The Seabourns

Keith Seabourn

Wilson Web 15 years

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marketing-delivery-responseRalph Wilson is a pioneer. We learned together, separated by 1500 miles. I was getting started in this thing we now call eMinistry or online ministry. I was launching Leadership University, Origins, stonewallrevisited.com (since discontinued), World Religions Index, Leadership University in Spanish and other sites. I was helping other organizations like Probe Ministries, Reasons to Believe, First Things Journal launch their internet presence which we hosted in exchange for sharing articles.

Ralph launched Web Marketing Today. And his ideas gave tremendous lift to my leadership growth.

My first contact was an email newsletter. I understood the technology of the internet, which my engineering background. I understood the ministry skills of online ministry, having spent 15 years in field and media ministry. Ralph helped me understand the marketing of the internet. His practical marketing insights drip with integrity and purpose. I have helped many others build strategic plans for their internet ministry presence through the Marketing + Delivery + Response = Effective Internet Presence paradigm. (Thanks to friend Rob Williams who developed the diagram above.)

I wrote Ralph earlier today:

Congratulations, Ralph, on 15 years of excellent service. You and I started together in our internet foray. We both started in the 1994/1995 timeframe. Your marketing ideas shaped my application of internet media to our gospel-based mission expressed through our websites. I’ve recommended Web Marketing Today to hundreds of others. You’ve been a good and faithful servant to so many. Well done.

MinistryNet 2009 Antalya is over

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Keith and Kay at MinistryNet

I watched the 166 MinistryNet participants leave on Saturday. 37 countries on 5 continents received back some highly motivated people with written strategic plans to implement specific steps to leverage internet communication tools in our win-build-send mission.

In an interview Friday, I was asked about this MinistryNet compared to previous ones in 2005 and 2007. I shared that each has seemed better and better. The tide of understanding the value and role of internet communication is definitely rising and lifting all the win-build-send boats. One difference this year is there is more organizational momentum in the Virtually-Led Movements area.

Another difference this year is the program team decided to intentionally “go after” organizational leaders to bring teams of people. We wanted organizational leaders who control budget and staff to engage with their teams. This approach probably would not have worked in previous years, but the tide has lifted us to another place in 2009. As one National Director told me this morning, his leadership suggested that he send 2 people to MinistryNet. But he understood that would not bring about the deep changes he knows he needs in his leadership team. The “delegate approach” doesn’t allow organizational leaders to understand the deep changes the internet is bringing in our world today. So he recruited his top leaders to come with him to MinistryNet. 8 people came with him. He said it was extremely valuable. They are returning home with specific, written plans. But more importantly, they are returning home with a team of people who understand together and committed together to the plan.

My prayer is that the world will never be the same. That the kingdom will be impacted for eternity because of our days together.

Training in a mobile phone

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175 people. 37 countries. Antalya, Turkey. Four days. Exploring how to use the internet media of today to share the gospel and follow up new believers.

Wait! Hold on! That’s coming soon. That’s the next trip. I’ll share more about that later. I’d like to tell you about what happened on my recent trip to Africa.

SMS till you drop. Used courtesy of FutureAtlas.com.
SMS till you drop. Used courtesy of FutureAtlas.com.

There are 4 billion mobile phones in use around the world … and 6 billion people.

Mobile phones are enabling African countries to leapfrog generations of communications technology as they spread rapidly.

Mobile users on Facebook are 50% more active than non-mobile users.

Recently, I met with Dr. Emmanuel Bellon, Vice Chancellor of Nairobi International School of Theology. Emmanuel sees distance education as the only effective way to increase theologically-trained leadership. He is implementing a plan to expand distance education.

Keith and Emmanuel Bellon
Keith and Emmanuel Bellon

There is an urgent need for trained leadership to guide the exploding church membership in Africa. Our training institutions do not graduate enough leaders to supply the new churches planted each year in just the city of Nairobi alone. It’s fairly normal for a church to see its trained pastor preach once every 3 months. The interim times are led by lay leaders and women, mostly untrained. There is an urgent need for trained leadership across the African continent. Dr. Emmanuel Bellon.

But in Africa and many other places, the “last mile” is the hardest. Few have internet in their homes. But millions have mobile phones.

So, what if we could provide theological training to 20,000 pastors through a mobile phone? What if we could train thousands in how to share their faith with their friends? And follow up the hundreds of thousands of new believers?

We think we can.

We will run a pilot project in Africa next summer with a focus on training CCC staff in several countries. We will learn much about the possibilities of training millions through a mobile phone.

Now, back to the future. Kay and I are in Turkey for 2 weeks hosting conferences. We’ll tell you about that in a few days.

Lencioni on Virtual Teams

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Patrick Lencioni wrote a brief but very insightful perspective on leading virtual teams. He introduces the topic with:

When I speak to audiences about teamwork, one of the most frequently asked questions I get has to do with managing groups of people who are geographically dispersed, a.k.a. virtual teams. This surprises me a little because the topic, as well as the solution for addressing it, is certainly not very sexy.

He says the key is to avoid making three mistakes.

  1. The first mistake that virtual teams make is underestimating the challenges of being dispersed. Because e-mail and voicemail and texting and instant messaging have become so second nature, we too often assume that a team member’s physical location makes little difference in the effectiveness of the team.
  2. The next mistake that virtual teams make is wasting the precious time that they do spend together. Too many virtual teams utilize their quarterly or monthly in-person sessions engaging in social activities, somehow believing that this is how the team will bond. While social time is okay, there should be a focused and organized attempt to build relationships in the context of the work that needs to be done.
  3. The last mistake that virtual teams make is failing to master an event that is one of the most loathed and underestimated of all corporate activities: the dreaded conference call. What teams have to do—and I told you up front that this is simple and unsexy—is make a serious commitment to one another that they will maintain a high standard of behavior during conference calls, even higher than they would for an in-person meeting.

What are your experiences leading from a distance?