i know for myself, the things that are foremost on my mind would be totally inappropriate for a tweet (and too long to convey in 140 character). Examples would be: how to care for suicidal teens, loving those people who refuse to receive it, sermon preparation, writing papers for school, yearning for the Spirit to lead our congregation in 'x'.

I think for some pastors you could get a sense of who they are and what their kingdom interests are, what their understanding of the gospel is, and which portions of scripture are important...but for me (and I think for most), for good or bad, it is casual conversation among friends interspersed by links to my blog posts. And frankly my blog is only a portion of my life.

I'm not a pastor but I see all these things in the posts of the pastors I know.

I say a lot of the same things. I'll tell you though: My "friends," most of whom are Christian, seem to not care to weigh in, or reply, or react, to anything spiritually profound that I post. Even the die-hard Jesus-followers seem to save up all their energy for the one thing that they all love to weigh in on: Pop culture. Whether sports, movies, TV, or stupid Facebook apps, if I want to get a ton of responses, it's the world, not Jesus, that riles them up.

Some of this is 'cause pretty much the only reply to a Jesus post is "Amen." Rarely are you gonna find someone who dares to tell the pastor he's wrong. A layman might get a little bit of critique here and there, but not the pastor. (Unless it's the behind-his-back or passive-aggressive kind.) And if there's no point of engagement, there's no point in engaging.

But yeah, if our lives don't point to Jesus, we're living them wrong. And we should consider how visible He is in everything, including social media. It's just that this advice is more for our sake than for the "friends" we communicate to.

You know what? I am guilty of simply trying to expand my blog a little, so I need to work on this. I still don't really understand Twitter, so there is much to work on there. I like the idea of the simple prayers, so that will be where I start.

I am a pastor (although not of a church, per se, on staff anyway) and I tweet...I keep reshaping what I tweet (as there is intention and thought behind what I do say, and yes, when the Mavs games are on, if I happen to watch it, I will be tweeting about that because I LOVE MY MAVS!) :)

Anyway, I would say if one looked at my Twitter stream they'd see a mishmash of my life. I do travel (extensively at the moment), I do get to hang out with some friends who others may see as "famous" or whatever (which fame is simply a perception IMHO).

The things I tweet are to celebrate friendships, what god is doing, share information that is useful (like articles), prayers, how God shows up in random places and takes me by surprise, 140 poetic blurbs (usually a vague description of something God has shown me) and just let people know when I update my blog.

Although some people may tweet about who they are having lunch with or where they go because they feel the need to look just as "famous" as another person, I don't think that we can always examine someone's heart in this matter. Sometimes, friends are well known. And I won't celebrate my time with them less on Twitter if it's appropriate to Tweet about to begin with. :)

I do think it's interesting to see just how much people are "at work" though...

Thanks for these thoughtful questions, Scot. I'm sure my Tweets reveal much about me that includes my self-absorbed nature as well as my better moments. I've found the tool to be invaluable in connecting me with links to relevant blogs and articles on a number of topics, and have largely relegated my use of it to feeding and finding links, and promoting my blog. I still interact with a number of people, but not nearly as much as I did at the onset.

I love turning the question, "What are you doing?" into an inward spiritual reflection and the idea of prayers on Twitter.

Check out http://onthebema.com/2009/07/06/im-not-sold-on-twitter-worship/ for more on Twittering in church...

Thanks for these thoughtful questions, Scot. I'm sure my Tweets reveal much about me that includes my self-absorbed nature as well as my better moments. I've found the tool to be invaluable in connecting me with links to relevant blogs and articles on a number of topics, and have largely relegated my use of it to feeding and finding links, and promoting my blog. I still interact with a number of people, but not nearly as much as I did at the onset.

I love turning the question, "What are you doing?" into an inward spiritual reflection and the idea of prayers on Twitter.

I am a preaching minister for an 800 member congregation. One way I try to use Facebook in a ministerial capacity is to post a prayer there each day from a Psalm I've prayed through in the AM - accompanied by an appropriate picture. I'm also tweeting morning, midday, and evenign prayers on Twitter - all as a way of hopefully helping others "practice the presence."

We all have to be our own editors on Twitter. We have to use restraint and discernment. James 1:26 comes to mind. "Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless."

In general, I think pastors do a pretty good job with social media because they are accustomed to public speech through preaching. They have thought about the line between funny and inappropriate. They have learned some tact and self-control when talking about people's personal lives and controversial political opinions. They have learned that sometimes one's tone does not come across in written communication so sarcasm can be easily misconstrued.

Still, I think Paul's words about tongues in 1 Corinthians 14 are particularly applicable. "But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tweet/tongue" (1 Cor 14:19). I realize the 1 Cor 14 criterion "Does it build up?" is somewhat vague but it is worth thinking before I click "update."

By the way, if you say something you shouldn't, you can delete a tweet or status update. I have often written something and then thought better of it a minute later and deleted it. I sometimes wonder why people immediately write another tweet apologizing for the previous tweet instead.

Thanks, Scot. This is a good word for those of us who utilize social media to stay connected.

Social media like Facebook and Twitter has received an abundance of critique. Twitter Has Changed My Life in 5 Ways helped me be a better Disciple of Jesus.

I don't know. It strikes me that there's similar harm in pastors being too "on" all the time as in pastors letting their guard slip in public speech. This notion of noticing what your words indicate about you isn't the sole domain of pastors; everyone benefits from moving from self-expression to circumspection every now and then. But to tell a pastor she's neglecting the OT in her tweets just seems like so much muzzling the ox and encouraging a veneer of piety at the expense of knowing and being known. Better to occasionally audit what happens when we tweet, rather than set out to make something happen with each tweet.

It is funny that you write this post yesterday because I wrote this same thing yesterday.
I asked what is your twitter strategy.
here are my thoughts:
http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com/twitter-strategy/

I got on facebook, despite the objections of my children, who refuse to "friend" me and I was shocked to find out what some of my friends think. I like facebook for keeping in touch, but I hate it that some people use it as a "bully pulpit". I've had to defriend a few people and I regret that I ever got on in the first place. My kids were right.

do we really need to add to the noise?

that's what twitter is to me. silly noise.

i don't think the Church needs to "talk" more, but less.

Cosmic screams for breaking a finger nail. Give me a break! Yep! Lots of self-absorbed thinking. Let me pray rather than Facebook or Twitter.

Carol's use of the term "self-absorbed thinking" caught my eye. Dr. M. Scott Peck in his book "The Road Less Traveled and Beyond" wrote:

"...an all-too-common flaw is that most tend to believe they somehow instinctively know how to think and to communicate. In reality, they usually do neither well because they are either too self-satisfied to examine their assumptions about thinking or TOO SELF-ABSORBED TO INVEST THE TIME AND ENERGY TO DO SO." (Emphasis mine)

The superficiality of Twitter and Facebook reminds me of comedian Woody Allen who said: "I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia."

I wouldn't tweet about disappointments or failures either! When I was still in the ministry, we just had FB, and I had to be SO careful with what I wrote on my profile. While I would have loved to talk about disappointments and failures, the truth of the matter is that the congregation doesn't usually want to hear about them. They want to hear how awesome they are because Jesus is awesome. Hearing about how they are a disappointment to the pastor tends to incite board meetings that AREN'T about what the congregation can do to make it better--if the pastor is upset, it's always the pastor's fault. Always.

Plus, how do you write about disappointments and failures in 120 characters or less?

can you imagine Henri Nouwen on twitter...?

neither can i.

I am a preaching minister for an 400 member congregation. One way I try to use Facebook in a ministerial capacity is to post a prayer there each day from a Psalm I've prayed through in the AM - accompanied by an appropriate picture. I'm also tweeting morning, midday, and evenign prayers on Twitter - all as a way of hopefully helping others "practice the presence."