A nationwide directory has an immense amount of appeal to a denomination that has extensive family and friendships networks already in place. I didn't grow up in the church and I'm kinda introverted (I found "potlucks exhausting) and I don't travel, but I do listen to church services a lot. I like to listen to churches for all over, I hear some good preaching and it allows me to kinda take the pulse of the AC community. In social media I think I'm what they label as a "Lurker". Often, when I listen to AC-net sermons, by a minister I Know nothing about, I have great difficulty track down his e-mail address even with an Elders directory. (I can't find it when I need it, he's new to the ministry, etc,etc) So in regards to improving communications a national directory of at least ministers and elders would seem like a good thing. Throw in members contact info and bingo! you got yourself a real live database!
The Law of Unintended Consequences
The law of unintended consequences is an adage stating that actions, particularly government policies or interventions, always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. While not a strict scientific law, it serves as a humorous or wry warning against the belief that humans can fully predict or control complex systems.
Think of our church directories as information/data colonies scattered across the country. Each discrete, known but to that congregation and a relatively few others. It's value is limited. Now look what changes when you take your congregation's members list and make it electronic; The member list increases greatly in value, you can improve communication within the church immensely, making planning for vbs/ potlucks, committee actions much more efficient. The same holds true at a national level (where the value of the member database skyrockets). But we all know this already, we accept the negative risks it might have and do our best to minimize them.
Things to consider
An on-line national directory needs a gate keeper, which I'm sure the AC-net already has in place. The entire church needs to understand the value held in trust in the form of the database. A handy-dandy list of members and their personal data is of considerable value to certain folks who are not members and have less than honorable desires. I recently did some private business with a local party who confided he went from $300k in revenues to just about zero. He found out his customer list was breached and stolen and sold on Yelp ($7/per contract). The breach occurred as a e-key was inadvertently shared.
There's other issues but I wanted to keep this short. luvya, bobb
A nationwide directory has an immense amount of appeal to a denomination that has extensive family and friendships networks already in place. I didn't grow up in the church and I'm kinda introverted (I found "potlucks exhausting) and I don't travel, but I do listen to church services a lot. I like to listen to churches for all over, I hear some good preaching and it allows me to kinda take the pulse of the AC community. In social media I think I'm what they label as a "Lurker". Often, when I listen to AC-net sermons, by a minister I Know nothing about, I have great difficulty track down his e-mail address even with an Elders directory. (I can't find it when I need it, he's new to the ministry, etc,etc) So in regards to improving communications a national directory of at least ministers and elders would seem like a good thing. Throw in members contact info and bingo! you got yourself a real live database!
The Law of Unintended Consequences
The law of unintended consequences is an adage stating that actions, particularly government policies or interventions, always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended. While not a strict scientific law, it serves as a humorous or wry warning against the belief that humans can fully predict or control complex systems.
Think of our church directories as information/data colonies scattered across the country. Each discrete, known but to that congregation and a relatively few others. It's value is limited. Now look what changes when you take your congregation's members list and make it electronic; The member list increases greatly in value, you can improve communication within the church immensely, making planning for vbs/ potlucks, committee actions much more efficient. The same holds true at a national level (where the value of the member database skyrockets). But we all know this already, we accept the negative risks it might have and do our best to minimize them.
Things to consider
An on-line national directory needs a gate keeper, which I'm sure the AC-net already has in place. The entire church needs to understand the value held in trust in the form of the database. A handy-dandy list of members and their personal data is of considerable value to certain folks who are not members and have less than honorable desires. I recently did some private business with a local party who confided he went from $300k in revenues to just about zero. He found out his customer list was breached and stolen and sold on Yelp ($7/per contract). The breach occurred as a e-key was inadvertently shared.
There's other issues but I wanted to keep this short. luvya, bobb