Building a Digital Campus

The world has been moving in a digital direction for some time. Interacting, banking, even worshipping online are not new concepts, but coronavirus and quarantine are moving us there even faster. It’s either jump on a zoom or watch the livestream of church or miss out altogether. If you are not technologically inclined, it can be so frustrating. If you are technologically inclined but spend all your time on a screen for work or helping your kids with their virtual schooling, turning the screen back on for Sunday school and church can be a drag.

These are the challenges that the Church Council is wrestling with as well. How can we fellowship in a safe way, and how do we connect with and welcome visitors and new members of our congregation? How do we do it in a way that balances engagement with screen overload? Paul Swicord, Vice President of the Council, said it best. “We have a church campus, we have the West Side campus, now we need to build the digital campus.” Exactly.

For this reason, and because we lost the in-house tech support for many of our tools with the departure of Pastor Campbell, we are beginning the process of hiring professional, part-time, paid tech support. This person would augment the fantastic work of Pastor Meehan, Jennifer and Janet to keep all of our online presence—web site and social media—up to date and relevant. Additionally, the AV Team (all volunteers who do a fantastic job!) will be looking into buying additional equipment that will increase the quality and content of our weekly worship live streams.

We will continue to share information and we move forward building our digital campus. As always, if you have an comments, questions, or concerns, please e-mail me at council.president@sjlc.com.