6 Steps to Using Facebook’s New Profile

Timeline, Facebook’s new profile, allows you to go beyond the here and now and tell your story through photos, friendships and personal milestones like graduating or traveling to new places. Imagine the multiplied impact if many of the Christians within someone’s Facebook sphere updated their Timeline to include their faith journey! Facebook’s new Timeline is a great opportunity to share your life’s story along the themes that really matter to you and your friends.

Here’s how:

1. Think through your themes. What is your story really about? From LifeMap, consider your:
   1. History–these are big milestones (e.g. birth, ethnicity, family, where you grew up, went to school, etc.)
   2. Highlights–these could be people or events in your life (e.g. giving your life to Christ, conversations, retreats, trips)
   3. Heartaches–these shape who you are (e.g. parents split, girlfriend breaks up with you, close friend dies)
   4. Heroes–these people are personal heroes who have touched your life (e.g. uncle, grandmother, schoolteacher, youth pastor)
   5. Hand of God–the events in which you can now see the Hand of God was guiding you in a spiritual journey, drawing you closer to God.
2. Add significant events that fit your theme into your Timeline–using pictures and video whenever possible. If you don’t have pictures, consider taking a digital pic of a photo from your scrapbook, photo albums. If you don’t have video of a significant event, consider narrating a simple web-cam video.
3. Paint the events in full color. We tend to minimize our failures. As Christians, we want to do the opposite–to lift up our weaknesses and failures. By including our imperfections and poor choices, we put the gospel on display. Your honesty adds power to your story and shows off the Good News.
4. Be genuine. Let the events of your story tell your story. You don’t need to pose as someone you’re not. Your story is powerful as is.
5. Include more than just the Christian stuff. Be sure to add your first crush, your first roller coaster, your fam’s last road trip together. Let the reader see the themes come out in the context of your whole life. Otherwise, it will not feel genuine, but rather like you have an agenda.
6. Read and comment on your friends’ Timelines. What’s their story? Surprisingly, this may be the most important step! Note the themes in their stories. There’s nothing more honoring than spending time on their story. And sometimes, you’ll be able to show them where God has already been at work in their lives.

—Scott Santee, (GlobalShortFilmNetwork.com/blog.php)

A couple of us are currently in Bangkok at a conference called MinistryNet.The conference is about leveraging the Internet to help more people connect at deeper levels.

From a workshop called "Telling Your Story Online," we thought you'd appreciate a few of the tips:

Back Door Friends Are Best

Ever seen this sign? It's usually hung near the backdoor in someone's home. In our home growing up, our back door was right off the kitchen. So, it wasn't uncommon for my neighborhood friends to just show up at the backdoor and be invited in to join us at the table for dinner or dessert.Backdoor friends are always welcome.