Worship in the New Millennium:
Why Are We Missing Our Best Stuff ?
If you're looking for a brief but intense opportunity to engage in open and honest discussions about creative worship ministry issues with a small group (99 max) of fellow sojourners, you're welcome to join us in the conversational journey. In this day and age of a new digital reality, the potential has never been greater for creative worship ministry, but it is challenging to reconcile with leadership and environment issues. Voices in the conversation include Sally Morgenthaler (Co-Creational Leadership), Rex Miller (The Millennium Matrix) and Kevin Callahan (Body Language) plus your own! For more information, go to www.callahanstudios.com/events.htm.





"Godcasting" Offers Religion on the Run
Podcasting is quickly catching on with religious groups. Since the beginning of July, the number of Christian organizations offering spiritual and religious podcasts listed on podcastalley.com has grown from 177 to 474.

Mainstream religious broadcasting in the U.S. has long been dominated by conservative evangelicals such as James Dobson and Al Mohler. Both now offer some broadcasts as podcasts. In theory, every church can have its own radio show.

Melissa Rogers, professor of religion and public policy at the Wake Forest University Divinity School, says, "Podcasts provide a way for people who are very busy to get their religion on the fly, but for most people this will be a supplement, not a substitute." Most religious podcasts can be subscribed to using R.S.S. (Really Simple Syndication, a tool that condenses information into a feed), which enables automatic downloading of a show to a listener's computer as soon as it's available. (NY Times 8/29/05)




Online Giving Gets a Boost
Donations to the biggest U.S. charities surged 63 percent last year, according to a new Chronicle of Philanthropy study. The 164 groups surveyed raised a combined $166.2 million online. That is less than 1 percent of the total raised by most of the charities, but the growth will spur more online fundraising this year, as donors grow more comfortable with e-charity.

Some of the rise might have been driven by strong donor reaction to media coverage of the tsunami. Non-profits have been slow to adopt more robust Web sites and other tech tools that could speed fundraising because they fear spending on tech won't deliver promised benefits. (USA Today 6/15/05)