Marketplace Ministryfor STEM Professionals

Strengths of STEM Christians• Problem solvers• Logic and analysis, Rational/methodical• Marketable: in demand• Improvise creatively• High income/ financially stable• Well educated• Objective/data driven• Meritocracy• Innovation/Efficiency• Collaborative Open• High leverage

Weaknesses of STEM Christians• Analysis paralisis • Lower emotional IQ/out of touch w/emotions• Perfectionism • Lack of communication/interpersonal• Public speaking/shyness• Isolated (persionally, society)• Risk adverse• Distant from end use/• Unknown whether you are helping others• Arrogance of rationality• One part of many/anonymous• Out of touch with pop culture

Opportunities for STEM Christians• Tent Makers• Natural missionaries to STEM fields• People leadership in tech field• Create stuff that helps those in need• Magnify reach of other Christians

Threats/Challenges to STEM Christians• Faith in rationality/logic/numbers• Attacked for faith• Legalism• Working for wealth• Limited work in STEM for direct ministry• Isolation: from gadgets• Addiction to gadgets• Loneliness• More frequent Crisis of faith• Instant gradification/impatience

Technology and Ministry Resources Online & Digital Ministry & Evangelism

◦ Mobile Ministry Forum◦ Azuza’s Connected Summits

Christian Media Ecology◦ Gordon’s The Promise and Challenge of Technology Conference◦ Seattle Pacific’s Digital Society Conference◦ Baylor’s Technology and Human Flourishing Conference

Technology & Missions◦ International Conference on Computing and Mission

Christian Tech Volunteering◦ ChristianVolunteering.org◦ Lightsys

Education and Computer Centers◦ Greater Europe Mission, SIM International

Engineering◦ Engineering Ministries International

Book RecommendationsFrom the Garden to the City, John DyerThe Hidden Power of Electronic Culture,

Shane HippsThe Millennium Matrix, Rex Miller

TechMission: Ways to HelpVolunteer

◦Mentors needed to TechMission staff in Java, PHP, Salesforce/Apex, Ruby

◦Advisory Board Intern

Opportunity 1: Disruptive Technology Will

Transform Education

Characteristics of Disruptive EducationCost is orders of magnitude cheaper than

traditional methodsProvides alternative credentials

◦ Credit by examination with standardized tests◦ Certificates rather than degrees◦ Denominational ordinations

Typically starts at lower end and gradually improves quality ◦ Freshman & Sophomore courses

Examples of Disruptive EducationSecular Examples

◦StraighterLine.com: freshman year for $999◦Edx, Coursera, Course Hero, iTunesU, Khan

Academy, Lynda.com◦CLEP, AP Courses, ACE

Christian Examples◦Global University: largest ministry school in the

world with over 400,000 students ◦CityVision.edu◦KnowledgeElements.com◦UrbanMinistry.org

Need for Low Cost Education

Only 6.7% of people globally have college degrees compared to 40% in the USA◦ Majority of Christian growth is in developing countries

where Christian leaders are lacking educationEducation (like missions) is most effective when it

taught in the students culture and language

Technology innovation will enable ubiquitous, low-cost Christian education globally

Opportunity 2: The Long Tail Will Turn the World of

Christian Media Upside Down

Effect of the Long Tail: 80/20 Rule Becomes the 60/40 Rule

Before the Internet: 80% of profit comes from 20% of products

After the Internet: 60% of profit comes from 40% of products = increased content diversity

Effects of the Long Tail & Missions Long Tail Increases Diversity of Videos

◦ Blockbuster Video: 80% of rentals are recent “blockbusters,” only carry 75 documentaries

◦ Netflix: 30% of rentals are “blockbusters” and carry 1,180 documentaries

◦ Amazon: carries 17,061 documentaries (of a possible 40,000) Long Tail of Search Terms (TechMission Websites)

◦ Top 500 search terms provide 19.5% of visitors◦ 604,916 search terms provide 80.5% of visitors

Missions Implication◦ Non-Western culture voices are almost entirely on the long tail.◦ The Internet extends the long tail. It decreases the proportion

controlled by big media from 80% to around 60% which gives more room for non-Western voices.

◦ Open strategy maximizes visibility of non-Western voices.

`

Source: International Bulletin of Missionary Research, January 2005. David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson. http://www.globalchristianity.org/resources.htm

Opportunity 3: Mobile Technology

Mobile Projections2012 number of mobile-connected devices

exceeds the number of people on earth2015:

◦1 billion smartphones shipping annually◦60% of data will be outside of Europe & North

America◦All parts of the world will have average speed > 1

Mbps◦Market share 2015: 43.8% android, 16.9% iOS, 20.3%

Windows (Android market share likely to be double that in developing countries)

2016 there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita (10 billion)

Importance of Audio & Video In Access to the Word Globally

Source: http://www.wycliffe.org/about/statistics.aspx http://www.lausanne.org/en/blog/1779-the-70-orality-and-the-mission-of-the-church.html

Opportunity 4: The Semantic Web & Big Data

For More Info Visit: http://www.slideshare.net/techmission/christian-social-graph-v2

http://www.slideshare.net/techmission/nonprofit-social-graph

Christian Social Graph

Christian Social Graph

Parachurches300,000+

Jobs15,000+

Volunteer Opportunities

10,000+

ClassifiedListings

Resumes(People)

Churches300,000

Groups & Events

Content150,000

items

Funders & Grants11,000

TechMission’sInitial Focus

Opportunity 5: The “Networked Church”

Architecture of Catholic Church

Mainframe EraHub/Spoke ArchitectureOne HierarchyCentralizedMonolithicStrength: addressing

problems requiring centralized approach

Problems◦ The Pope is not Jesus◦ Single point of failure◦ Lack of competition

Pope

Hub/Spoke Architecture

Architecture of Protestant Church Pre-Internet

Computers & LANs Disconnected/No

Interconnection Atomized No hierarchy or

denominational hierarchy Problems

◦ The Body of Christ should not be atomized and disconnected

◦ Week in addressing problems requiring a centralized approach

Isolated Networks(denominations & churches)

Networked, Modular Church Complex organic

interconnection Uses strengths of both

centralized and distributed architectures

Modular Increased specialization

Internet ArchitectureFrom: NetDimes.org

Trend Toward Specialization:Growth of the Parachurch

$-

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

Parachurch $0 $1 $20 $162 $230 $570

Church $1 $7 $50 $108 $140 $300

1800 1900 1970 2000 2007 2025

(in Billions)

62%

66%

60%

Source: International Bulletin of Missionary Research, January 2005. David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson. http://www.globalchristianity.org/resources.htm

Modular Transformation of Computer Industry

Source: Only the Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

Virtually Integrated Church

LocalChurch

Sacraments

Sunday Service

Small Group

Teaching

Accountability

Modular Church

Student Groups

12 StepGroups

Accountability Partners

Meetups

ChristianLiterature

MegachurchStreaming

ChristianRadio/TV

DenominationStructures

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

LocalChurch

Sacraments

Sunday Service

Small Group

Teaching

Accountability

Modular Transformation of the Church

Opportunities and Threats from Technology

Opportunities Threats

Growth in diversity Growth in deviance

Many options/connections Shallow relationships

More information More temptation

Less global poverty More domestic inequalityDecreased autocracy Decreased accountability

Viral church growth Viral cults

Megachurch network growth Wal-Mart Effect on Churches

Increased Specialization Holistic church decrease

Individual Capacity for Good Individual Capacity for Evil

What’s MissingScienceBiotechUnforeseen opportunitiesIncluding all elements of vocation

Dimensions of Christian Vocation

From The Other Six Days. R. Paul Stevens

Four Questions of Personal Vocation

Calling

What are you good at?

Does the world need?What do you enjoy?

Will the world pay?

Internal Motivation(deep gladness)

External Motivation(world’s deep hunger)

Status

Meaning

Status without Meaning• Empty success• Corporate drone

Meaning without Status• Financially unsustainable• Starving volunteer

Internal • Underemployed• Starving artist

External Motivation• Burnout• Joyless worker

2. Discussion How STEM Professionals Can Improve Balance in Vocation?

3. Ideas for Increasing Meaning

4. What would 24/7 ministry look like for STEM Professional and in your context?