Jarrett,
I can't believe you did a whole post on 'church on the cheap' and gave no love to Google!! At New Denver Church we use Google's hosted services for our email, calendering, and shared documents. We also use Google Analytics to keep up with who's coming our site and what they're reading.Plus thanks to Google Voice I now have a local Denver number without having to change my cell phone. All that stuff is 100% F-R-E-E. Love it.

I understand the appeal of Clover sites, but I'm still a huge proponent of Wordpress. With all the template designers out there now it's so easy to get a site up and going on the cheap. We bought a Wordpress theme for $70, paid a designer a couple hundred to design our logo and update the theme to match, and we were done. Admittedly not quite as slick as Clover sites, but way more flexible, customizable, and changing our look is as simple as getting a new theme.

Excited to see you guys launching out. As someone here told us, "Church planting is way more fun and way harder than you could ever imagine!"

You're doing better than me - I'm still staring at 9 little green tomatoes that refuse to ripen as fast as I want them too! ;-)

Jay,
The problem is that in our celebrity-obsessed culture, we don't let our celebrities (even if they are our pastor) be normal humans. We afford celebrities great esteem and privilege (as Shane points out, for sometimes dubious reasons), and over time, this begins to shape the decisions people make. Consciously or subconsciously, subtly or not-so-subtly, their focus is drawn toward maintaining and improving their image to perpetuate or grow their celebrity. This can lead to disastrous decisions.

I saw Ted Haggard speak at Q recently and was struck by how his life illustrated this point. Ted, like all of us, has inner demons that he has struggled with for a lifetime. But as his celebrity grew as a pastor, it isolated him from finding help to overcome these struggles. He said that over the years he went to people close to him at his church to share his struggles, but they couldn't accept that he had struggles or offer him any help. They told him to pray more or to spend more time working at the church to distract him from his struggles. As his private struggles and poor decisions became public, it became clear that he had spent inordinate amounts of energy managing his image and hiding his struggles to maintain his celebrity. It was amazing how joyful that he seemed to be now that he doesn't have to carry that weight, even given the hell he's been through. It also became clear that the leadership around him at New Life had also made very poor decisions in an effort to manage his image. In the end, the whole thing toppled like the house of cards that it was.

What is the answer? I'm not sure there is an easy answer. This is a tension that we all must manage, but for those of us who work in ministry, I think John 3:27-30 is helpful:
"To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ[j] but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less."

We must always decrease so that Christ may increase. Our image and our celebrity must take a back seat to the priorities of following Christ and leading others in that pursuit. If you want a really good example of what that looks like, take a look at http://ysmarko.com/2009/the-end-of-ysmarko/

-Stephen

p.s.
For full disclosure, I worked under Andy's leadership at North Point for seven years and think he does an incredible job of fighting his own celebrity. One of the things that made following him so compelling was his humility and seeing up close that he really lives the things he teaches others to pursue. Though I didn't know him well, I knew that he had people close to him who would challenge him and tell him the truth. One of the things he regularly taught us was that in ministry all we had was our moral authority - authority derived from our words and actions aligning. He instilled a healthy fear in all of us (which I believe he carries himself) that we were all just a decision or two from compromising our moral authority and thereby our ministry. Given the scope and weight of Andy's ministry influence, I can't imagine the weight that must be to carry for him.

John,
I'm glad to hear you guys are thinking about this. I think the "step" from an individual or even online community experience to real-world relationships is absolutely critical. This could be a great tool to help people far from God take steps toward connecting to the Body, but it could easily be used to feed individualism and isolation.

Keep thinking steps,
Stephen

I like that you're staying focused on "clarifying the win" in this endeavor. I think that's key with any initiative involving technology. After all my years working with and around technology I have observed that it is easy to let technology drive the process and actually inhibit progress. Keep your eyes focused on our mission, which is defined for us, to make disciples. How does technology aid in that process and how does it inhibit? Follow that question, and I'll be curious to see where it takes you.

I don't have words John. My heart breaks for you guys, and I'll be praying. Not sure what else to say or do.

Carlos, it's great to hear how God met you when you stepped out of the flow of digital life. I think there's a lot to consider in what you state in #7. The more "plugged in" we are the more we probably need to unplug as part of our spiritual rhythm. Anyway, thanks for leading out like this and for sharing it. I look forward to hearing more.

Hey man - just saw your tweet and read this post. Wow. I had no idea all this was in motion for you. I will definitely be praying for you and support you on this journey. God speed brother. May God use this to draw you closer to him and bring more glory to his name.