This presentation in on Marketplace Ministry and Vocation workshop for Christians in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math field. It was presented to the Chinese Bible Church of Greater Boston by Andrew Sears.

1. Marketplace Ministry
for STEM Professionals

2. 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

3. 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

4. Book Recommendations
 From the Garden to the City, John Dyer
 The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture,
Shane Hipps
 The Millennium Matrix, Rex Miller

5. TechMission: Ways to Help
 Volunteer
◦ Mentors needed to TechMission staff in Java,
PHP, Salesforce/Apex, Ruby
◦ Advisory Board
 Intern

6. Opportunity 1: Disruptive
Technology Will
Transform Education

7. Characteristics of Disruptive Education
 Cost is orders of magnitude cheaper than
traditional methods
 Provides 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

8. Examples of Disruptive Education
 Secular 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

9. 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 education
 Education (like missions) is most effective when
it taught in the students culture and language
Technology innovation will enable ubiquitous,
low-cost Christian education globally

10. Opportunity 2: The Long Tail
Will Turn the World of
Christian Media Upside Down

11. 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

12. 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.

14. `
Source: International Bulletin of Missionary Research, January 2005. David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson.
http://www.globalchristianity.org/resources.htm

16. Opportunity 3: Mobile
Technology

17. Mobile Projections
 2012 number of mobile-connected devices
exceeds the number of people on earth
 2015:
◦ 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)

18. 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

19. 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

20. Christian Social Graph
Christian
Social
Graph
Parachurches
300,000+
Jobs
15,000+
Volunteer
Opportunities
10,000+
Classified
Listings
Resumes
(People)
Churches
300,000
Groups &
Events
Content
150,000
items
Funders &
Grants
11,000
TechMission’s
Initial Focus

21. Opportunity 5: The
“Networked Church”

22. Architecture of Catholic Church
 Mainframe Era
 Hub/Spoke Architecture
 One Hierarchy
 Centralized
 Monolithic
 Strength: addressing
problems requiring
centralized approach
 Problems
◦ The Pope is not Jesus
◦ Single point of failure
◦ Lack of competition
Pope
Hub/Spoke Architecture

23. 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)

24. Networked, Modular Church
 Complex organic
interconnection
 Uses strengths of both
centralized and distributed
architectures
 Modular
 Increased specialization
Internet Architecture
From: NetDimes.org

25. 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

26. Modular Transformation of Computer Industry
Source: Only the Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove

27. Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Virtually Integrated Church
Local
Church
Sacraments
Sunday Service
Small Group
Teaching
Accountability
Modular Church
Student
Groups
12 Step
Groups
Accountability
Partners
Meetups
Christian
Literature
Megachurch
Streaming
Christian
Radio/TV
Denomination
Structures
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Local
Church
Sacraments
Sunday Service
Small Group
Teaching
Accountability
Modular Transformation of the Church

28. 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 inequality
Decreased 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

29. What’s Missing
 Science
 Biotech
 Unforeseen opportunities
 Including all elements of vocation

30. Dimensions of Christian Vocation
From The Other Six Days. R. Paul Stevens

31. 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

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

33. 3. Ideas for Increasing Meaning

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