The Alva Review-Courier, based in the megalopolis of Alva, OK (pop 4,848) published an article today entitled Social Networking Sites Benefit Pastors, Congregations in Many Ways. The author if the piece, Kathleen Lourde, interviewed several pastors in Alva as well as some guy with the same name as me.

The article explains many of the benefits to pastors using social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Twitter.  Those benefits include:

1. Helps the pastor listen – So he knows more about what’s going on the lives of the people of his church.
2. Humanizes the pastor – “it makes [him] seem like a regular person rather than a person who’s super-holy” (Did I really say “super-holy?” LOL)
3. Helps church members feel more connected.
4. In particular helps students who go away to college to stay connected to the pastor and church.
5. Enables the pastor to quickly get a message out to many people in the congregation.
6. The pastor can initiate spiritual conversations among members during the week.
7. Helps the pastor connect with other pastors to encourage & pray for one another.
8. A pastor can counsel people immediately online.

Any other benefits you can think of?  I’d say the article makes a pretty compelling case for pastors to use social networking tools.  What do you think?

[image by dominicspics]