March 2003 Archives

I just picked up a new book from John Hagel III,  author of Net Gain and Net Worth.  This one is titled "Out of the Box: Strategies for Achieving Profits Today and Growth Tomorrow through Web Services". 

Web Services is the TCP/IP of the Integration world.  Where TCP/IP allowed a variety of computers to connect via the browser,  Web Services allows diverse business systems to connect,  thus allowing a variety of systems to interface via XML,  a text based,  data-rich markup language.  XML has become the currency of crosstalk;  the integration of systems via a common and widespread language that can traverse the TCP/IP connections.  Of course,  this spells hopeful scenarios for organizations seeking to maximize their existing communication infrastructure investments,  such as the Church. 

After doubling in his season opening at-bat,  Griffey strikes out on a pitch head high with the bases loaded and one out,  thus starting the fans grumbling.  If he can stay healthy,  this won't be the norm.  But I sure was frustrated that he couldn't capitalize on that great opportunity to begin some fan PR by getting a big slam right there,  putting the Reds back in the game.  He wiffs,  and after a walk to Kearns forces in a run to make it 6-1,  Dunn brings on more groans by popping out to shallow right.  Sigh.

This sports page will remain Blue in honor of the Kentucky Wildcats of 2003,  and the Tennessee Titans,  who just fell short of another SuperBowl Birth.  Both teams overcame discouraging starts to end the season on amazing streaks (Titans went 11-1 until losing to Oakland in the AFC championship,  and Kentucky won 26 in a row after starting 6-3,  before Bogans went down and the defensive pressure with him.  The "Suffocats" just weren't there without Bogan's skills.  

Until the Reds can show some signs of life,  the Reds theme will be absent from this template.

Used to be the Reds made a good showing opening day,  even in not so hot years.   I was about to say,  "Maybe the Reds offense can come alive and make a game of it yet,  just before Adam Dunn grounded out to the pitcher after jumping ahead 3 balls and no strikes.  I thought that was usually a hitter's count.  There goes Casey for out number two.  This is not starting out good at all.  All of this from walkking the opposing pitcher.  I say,  the quicker the Reds can get rid of Bob Boone,  the quicker they're team can strat winning.  Boone has never won anything (has he even had a team that finsihed over .500?)  Reds go quietly,  1-2-3.  Still 6-0 after two complete.

I never liked the idea of bringing him in.  The word was,  players who have had hime don't like him.  So,  that's reason enough to bring him right in.  The Reds are heading in the wrong direction.

Reds opening day starter signals ominous beginnings for a questionable rotation in 2003.  See "Reds stinking up Great American Ballpark early". 

2003 starts off just great for the Reds.  Haynes gives up a 2-run homer ro ex-Red Reggie Sanders,  then after issuing a 2-out walk to opposing pitcher Benson,  gives up a 3-run homerun to Kenny Lofton?  The pathetic pitching already killing us.  Before I can get another sentence complete,  Jason Kendall jacks another for back-to-back homeruns,  the third in the inning.  All of this off of the "opening day starter",  the supposed " ace of the staff. 

At least Griffey started out good with a double in the first.  After one and a half,  Pirates 6, Reds 0.

Downloaded this today,  as a way to look for solutions to e-zines, mailing lists, and intranets for Church communication agencies:

Community Starter Kit Features The Community Starter Kit enables an individual or an ISP to quickly create a community Web site such as a user group site, a developer resource site, or a news site.

"ColdFusionMX" is an entry in My Web development,  which has been a ghost section over the past few months.

I bought the Cold Fusion MX Web Application Construction Kit earlier this week,  out of a sense of urgency to get going and learn this....already several contacts I have made are doing work in Cold Fusion.  Since I'm already in the Macromedia fan corner,  I might as well do it. It all looks so familiar,  from having been an ASP developer.....the learning curve seems to be quite manageable,  and having an editor that will do code via a familiar WYSIWYG environment (Dreamweaver) makes it a candidate for even faster mastering.  Forta's book seems quite complete (1500 pages).  I hope to find some reputable training,  if not just start working my way through this book and the accompanying CD.

Today I have found myself feeling more hopeful and confident than I've been in a while.  A doctor had given me a 4 week supply of Paxil back on Feb. 20th,  when I was having all kinds of back tightness and tightness in the lower chest and left side.  It seemed to keep in check a lot of feelings of depression,  but I always wonder about drug induced "equilibriums" like that.  I wonder what other kinds of impact or "flattening out" it causes,  and how that might affect creativity and energy,  all having to do with a certain intensity related to the emotions.  I'm glad I'm off of all that (now it's just cold remedies for this cold that started out as a stomach virus,  and has since "gone to my head" with the runny nose and sinus congestion,  and tiring out after only 4 or 5 hours every day).  I got some positive feelings out of my meeting this morning (good possibility that I can do some things with some CBF folks)  and that perhaps things are heading in the right direction.

Kenneth links to a great piece exposing some of the most common prowar arguments and their holes

This piece pointed to by Dave Winer and a few others is outstanding,  particularly the punch at the end:

So I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags in their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks, or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don't have to make it, or approve of bribing governments to join the coalition of the willing (after they first stash the cash). I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us. The flag belongs to the country, not to the government. And it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war -- except in self-defense -- is a failure of moral imagination, political nerve, and diplomatic skill. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country.

Being a Kentucky Basketball fan,  I'm a bit deflated tonight (sports wise --- otherwise it was a pretty good day ---- see the post later today) .  Actually,  the gloomy outlook for the Cats began Thursday night in the first half when Keith Bogans went down,  and then finding out later that he had a high ankle sprain.  They outlasted Wisconsin,  but the road ahead looked to be too much to ask without a healthy Bogans.  The one chance was to outshoot and outhustle Marquette,  and give Bogans another week to heal before taking on Arizona or Kansas (Kansas won) and then the final (probably Oklahoma or Texas).  But when Chuck Hayes got in foul trouble,  and nothing would fall in the first half (26% shooting,  including 1-8 from 3,  while Marquette hit 7 of 13 from 3 and 56% overall),  it was a little much.   The injury really shot down the title hopes.   I didn't watch the next game until the latter half of the second half.  I'm really pulling for Roy now (Roy Williams of Kansas).  Could well turn out that 3 of the Final 4 teams are Big 12 teams.  Wonder if that's ever happened? 

Funny that a movie on HBO (High Crimes) I was watching to "drown my sorrows" had Ashley Judd in it,  a big Kentucky fan and constant shot of cameramen at the games.   She had  the Kentucky team over to her house in Nashville for barbeque last weekend when they played the first round games.  Great year, Blue!  A shame to have been cut short.

Yesterday morning was one of my toughest times since my unemployment began.  I even got in the car and drove over to Janet's place of work ( a day care program at a Church) ,  and happened to arrive during nap time,  so I could sit there and tell her a little of the discouragement I was feeling. 

The night before,  as I was discouraged with the lack of movement in the Web project I thought may be able to get started and provide me with some work and money,  I was returning some of the books I had bought that I thought I could use to help me begin the project.  When I made the last stop at Borders,  I was back in the Web Development book section,  and began to look at the Cold Fusion MX Web Application Construction Kit,  and ended up buying it (with the usual intention of taking it back after perusing it for 2 or 3 weeks).  There has been so much use of Cold Fusion among web sites I have come into contact with in my efforts to "hook up" with some worthwhile possibilities for Online Theeological Community web work (such as with Sojourners,  the DaveRamsey.com interview,  and I also noticed that CBF online uses it,  as well as Associated Baptist Press).  Buying the book gave me a sense of "small steps" taken in the direction of doing something to move myself into a place where I can add some more "capabilities" and "competencies" to my arsenal. 

A guy from Atlanta also emailed me thsi morning and said that the CBF communication director had asked him to follow up with me,  after I emailed him  and the Associated Baptist Press guy yesterday,  hoping to keep them aware that I am still very much hoping to hook up with the CBF or similar "good Baptist" organizations (as opposed to the current SBC climate) to do some meaningful Web work.   I emailed him back and he called not long after that to set up a time for us to meet Saturday as he is visting his daughter who lives in Green Hills.  (9:00 Saturday morning).  This was a little lift for my spirits.  Now I am thinking about getting a shower and getting out,  maybe going by the Church and checking with Steve about what I can do to help him be able to updsate the Website. 

Wouldn't it be great if I were able to find that dream job,  with a theological organization,  that sent me to an event like this to research the possibilities for the Church?

ClickZ Weblog Business Strategies 2003 Conference & Expo is the first business-oriented forum to address the recent emergence of Weblogs into the business world and their rising importance as a medium of communication. This conference will bring together Webloggers who are pioneers, experts, and technologists. Together, they will present the latest developments, strategies, and success stories behind what is now becoming known as the Business Blog, or B-Blog for short.

A post to the Baptist section: "Baptist, other Christian leaders call for prayer as war begins"

From Associated Baptist Press:

The morning after U.S. forces initiated bomb and missile attacks on Iraqi targets, Baptists and other Christian leaders in the United States reacted with calls to prayer for a swift end to the war and minimal death and suffering associated with it. Some of the leaders intermingled their appeals for prayer with continued criticism of the war itself, while others expressed support for U.S. actions.

Meanwhile, a not-so-honorable mention:

Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land, who is one of only a handful of high-ranking U.S. religious officials to express support for the war, re-affirmed his commitment to Bush's plan...

As I connected to cbfonline to look up the location of Smith/Helyws publishers,  (Atlanta area, I discovered),  I saw this news item.

Click the above link to read the entire statement from CBF Cordinator:

"The overwhelming sense many people have about this war is sadness and confusion. Why is there not the leadership to build consensus among nations to remove Saddam Hussein from power? Why cannot the world community find the collective wisdom and will to disarm Saddam Hussein without war? Because there seems to be no clear answer to these questions, we are left with a global crisis of violence and destruction."

Yesterday, the first day of spring,  also marked the end of the fourth month of unemployment.  I am hoping to get a Web project that will provide some temporary income,  but also hope that I can use the project to add to my portfolio and develop some functioanlity that I can re-use in the development of Church Webs,  including one I have been maintaining for a couple of years,  and is in dire need of a makeover/redesign.  I sent in another couple of resumes to jobs sent to me by my Monster.com job agent email notification.  One was in Washington, DC,  the other in Columbus, OH.  Washington DC remains a focus in my sense of call nto the future as I ponder models of Church community in such groups as Church of the Saviour and Sojourners.  Nearby,  in Richmond, Virginia,  the CBF organization has a seminary

As the CBS NCAA basketball coverage comes on TV,  I am in a very different place than in the March Madness days of the last 10 years.  I did not fill out a bracket,  and have watched far less coverage (save for the Kentucky game,  although I was on the computer the whole time, looking at resources for planning and estimating for a Web project--- mostly regarding pricing for various e-commerce services and tools).  The traditional SEC tournament trip went on as planned,  except that this year I was a "freeloader" in that my parents footed the whole bill.   The game tickets, hotel room,  and plane tickets were all bought last fall,  prior to my job loss.  We didn't cancel anything,  thinking that perhaps I'd be re-situated by then. 

Up until the last couple of days before we went,  I was holding out hope that the St. Louis job would be offered, and that I would get good news from the second prostate biopsy that I underwent on March 10.  As I related earlier,  I got the letter from their HR department on the day of my biopsy,  when I returned home to "recuperate".  It was a rather difficult blow,  but ever since then I have managed to keep encouraging myself with the hope that this will help me to see and believe that my destiny and call lies in pursuing more specifically a way to help the Church tell it''s story on the Web.  That doesn't mean I don't find myself imagining "what might have been" if I had gotten the St. Louis job.  It could have been too technically demanding for all I know.  My skill set,  while reasonably competent in technical matters,  is most valuable because of my combination of those technical Web skills with my theological background and where that particular combination might lead me. 

The biopsy results did come back and showed no cancer yet again,  and so that fear was put to rest and allowed me to do some recuperation by being able to do SOME amount of "forgetting" where I am and enjoy the annual SEC tournament,  with the added adventure of flying to New Orleans.

If I can make a go of an upcoming Web project,  and renew some efforts to add new features to a Church Web for which I have found little time to go beyond mere "updates",  there may be a "synergy" that can happen by applying some of the "code" used for one business Web project to enhance the features of the Church Web that is in need of a redesign and upgrade of features.  User/member customizations are important to building Church INTRAnets,  where members are given tools to extend their involvement in the ongoing dialogue around what it means to be "Church" at this moment in our corporate journey.

If I can make a go of an upcoming Web project,  and renew some efforts to add new features to a Church Web for which I have found little time to go beyond mere "updates",  there may be a "synergy" that can happen by applying some of the "code" used for one business Web project to enhance the features of the Church Web that is in need of a redesign and upgrade of features.  User/member customizations are important to building Church INTRAnets,  where members are given tools to extend their involvement in the ongoing dialogue around what it means to be "Church" at this moment in our corporate journey.

I have been thinking about the Doctorate of Ministry (aka DMin) program that started me on this "Church and the Web" vocational journey.  I had completed all the steps save the final project back in the Spring of 1997,  just prior to my moving to Nashville to work fulltime.  I regret having abandoned that program,  but I was consumed in rapidly acquiring every Web development skill I could in order to "keep up" and stay abreast of needed Web development skills.  Perhaps it's not a dead issue.  Many of those original convictions expressed in those papers written between 1993 and 1997 are still valid, but in need of update as new Web technologies have come and gone.  The options for providing community tools and "places" as a ministry of the Church,  have grown dramatically.  Would there be a DMin program that could help me complete or "re-engage" with those directions?   (The papers I had thus far submitted can be seen here)

I have been thinking about the Doctorate of Ministry (aka DMin) program that started me on this "Church and the Web" vocational journey.  I had completed all the steps save the final project back in the Spring of 1997,  just prior to my moving to Nashville to work fulltime.  I regret having abandoned that program,  but I was consumed in rapidly acquiring every Web development skill I could in order to "keep up" and stay abreast of needed Web development skills.  Perhaps it's not a dead issue.  Many of those original convictions expressed in those papers written between 1993 and 1997 are still valid, but in need of update as new Web technologies have come and gone.  The options for providing community tools and "places" as a ministry of the Church,  have grown dramatically.  Would there be a DMin program that could help me complete or "re-engage" with those directions?   (The papers I had thus far submitted can be seen here)

This morning,  as I am doing a search on Google for anything David Siegel might have said, written, done since the publishing of Futurize Your Enterprise,  which was the first book I read which forwarded the idea that was made famous by The Cluetrain Manifesto:  that "markets are conversations",  and that we "capture customers" as people and not eyeballs or consumers,  and that we do so by "engaging them" with things in which they have passionate interest. 

I have always thought that this was the direction in which the Church needs to invest in order to leverage the Web for ministry.  It is an area in which the Church has ,  in my view,  failed miserably.  I have seen it in Churches where I have been involved,  (though not 100% so-- but on the order or 99%),  and I have seen it in denominational agaencies charged with helping the Church fulfill its mission. 

This is not a "forget the Church" call.  This is a "wake up" call.  There are doubtless many out there in the Church who are also captured by this vision of utilizing the Web to enable Churches and Church organizations to tell their stories,  and provide COMMUNITY,  yes,  ONLINE COMMUNITY which functions as a servant dimension to COMMUNITY of any kind,  which INCLUDES and ENCOURAGES face to face community.  I often hate to focus on comparisons of different aspects of community such as "face to face" and "online",  because each of these are multifaceted,  and can function as mutually beneficial for each other.     More in "Growing Community Everywhere"

My to do list:

• Work to nail down specific sections and features of the proposed site for friend's home business.
• Seek to renew and activate some web site strategies for church,  and seek a redesign and strategize for activating and caring for community building via the Site
• Look/pray/seek a way to make a pilgrimage to Washington to visit: Sojourners and Bob, Church of the Saviour,  and CBF folks in Richmond. 
• Keep bangin' on the doors of prospective employers (another interview yesterday,  but not one which struck me as positive --- seems my javascript is not strong enough--- I'm more of a Javascript hacker/editor/user than a writer/creator)

 

My Pro Football Team (Tennessee Titans) and College Basketball Team (Kentucky Wildcats) overcame slow starts to finish extremely strong (Titans from 1-4 to 11-5 and AFC Championship Game) and Kentucky from 6-3 and a sound thrashing by Louisville to 29-3 and a perfect 16-0 SEC record and an SEC Tournament victory (even the '96 team didn't win the tourney,  being ousted by Mississippi State in '96,  in New Orleans,  which is where they played this year,  but Kentucky on top this time, 64-57.  They're playing the first two rounds this year right here in Nashville,  but there aren't enough tickets to go around.  Go cats!  Ranked number one going in (since those "other wildcats" in Arizona lost in the first round of their tourney)

On the way to pick us (my Dad, older brother and myself) from the airport (returning from New Orleans -- see previous post) ,  some lady was backing down an exit ramp and my Mom ,  just entering the exit ramp,  couldn't avoid her,  and rammed her.  My Mom sustained a hopefully slight neck injury (she gets an MRI tomorrow, and is wearing a neck brace.  My Dad and I were at the hospital with her from 9am or so until 1:30pm,  then I drove them home (their car got towed to get fixed).

Now it's back home,  two job possibilities have come and gone (the DaveRamsey.com guy wrote me and said they really needed somebody with Cold Fusion experience).  Now I have to check on other possibilities.  A friend from the Church we had been attending before our present one,  wrote and inquired if I could perhaps help with her website.  I'll be checking with her either tonight or in the morning.

Every year since 1997 (and also in 1993),  I've attended,  with my Dad and two brothers,  the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament (all of us are Kentucky fans,  since we all went to high school and college in Kentucky -- college at Murray State).  This year it was in New Orleans,  and I just got back.  It was a much needed getaway.  My Dad had purchased hotel reservations, Tournament tickets,  and plane tickets all last fall.  There was much "up in the air" as to whether I'd be able to go.  If I were to have found work as I had hoped I would before this past weekend,  chances are I could not have gotten the days off that quick.   Since I had not been fortunate enough to do so,  it seemed best to go ahead,  and maybe let all the tension and anxiety subside for a short time.  It seemed to work.   We got on a plane Thursday morning at 7:25 and I got back at 8am this morning.

I had my second prostate biopsy this past Monday.  Today I got back the good word: Negative.  This is one time when negative is positive.  The one I had previously was back in September 2001,  and I got back that negative result on Sept.11.   There was a day when I was grateful for life in a new way,  and all that was happening in New York and Washington and Pensylvania. 

Now,  in the midst of my fourth month of unemployment,  I get to have another look.  I was hoping for good news from St. Louis, too,  but that was not to be.  I got that rejection letter just after I got home from having the biopsy.  I drowned my sorrows by vegging out in front of the TV as I layed resting my backend.  But today's news was certainly the MORE positive of the two potential positives. 

I say again,  life is good.  I just hope now that something will come along any day now that will help me to do something with it. 

I have been working on myself since yesterday's corporate Dear John letter from a prospective employer, telling myself that this was not what I'm after, even though the atmosphere was great, the company was/is doing great. It would not be what I've been getting called to these past 10 years. It's just that now does not seem to be a time ripe with experimentation and abundant funding for exploration of vision. And yet, who the hell cares (other than, like, needin' a paycheck), because on the other hand, God has been known to work from a few loaves and fishes.

After sleeping in about two hours later (to make up for the 2 hours I was up between 2:45am and 4:45),  I got up,  made a cup of green tea (I've been doing Green tea most mornings to cut down on coffee),  and wrote a reply to Ken,  who had written last night.  I ended up doing a bit of blogging (or blog-like writing) in my reply,  as I told him about my not getting the job I was all hyped about,  and going for another interview today at 4pm,  about 30 minutes from here over in Brentwood.

That email did me good.  The meat of the "blog-like" part was this:

I saw a quote from Leonard Sweet where he said "We need fewer Church Websites and more Web Ministries". That's a good point. The Church needs to be looking more and more like Online culture in the style of its communications, and stop trying to duplicate the brochure approach. It needs to figure out how to take its message and its stories online and engage the online culture. The Pew internet Research report keeps coming up with vast increases in the amount of people searching for spirituality and connectedness online (you probably watch these types things too, since you spent a year or two in St. Louis doing that same kind of research.)

I have often thought how I would find a way to "complete" my DMIn project from 1993-95. I was all the way to the project stage, having done all the preliminary papers with JT Robertson and David Lochhead's online group. But I would need to find a possible source of funding

Some interesting thoughts in this article

Success of Web Blogs Heralds an Even Bigger Future. BizReport.com Mar 11 2003 4:07AM ET [Moreover - Cyberculture news]

such as:

"With blogging, all you really need is an articulate point of view and some dedication to reach a very broad audience," said Todd Copilevitz, director of Richards Interactive, a marketing firm that has studied blogs extensively.

The way bloggers link and influence each other's thinking could lead to a collective thought process, "a kind of hive brain," said Chris Cleveland, who runs Dieselpoint, a Chicago maker of search software that recently worked with Blogger.com.

The "collective thought process" is something that captures my "theological imagination",  because that seems to knock on the door of discovery of new ways to enable community in the Church,  since it conjures up an image of a kind of Pentecost.  More on that after I try to get bak to sleep (see the previous post as to why I was up at this hour)

I'm awake at 4:12 am,  and have been since about 2:45.  I got "the letter" one dreads when awaiting word on a job.   It was the St. Louis job I mentioned on 2/27.  I had an inkling ,  especially once Thursday came and went last week with no word that this one was probably in the history books.  I even had nagging doubts about my responses during the interview on a couple of points.  When I woke up to use the bathroom,  I layed awake trying to shake the feeling of descending into all the doubts about one's abilities, qualifications,  and prospects in this extremely ,  well,  SUCKY time of economic woe and increasingly tough job market.  I try to tell myself that it wasn't what I've been aiming at --- it's not a Church related thing.  But I wonder how f 'n long it's going to take for the Church if technology companies and IT department companies are cutting back (except for the St. Louis job which I DIDN'T get). 

Doc blogs on a good start to World of Ends,  a new Cluetrain-esque blog begun by him and David Weinberger.  I love their stuff.  

Happy beginnings. On the whole, we're continuing to get positive and constructive feedback on World of Ends. A big thanks to everybody for that.

More links:

• Technorati Link Cosmos for WoE
• Azeem Azhar
• Dan Gillmor
• The Spy Who Wasn't
• Mijnkopthee
• Lawrence Simon
• Sean Flannagan
• The Mind Boggles
• Polyglot
• Langemark
• Webfroot
• xtof (mobicarnet)
• Campin' Guy
• AKMA
• Phil Windley
• Fort Boise
• internETC
• Burningbird
• Stör-Signale

[The Doc Searls Weblog]

This letter of resignation from a US Diplomat from the New York Times (via Common Dreams.org and JoKER's Blog) is another indicator of the level of blindness of the Bush administration to the danger it is threatening to unleah not only on Iraq,  but to stability worldwide.   Our own lack of reasonable attention to North Korea seems to be warning enough that we are far too focused on this Iraq campaign.  Highlights of the letter:

The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America’s most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will bring instability and danger, not security.
........Have we indeed become blind, as Russia is blind in Chechnya, as Israel is blind in the Occupied Territories, to our own advice, that overwhelming military power is not the answer to terrorism?

from Peter Storey (via UMNS- United Methodist News Service)
Storey is the Williams Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He is a former president of the Methodist Church of South Africa and a former bishop of Johannesburg. He was an anti-apartheid activist and served as Nelson Mandela’s prison chaplain.

In this article,  Storey sounds what I consider to be pivotal questions about the impending war with Iraq.  I agree with basically everything he says.  "Just War" has become more of "justification for war" rather than the "justice" issues.  Some highlights:

...Mr. Bush's outrageous doctrine of "pre-emptive war," in which the military power of the United States will be used against a nation because of something it might do, rather than what it has done. How can he claim that this illegal action would be in "the highest moral traditions of our country"? The notion of "pre-emptive war" negates all "just war" criteria and flouts international law.

One of the most sickening things about reading and listening to U.S. commentators is the disproportionate value that they seem to place on American lives, compared to those whom Americans might kill. In the Gulf war, more than 200,000 Iraqis were killed. How many will die this time? As a Third World friend said not long ago, "America goes to war; war comes to us."

IntraNets that connect the internal membership or employees is so crucial to any kind of organization.  Next in line is the amount of what goes on with INTRAnets that would be beneficial for the public to know.  It depends on the product or service being offered.  The Church's product is "contributing participants" (and "contributing" is not just referring to monetary contribution,  but to personal and spiritual contribution).

Churches have a natural link between "internal matters" that are hosted on an IntraNet,  and content that would be of help to the public.  The stories which would contribute to the voice of a Church's public internet are highlighted from their origins in the INTRAnet.  The content of the testimonies, descriptions of ministries, hosted discussions,  are all things upon which the Public Internet Church site can draw.

For organizations where their concerns and internal workings are less benefical to a public Internet site,  the communal tools are more exclusively internal,  but should not be negelected just becuase they don't "increrase sales".  As a matter of fact,  an argument can be made that they indirectly affect production by the value they bring to the internal communications,  and the sense of activity and excitement of the process of developing new strategies and improving and building on existing ones.

more in "Pushing Out the Journey Inward"

Cluetrain Theses Numbers 4 and 5 in my Cluetrain Section

People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.

People are drawn to authenticity.  It communicates to them that their own uniqueness will be appreciated,  and that their own strengths will be encouraged and enabled in such an environment.   Read more in "Theses 5"

Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.

Here,  the Church can be an unwitting violator.  The range of "theological speak" lexicons from which to draw is staggering.  Church sites are ful of this.  Some can be effective,  but usually only to the initiaited (IOW, "Preaching to the Choir").  See "Theses 4" article

My sense is that there should be more similarities in practice  to COS-style Christian communities within Christian corporations than there are to "business and management practices".  Where there is talk about being "servants of the Church" ,  the life of that community should hold more in common with the relational values pursued in Christian communities rather than those of economically driven, secular business values often expressed with specialized language that seems to flow from business management schools rather than from Christian values and the process of discernment and the discovery and utilization of gifts.   I say more on this in "The Three P's"