At last week’s Biola-hosted Christian Web Conference, which promotes Christian initiatives on the Internet, one question brewed controversy: Does technology isolate communities?

The conference, formerly called GodBlogCon, was held at Biola this year instead of Las Vegas. It is a Torrey-sponsored event that has been held for five years and has grown each year. Not only have the numbers of attendees grown, but also the numbers of sponsors.

Christopher Munekawa, senior director of this event, said the idea of going to Las Vegas was unappealing to many Christians. Because Biola is a more comfortable environment to them, the student planners from the Torrey Honors Institute, which sponsors the event, decided to change the location.

GodBlogCon changed its name because it seemed to be aimed more towards bloggers rather than being generalized towards all Christian online media. It placed an invisible restriction on those who wanted to attend, but felt that they couldn’t because it was meant for bloggers.

John Mark Reynolds, director of the Torrey Honors Institute, organized and contacted the speakers for this event. Torrey students helped organize the event and were in charge of running it and making sure everything happened on time. The planning for this event had been going on since November 2008.

The Christian Web Conference Web site says CWC’s mission is: “To bring web leaders and creative’s together as they collaborate and implement ideas by building relationships with one another.”

“It was a chance to meet Twitter friends that I have not met in person,” said first-time attendee Dawn Carter, a blogger from Riverside. She said It not only allowed her to meet new friends, but it helped her to re-establish relationships with old ones.

Not only is this event meant to unite Christians, it’s also meant to evangelize, build networking, and better church ministry, Munekawa said.

“Personal relationships are important,” he said.

Four-year blogger, Rich Kirkpatrick from Temecula, also attended CWC. He said his blogs are mainly about “Christianity, leadership and culture from a creative person’s mind. I enjoy thinking and being challenged, which is what these speakers do here.”
He said he was also greatly pleased with the speakers and enjoyed the fellowship and community he said the event encouraged.

This conference had about 80 attendees and 20 speakers. It was a two-day event of networking, lectures, panel discussions, and devotions.

Munekawa, the conference director, said that people walking away with better understanding of the Web, relationships, and the love of Christ were huge goals for this event, as well as a sense of community and friendship between fellow bloggers.