Worship Leader, singer and songwriter Tim Timmons is a man of faith whose principles were tested by hard luck and mortal challenges before he produced his first album of praise & worship music. Coming back from a dramatic cancer diagnosis, Timmons forged a career as an inspirational recording artist with albums like 2013’s Cast My Cares and 2015’s Awake Our Souls, later venturing into children’s music with 2017’s Who I Am.
Timmons was born in Irvine, California on February 9, 1976, and he developed an interest in music as a child, taking up the drums when he was seven years old, learning to play guitar and write songs when he was 11, and teaching himself to play piano. Timmons developed a knack for songwriting, and in his early twenties, he began turning professional, eventually co-writing with the likes of Mike Doheney of the group Tenth Avenue North, Michael Farren of Pocket Full of Rocks, Dove Award-nominated singer/songwriter Jason Walker, and LaRue frontman Phillip LaRue, while also serving as a worship leader at Mariners Church in Irvine. However, in 2001, Timmons began re-examining his life when he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Originally told he had only five years to live, Timmons devoted himself to his wife, his growing family, and his work as a worship leader. After he’d more than doubled his initial survival expectancy, Timmons felt a new calling to use his music as a tool to bring people to a greater understanding of what it truly means to follow Jesus. Declaring that “Following Jesus versus being a believer in Him is revolutionary,” Timmons put a new emphasis on music and songwriting, and in 2013, he landed a record deal with the Christian music label Reunion Records. Cast My Cares, Timmons’ first album of worship music, was produced by Paul Mabury, and was released in the summer of 2013 and reached number 13 on Billboard’s Christian chart. He followed up in 2015 with Awake Our Souls and toured in support of the release with MercyMe and Phil Wickham. Timmons’ next project was the 2017 children’s album, Who I Am, which he co-produced with Christian Hale and released independently. That same year, he offered his first holiday release with the five-song Mighty Christmas EP. Written during a church retreat, Timmons next offered up the anthemic single, “I Belong,” which featured an appearance from CCM legend, Amy Grant. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Trina L. –
If you’re a leader within your church, read this book.
While social media is constantly changing, Justin Wise has written an evergreen book. He lays down a foundation of theology on which to build your organization’s communication strategy for years to come. Justin skillfully connects the present to the past (e.g., Paul was using the latest technology when writing the epistles), while also contextualizing wisdom from contemporary thought leaders outside of the church (e.g., Chris Brogan). He also presents a compelling case for why church leaders should always be asking how new media can be used for Kingdom work.
This isn’t a “how to” book, which Justin makes very clear in the introduction. He does though raise great questions that each church needs to answer for themselves. In Chapter 10, probably my favorite, Justin explains that you’re going to fail if you first start with social media strategy. Instead, you first need to know your church’s unique purpose for your community, which Justin calls the “Big Idea.” Only then can you build out the levels of strategy, first with content marketing, second with your website, and then finally with social media. In Chapter 12, Justin helps to bridge the digital generational divide that can often exist within the church.
I would recommend buying several copies, reading through it with both your communication and leadership teams.
David Blum –
Justin does an incredible job on showing the need for the Church to embrace social media. Don’t learn “how to”, find out WHY! A must read for anyone involved in ministry and their team.
Tscham –
If you work in the church in any context, this book is worth your time. In it, Justin makes the case – quite convincingly – for a totally new way of looking at Christianity as it fits into today’s social, digitally-driven culture. You’ll see that adopting a social approach to communicating the gospel message is not optional … if you don’t, you’ll become irrelevant. Plain and simple.
One of the best things about this book is that it takes away the scariness of jumping into social media as a church and instead presents it as an exciting new frontier for sharing God’s message of love with the world.
Edward Schuppe –
I am 1/3 of the way through the book and I cannot put it down. This is a very eye-opening book to the world of social media and how it applies to the church. He has really does his research. This is not just conjecture, he has the findings from many different studies and research projects. If you are wondering if your church should be into social media, you will have to wonder no more. He does a great job of showing how Christian leaders have used technology to bring the gospel message of Jesus Christ to more and more people. He goes from the printing press to broadcast media of radio and television to the beginnings of the internet to where we are today and beyond.
Paul W. –
Practical, helpful information even if you don’t work for a church. I found the principles to be equally applicable to my business.
As an older, Baby Boomer (mid 50’s), I found Justin’s insights about the values associated with social media culture to be helpful — and not condemning (like the “You older leaders need to get with it” attitude many younger gen leaders portray). I found his discussion and reflections on Marshall McCluhan’s “the media is the message” to be thought-provoking. And I really valued his encouragement to think through what your “big message” is, before developing a social media plan. A valuable, practical book that I have already recommended to others.
Paul White, PhD
Shane –
A very enlightening, motivating, and revolutionary insight into how churches can communicate to an ever changing culture. I would recommend this book to any church leader who would like to communicate the Gospel of Jesus to their world.
paddleB4long –
Good, relatively brief overview on the value of embracing Social Media in the church. I found it educational, encouraging, practical and timely as many churches are at the “fork in the road” on deciding whether or not to invest in this reality in order to be relevant in their communities. Highly recommended.