rates; new products line the shelves and fill network segments. The iPhone, Windows Vista, and Apple OSX Leopard emerged in 2007, and the One Laptop Per Child project gained momentum. High-definition video hit the "decks" with two new formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. And technologies from recent years continued to advance: High-definition television boomed and became more financially accessible to the buying public as prices dropped, and social networking on the web hit all-time highs with services such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace becoming extraordinarily popular. How does the innovation in media and technology affect the church? And, perhaps more importantly, what changes can we expect in 2008?

It is nearly certain that 2008 will see social networking on the web grow to even greater heights than we have seen this past year. We will begin to see churches utilize the social networking platforms and integrate online communities into the flock. Imagine the website of your church as a place where people can communicate and interact daily. Immediately, your church's presence on the web becomes more than a digital brochure for a first-time guest. Now it is a hub for interactivity, discipleship, and community. Think about a Sunday morning video illustration becoming a viral video on your church networking site, or the site serving as a central forum for small groups to interact and share prayer requests and answers to prayer. The entire idea and concept of social networking is at the heart of the church: community!

Online video will rise to new levels in 2008. There are many churches already utilizing video on the web. It's great to see churches making that content easily available to anyone who wishes to access it. It's amazing that someone can go online to see and hear a pastor's message—perhaps even a message that God speaks through to impact the viewer. It truly is "discipleship on-demand."

Emerging technologies are the catalyst behind the increasing trend in online video. So many recent inventions are tying TV and the web together. IPTV (the internet delivered through television sets) is more than a buzzword now; it's here. Physical devices, such as home media servers and Apple TV, as well as web services like Joost and Hulu, are pushing TV shows and video to consumers directly from the Internet. This technology is quickly becoming commonplace today. Adobe's latest version of the award-winning media platform, Flash, has integrated a new "codec" called h.264. With this advancement, media developers can use Flash to deliver very high quality video across the web through very small file sizes. It is quite likely that some churches will begin to offer high-definition webcasts as this new technology becomes mainstream.

next page... |  1 of 2