Tech Talk: Introducing The Silversmith Collective

I have always been passionate about online evangelization. I have always felt called to participate in a movement where the harvest is definitely plentiful and the labourers (were) few. Today, we are blessed with many amazing Catholic content creators who are shining the light of Christ in an arena that has just as much potential for darkness.

My journey into this realm began with a short-lived blog called “Urban Sanctum.” The dream and passion was there, but the timing was off.

Next, I was lead to begin an online ‘pseudo-ministry’ (as I called it then) called PiousPosers. You may have heard of this one. The concept behind it was that we are all trying to be Pious (in the good sense of the word), but in the times we are just going through the motions, we are just being Posers. It was a blog, and a base for me to scare up a few speaking gigs every year to help spread the message, but also supplement my income. Pious Posers was a website that had some staff members who wrote every so often, but after a while, it just seemed to fizzle out.

As I'm an ENFP who is also a dreamer, my mind is always running in pursuit of the next project I can sink some time into. I had a vision of a Catholic website that focused on three key areas: Personal Faith, Catholic Education, and Online Evangelization. This site would also have multiple contributors, and be focused on New Media.

The Silversmith Collective was born.

Photo copyright 2015 Lance Rosen. All rights reserved.

A Catholic New Media Collective
Answering the Call of the New Evangelization

The Name

Inspired by Malachi 3:3 (He will sit refining and purifying silver), and the parable on the site, The Silversmith Collective finds its purpose in encouraging individuals on their journey towards becoming who they were created to be, and equipping others to do the same.

The Logo

The logo is a representation of the last line of the parable: "When I can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished." The Lion represents God. The Person's Face represents humanity as well as our journey and desire to become that reflection of God to which the parable alludes.

The Team

So far, the team has 18 members, with 16 of these being contributors, ranging from Catholic educators, diocesan youth ministry directors, parish youth ministers, school youth ministers, mothers, fathers, clergy, speakers, and university students.

What we do

Our aim is to create content in each of the site's three key areas (Personal Faith, Catholic Education, and Online Evangelization).

The Personal Faith section is a place for anyone to be uplifted and inspired by our blog, podcasts, and videos (coming soon). Blog topics include Real Life Faith, Dating & Relationships, Catholic Parenting, Catholic Education, and Youth Ministry. More topics are always being added depending on what the Holy Spirit leads our contributors to write.

The Catholic Education section is an area of the site where Catholic educators can go to read relevant blog posts from fellow educators, listen to the Catholic Ed Podcast (coming soon), and in the future, access practical resources they can use in their classrooms.

And finally, the Online Evangelization section is there to help equip fellow online evangelizers in their work through both inspiring and practical content.

Having only launched August 1, 2015, there is still a lot to do! We have a lot of great things coming down the pipe. Please head over to www.silversmithcollective.com, check it out, subscribe to the blog, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Google+. Thank you for your support! Please pray for us and we'll pray for you!

Ok, enough of the plug. I just want to take this opportunity to thank Lisa Hendey for the opportunity to introduce the new site and to be a contributor at CatholicMom.com. I have served as an intern, but I am really excited to start writing more.

Looking forward to being a part of this amazing community.

In Christ and with gratitude,

Lance Rosen