A little backstory for those who don’t know about the 1.0:
We got our start in worship media at a church called Ginghamsburg, in Ohio. I was there from 95-00 as media minister; Jason was there from 97-00 as an artist. During that time we were gaining some attention for our use of media in worship, which at the time was fairly new. Our senior pastor/boss Mike Slaughter and I began to hit the road speaking on the subject in Feb 1997. In 1998 Mike wrote a great book on the church’s growth and use of media and creativity in worship, published by Abingdon Press, called Out on the Edge: (world’s longest subtitle). It sold really well - the average church professional book sells 3,000 copies, and a bestseller is considered 10,000. Out on the Edge did around 15,000.
That summer I asked Abingdon about a companion piece to his book, focused on media ministry development. They accepted the offer and the next spring published The Wired Church: Making Media Ministry. The book sold well - about 10,000 copies, and was well-received, with one major exception: the included CD-ROM didn’t work. (Abingdon used a product called Immedia to author the CD. It was discontinued shortly after the book’s publication, rendering it a shiny coaster.) Kind of embarrassing for a book on technology.
Aside from the CD, Jason and I never liked the cover either. And of course, like every author I suppose feels, as soon as it was done, there were other ideas I wished I had included.
Abingdon asked me in 2006 about an updated version of the book, which has led to 2.0. Just in time, too, because the original was discontinued last year. In fact, we as Midnight Oil bought the last 89 copies left. If you want one, go here.
