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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 261.52
EAN num: 9781433502118
ISBN number: 1433502119
Label: Crossway Books
Manufacturer: Crossway Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: September 30, 2008
Publishing house: Crossway Books
Sale Popularity Level: 409773
Studio: Crossway Books
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Experts survey the new media landscape and explore specific ways in which Christians can expand their ministry effectiveness and advance their worldview with discernment and grace.
A Pew Study reports that only 2% of America’s twelve million bloggers claim “religion, spirituality or faith” as their main topic. This leaves a great mission field in cyberspace, say contributors to The New Media Frontier, because the latest forms of communication present so many opportunities to promote the cause of Christ in other topics and fields. Before blindly jumping in, however, Christians need to weigh the possibilities against the consequences, and then proceed with the practical discernment and grace this book provides.
With a foreword by national radio host Hugh Hewitt—who has been at the forefront of the new media movement among Christians—editors Roger Overton and John Mark Reynolds (along with an impressive list of other new media experts) survey the current landscape and explore specific areas in which God’s people can creatively expand their reach to a lost world. By stressing the urgency for Christian involvement, unearthing the dangers, and advising readers on how to use this media with different audiences, this book equips believers to advance, demonstrate, and utilize the Christian worldview in this exciting realm.
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Rated by buyers 
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The New media Frontier serves both as a primer on the use of internet technology for churches and ministry, but also as a collection of thoughts looking to the present and future to discuss ways in which churches, ministries, and missions have been and will be shaped by the use of technology.
The very first section of the book focuses on the `primer' element. The contributors offer overview and reflections on `new media' and the church, as well as beginner's guides to using blogs and other web technologies (video, podcasts, etc.) in a ministry setting. Much of this basic information was presented with few assumptions, and for those who aren't tech-savvy it could be a great resource to understand the "hows and whys" of new technology and media.
The discussions in the second half move beyond the basics into discussions of how new media has, can, and will affect churches, pastors, and ministries in the coming years. These chapters range from discussions of `cyber communities' centered around blogs, using new media in teaching situations, seeing Facebook as a tool for pastoral counseling, and how new media will shape the church's forays into issues like bioethics and social justice.
I appreciated the discusion that is represented in The New Media Frontier. It felt odd to read these thoughts on pages, because so many of them seemed like conversations that would be at home on blogs and websites - and many of them probably started out that way. In this sense, the book represents a particular moment in time - a moment when many churches have begun to consider how technology affects their ministry but have not yet fully embrace the opportunities provided by new media. This book can be a great resource for those who have yet to commit to the possibilities presented by new technologies and a launching point for conversations about how they will allow the new media frontier to shape the future of their ministries.
Rated by buyers -
Is it possible to communicate the fullness of the ever changing, ever expansive category of "New Media", using a book? That is just what John Mark Reynalds & Roger Overton endeavor to do, as they bring together some of the best voices from the Christian movement in New Media. The results are a fascinating and informative book, that for now is a complete and relevant guide to the things Christian media creators should know and should care about.
The book is written by a team of well-researched writers, who speak from experience. It begins especially well, and explains the history and the relevancy of the New Media from a Judeo-Christian worldview. From there it continues to build the case for Christians to learn to use the new forums of communication now open to us.
The points it raises are fascinating, and to the point. Each question is handled well, and nothing is simply dismissed or glossed over.
It explains why Christians should err on the side of liberty when it comes to the new media, and at the same time explores the pitfalls and weaknesses in the New Media movement.
The communication style of each writer is easy to read, but very well researched and full of information. I found myself highlighting and marking sections of the book to come back to. There possibly couldn't be a better resource available for the Christian interested and/or involved in producing for a new generation highly attuned to the ever changing world of media. The author brings out this quote that; "as long as Liberty prevails, a chance for more entrepreneurial activity in information distribution will exist."
The incredible tools that the New Media bring to the table will need to be defended, for freedoms sake. True Christianity has and will do well under the microscope of free information access.
If you are new to the realm of online media and blogging, this is a great start, but without mentioning up and coming and widely popular twitter and spending so much time on the awful Youtube, rather than the more relevant and high quality sites for video available [...]I wonder how long this book will last before needing to be republished?
Of course that is the point... Technology changes, and the old media can only take the church so far before we are irrelevant.
I work in producing media that falls into both the old media and new media categories, and I found this book to be extremely relevant to the questions I had in trying to navigate the expansive waters of the internet revolutions aftermath. Great discussions will come from reading this book, and I imagine most of them will be communicated, like this review, via the New Media.
Shepherd Ahlers
Intern, City on a Hill Productions
Rated by buyers -
The New Media Frontier is an amazing book for anyone that realizes the millions of people that are far from God that won't be reached by "traditional" methods of sharing the Gospel. As well as those wanting to utilize social media/ blogging / podcasting / twitter to grow people outside the 4 walls of the church. This book not only shares the why we should use online media for reaching out, but also shares alot of the how to aspects as well. I would say that I am an above average techy kinda guy, and I was surprised at how much I gleaned from the writers. It was a great surprise when I was half way though the book and read a chapter by Rhett Smith, a great guy I met at the Echo conference in Dallas last month. All in all I would say this book is a must have for anyone that is wanting to extend their reach !
Rated by buyers 
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The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging and Podcasting for Christ edited by John Mark Reynolds & Roger Overton
The New Media Frontier is written as a collection of essays on various topics related to new media and Christian faith (as the authors view it). Many of the authors seem cautiously optimistic at best regarding the implications of New Media for the Church. Author Matthew Lee Anderson goes so far as to write a chapter entitled, "Three Cautions among the Cheers: The Dangers of Uncritically Embracing New Media." (emphasis mine)
Needless to say, this book is definitely geared towards those who still need some persuading the "the internets" are here to stay and are not just for porn, video games and pedophiles. As is often the case with the Church it seems a couple years behind. No mention of Twitter, several mentions of You Tube without a single reference to Vimeo, no serious discusion of internet campuses, and a very indepth chapter on Right leaning politics (seemed out of place unless you are talking to Pat Robertson and his protoges). For folks looking for good reasons to get into New Media as a Christian with serious reservations or doubts, this is a phenomenal book. For folks who are already pretty well sold on the concept, the practical sections are pretty basic and the rest is just making a case for why we should be using New Media.
The authors opinions were varied from, as previously stated, cautiously optimistic to really fully embracing and utilizing New Media.
Rhett Smith and Mark D. Roberts both gave great arguments for and examples of fully utilizing new media for community, outreach, impact, etc. Stephen Shields had excellent thoughts on the use of New Media for non profits, missions and churches engaged in social justice and advocacy.
David Wayne, Roger Overton, Fred Sanders, Joe Carter, and Jason Baker, Scott Ott and Matthew Eppinette all delve into the benefits of information availability and accessibility, collaboration and sharing across such varied fields as bioethics, journalism, apologetics, theology and education. Many also expressed the potential downside of difficulty in separating the wheat from the chaff with some much availability and accessibility.
Bottom line, depending on your starting point and perspective, this book can come across well balanced and address all of the relevant topics you care about, or it can come across all over the map and a little mixed up.
A great read for that pastor whose church is not growing and the only communication is gossip and complaining, or for the youth pastor who can't figure out why all of his students seem perfect to him but he hears from parents that their going off the deep end. But if you are looking to expand an existing social media strategy at your church I would look to Chris Brogan, Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki, who spend a lot more time talking about the conversational and community building aspects of New Media.
Rated by buyers -
I became aware of this book well before it's release thanks to the work of Rhett Smith, one of the book's contributing authors. So, I was very excited about getting the chance to take a look at and review this book.
The proper title is The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting for Christ. It is partly a primer on new media and partly a look at the many diffrent uses of these tools in the context of church and faith.
The very first section focuses on media in general. The very first two chapters nearly rolled right over me with deep philosophical arguments for the use of new media. It even went so far as to compare the new media revolution with the Russian Revolution, which felt like something of a stretch, but still made sense. The remainder of section one was devoted to explaining the different types of media out there such as blogs, video blogging, and podcasting - as the title implies. For someone who is new to these tools, this section provides a great primer of not only describing what these tools are, but how to get started using them as well.
The second section provides practical application of these tools in specific areas of faith and ministry. These areas include theology, youth ministry, and creating community. Each chapter is written by a different author who is something of an authority on the topic at hand. This has it's ups and downs because the reader is likely to connect with one author's style more than another or with one chapter's topic more than another. The benefit, howeve, is that you are able to hear from someone who is passionate about the topic they are addressing.
In reading a book like this, I have to remember that I'm an early adopter and have been using computers since I was 3 or 4. Keeping that in mind, I think that this book would be extremely valuable to the computer illiterate or the internet fearful. Because of the way the book is laid out, even if you are familiar with these technologies, you should be able to find new ideas or ways of thinking in the areas that most interest you. Finally, it should serve as a good jolt for anyone who is considering the use of new media to get going and give it a try. After all, there's no time like the present.
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