When thinking about the whole "six degrees of separation" and my imagined "evangelistic data conspiracy," I have often wondered what the application space looks like between a local web geek going to a local church and the mission field, both foreign and domestic. I have come to the conclusion that there is no single application that connects everyone from cushy suburbia (please forgive any generalizations about audience here--only wear the shoe if it fits) to Africa, Asia, the 10/40 window, etc., etc. Oh, and let's not forget our own back yard with homeless ministries, helping widows and children, visiting prisoners, helping those with disabilities, etc., etc.

So without being able to come up with a single application (other than your typical contact and appointment manager--yawn) that crosses all these boundaries, it does seem that some patterns exist. These patterns (not at all exhaustively listed here) can be observed, predicted, and leveraged in the march along the evangelistic journey.

Here they are:

People are generally tied to geography.

People in the same geography can still live in isolation.

Portals are web sites organized around a common theme that present many types of information in one place for the purpose at hand.

Every person has his or her own "context" which overlaps and inter-rotates with other contexts.

This inter-rotation can be seen as pivoting.

The focus of the pivoting could be thought of as a "pivot point."

A "pivot portal" (yes, I'm coining a term, here--cue the band) could be thought of as a website that focuses on key points of inter-rotation.

Websites, portals or otherwise, that focus on commonality, either through geography or other theme, can bring otherwise isolated people together, providing opportunities for who knows what? (Hopefully progress, right?).

Are you beginning to see a "pattern?"

Here are a few "pivot points":

You (personal information, how you relate to your world)

Family (2.5 kids, a dog, and an SUV, again generalizing--sorry)

Church (Mean Dean Peters has plenty to say about this on a regular basis)

Trade organization (Not like the WTO, rather a group of people with a common occupation--the Greek word homotechnos, meaning "same trade" in Acts 18:3 might clue you in here.)

Geographic region (Neil Cox in Indianapolis with his neck-of-the-city-reaching-movement knows something about this)

Ministry focus (pastors, children's ministries, etc.)

You see the pattern? Any number of websites could be constructed to facilitate and improve communications in any of these areas.

What are the obstacles?

Fragmentation (We work in isolation on identical goals only varying in result domains (read "places"))

Lack of real personal relationships (We're no longer impressed with just any .com that comes along, so let's start with real people we know and build our tools around the people we know.)

Lack of time (Mean Dean has addressed this as well)

Lack of knowledge (when people work in isolation, they fail to benefit from others' strengths and knowledge)

What's the solution?

Extend real relationships

End isolation by introducing our personal networks to each other (more "inter-rotation")

Look for patterns: application patterns, collaboration patterns.

Think in applications

Provide open reference implentations of pattern applications for adoption and/or imitation

Connect pattern applications at the edges (key phrase here--"open at the edges") by means of web services and data formats (i.e., XML)

Let the connections between the six-points-from-here-to-yonder remain in God's hands

So, Dean is still waiting for my audition. I'm working on that. I'm giving serious thought to the long-term lamenting about my unfulfilled intentions that have been recorded in my weblog for the last year+. Well, with God's help, I am committed to doing something about it. Even to the point of making it a priorty like never before. Ouch!