Does Your Conference (Or Church, For That Matter) Really Need A Mobile App?

They seem to be all the rage nowadays: the mobile app. Mobiles apps exist for any and every company, service, or product you can imagine, from Netflix to the NCAA, Walmart to the Washington Post, and Bandsintown to the Bible itself. The iPhone even popularized the phrase “there’s an app for that,” which has become an answer to any question you can imagine. Need directions? “There’s an app for that.” Want to order something from *insert store here*?  “There’s an app for that.”

In keeping with that trend, annual conferences and churches have jumped aboard the mobile app train, releasing their own (often in conjunction with outside developers). By my personal (and very quick) count, close to a third (18 of 55) of all annual conferences have at least one app of some sort, and countless churches on top of that. However, I want to ask two questions about these church and conference apps that are the most important: what is the app accomplishing, and is it worth it? The short answers (in my opinion) are “nothing unique” and “no”, but let’s really look at these closely.

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Some Thoughts On UMC Annual Conferences and Their Usage of Social Media

Back in June of 2016, I made a little spreadsheet that I titled “UMC in the US – Social Media Presence“. It was a simple little spreadsheet that tracked every United Methodist annual conference and their social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, arguably the three most popular social networks in the United States (especially among the 18-29-year-old demographic), and it all stemmed from a backstage conversation at the Arkansas Annual Conference 2016 about who had the largest Facebook following in our jurisdiction (the answer was the Texas Conference, with Arkansas coming in second). Since that day, I’ve done my best to keep the statistics updated the past 6 months, adding and updating data along the way and letting everyone know about it. In doing so, and watching all of these pages and accounts, I’ve come across some interesting data and had a couple of thoughts on where things stand currently. So without further ado, here are my thoughts after 6 months of observation combined with my own personal opinions on social media.
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Q: What’s Going On In My Life? (A: I’m Not Completely Sure Yet, But It’s Definitely The Right Thing)

For those of you who have read my “Interning With The ARUMC” blog/category (click here if you haven’t, it’s a really good read, or so I’ve been told), you know that this summer was a very influential one for me: I had the opportunity to discover how I could use my passion for technology in a way that both served God and served the world. However, it went much deeper than that for me, which is why I write for you all today.

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On The Topic Of The Sheridan Schools Millage Increase

I’d like to talk today about a subject that has gotten a lot of discussion recently: the millage increase for the Sheridan (Arkansas) School District. But before I begin, I’d like to introduce myself and why I have any interest in this subject.

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Interning with the ARUMC: A Retrospective

Over the past couple of months, I have had the opportunity to be an intern at the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church, a statewide organization composed of all the churches in Arkansas that call themselves United Methodist. Specifically, I was an intern in the Center for Technology, the group responsible for IT and communications for the Conference. As a part of that group, I had the opportunity to work in a variety of areas, including “Communications and Social Media Strategy, Audience and Branding Development, Storytelling, Video Recording and Post Production, IT Helpdesk and End User Management, Website Development, Arkansas United Methodist Newspaper Production Assistance, Graphic Design, Email and Application Systems Development, and Worship Arts Technology”.

However, I like to think that my internship was more than just a crash course in IT work for a religious organization. It was an opportunity to truly experience how technology has applications in ministry, an idea that I’ve struggled with for a while now. And in the end, I would say that if I had to sum up how the internship affected or changed me, I would do it in three points:

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