BUT OF COURSE brother, the spirit is required.

i think your reaction is exactly what I hoped would occur. for us to remember what the \”point\” is. I haven't drifted off point, merely bringing up food for thought and conversation. and sure, i could be implying that a lot, but, who knows…? and i abandoned scriptural balance and fairness for conversation here.

appreciate the thoughts.

I'm reading "Trust Agents" right now and I follow Brogan on Twitter. I'm a big proponent of leveraging social media to spread the gospel, especially the way your pastor (Andy Stanley) and others like Mark Driscoll have. I learn a lot from you guys.

Here's what you said that bothered me: "What’s fascinating is that he [Brogan] could probably build a 'church' better than most of us. If we were to take out the spiritual-side of things, Chris has got it in the bag."

1. Without "the spiritual side of things," there IS no church. We follow and preach Jesus and him crucified. These are spiritual truths. Without the spiritual things, you have a country club. Not a church. And since when does marketing and business savvy (and not holiness) mean someone has leading a church "in the bag"?
2. When you say that a marketing guru can build a church better than most of us, you're implying that marketing savvy is the difference maker. It's not. You can have a well-marketed "church" and have nothing of the power and presence of God. The Bible teaches us it's possible to "[have] the appearance of godliness, but [deny] its power" (2 Timothy 3:5 ESV).

It's true that we can learn from Chris Brogan. But if you dilute the power of God (at least as it relates to leading a growing church) to simple business principles like "[moving] people strategically" and "[managing] and [leveraging] people's passions" and "rallying people together", then I think you missed the point. These are certainly great talents, but if you elevate them above the desire to press into Jesus to know him intimately, then you fool people into thinking that they need to be business and marketing experts to lead a church. The twelve apostles do not fit into either of these categories.

I don't disagree with you on the whole; I'm just asking for Scriptural balance as you speak to your audience, brother John. That's all. Keep up the good work.

You don't see many new books being written on that last part because for as long as I can remember… the human race has been so darn good at being friends with the people around us.

I see a lot of people posting warning messages like this one. But what we have to remember is that nobody is saying that we shouldn't be friends with the people we actually meet. The reason there are a lot of books being written about social media and how to use it is just because it is such a new concept to a lot of people. Shaking hands and having coffee with someone is not a new concept. Still an important thing to do… but a NEW thing at all. We're good at it, we know what it's value is already.

Also, I think the church has to be concerned with both – huge numbers and masses as well as individuals. To ignore the masses is to ignore a lost world.

Like Chris I think another guy that has some valuable stuff to say is Gary Vaynerchuk. Not necessarily him but his idea that the biggest thing needed is to care. Whether you influence 3 or 3000 his number one principle is to care about them. I have learned a lot from that as well.

Good comparison and challenging thoughts on this early morning.

"The problem is that the book reflects a disturbing philosophical shallowness within our society, as well as a mindless pursuit of celebrity… Trust Agents glorifies the current trend toward acquiring great quantities of snippets of relationships, and assumes that the value of quantity over quality in our relationships is the appropriate focus. Yes, this acquisition probably is the most effective means for business success now, however it ignores a fundamental destruction of the true fabric of our humanity."

As Christians we want deep relationships that speak to individual people's hearts and transform lives. So we need to use these internet technologies realizing that the short snippets of information online are not adequate compared to real life relationships. The body of Christ ultimately needs to prioritize actual face-to-face or at least voice-to-voice interaction.

For example, many people are just not very good at writing, and they are not going to disclose or communicate the details of their current struggles over the internet. We need interaction at a more human level. This is sobering.

http://www.virtualpreacher.org/sermon-on-1-corint...

As I've been reading through Trust Agents as a part of the group blog project I've been involved with, it seems like in almost every section the principles advocated are almost straight out of scripture. It's about relationships… do nice things for others without expecting anything in return… put yourself out there (awareness)… etc. All great principles for building a church (or any organization).