Collide Magazine

A Few Questions For The ROOV Team

Scott McClellan - Originally posted Wednesday, August 13, 2008

It’s been great to get to know some of the co-founders of ROOV. Not only are Trey, Micah, Chris, and Ethan our fellow Dallas-ites, they’re also an innovative group of guys with a heart for the local church. Recently, I emailed them a few questions about their brand new social network:

COLLIDE: Why did you create ROOV?

The ROOV Team: ROOV.com was created to answer a bunch of simple yet neglected questions amongst people of faith. For example, "Who else at my church... (1)...is an entrepreneur that's started a business? (2) ...has built a web app? (3) ...wants to go on missions to Brazil?" These questions are the building blocks to relationships that should exist within the Body but don't. They're the building blocks to building a new wave of community amongst people of faith. ROOV's ambition is to foster intentional conversations that lead to real-life Gatherings ("getting people online to get them offline" per se). It's also a means to create a set of pipes between churches...a communication channel to advance God's Kingdom.

COLLIDE: What sets ROOV apart from other social networks?

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ROOV: Instead of building yet another social network with a profile, blog, photos, etc...ROOV is centered around pockets of like-minded people of faith, as opposed to just individuals. ROOV facilitates open conversations amongst an existing community of people on a local level. It's a place to ask questions and share experiences around the things that you're involved in and passionate about. It's an extension of your facebook, myspace, etc...not a replacement.

COLLIDE: What kinds of success stories have you heard from ROOV users so far?

ROOV: The heartbeat behind ROOV is getting people connected to things they are passionate about. Recently a ROOVer shared a story with us that she'd like to share with you:

I was looking for the opportunity to serve the homeless, so I joined the "Loving the Least" ROOV. I have always had a desire to reach the underprivileged. However, since I had just moved to Dallas not that long ago, I didn't know how to get connected with an organization. As I was browsing ROOV, I saw that Ajay had posted a gathering on serving the homeless. My fingers couldn't click the mouse fast enough for the gathering information! I was so excited! I had never met Ajay before, so my first time meeting him was at the gathering. Since then he's become a very dear friend of mine. While we were serving, I ended up meeting other people who had heard about the gathering through ROOV. One of the guys, Francisco, goes to my church, and I had no idea!! We even go to the same service, and I had never seen him before.

 

Then it got crazier… Another one of my passions is building homes for orphans. At the gathering Ajay and I talked and he ended up getting me connected with Wick, Streams of Mercy Ministries founder. They build orphanages throughout the world. A week later or so, we met with Wick and he shared his vision and stories of how the orphanages were impacting the children's lives. Through that meeting, fellow ROOVers were a part of helping sponsor two orphanages in India.

It took one gathering to help put my passions into action.

COLLIDE: What has been the hardest part about launching the site?

ROOV: Any vision or project can be difficult to get off the ground. It takes time, the right people and significant resources to do things well. For us, it's been a constant development in our faith in God. We're probably under qualified, under funded and out gunned...but it's funny how God chooses people like this...it's so that He can shine through as the reason for any success. ROOV has required great sacrifices, months without pay checks at times...but it's all worth it. Every morning we wake up passionate about the vision behind it because it's based off of a REAL-LIFE need. There's a need for Christians to actually get to know one another, for "the right hand to know what the left hand" is doing in the Body and for this thing that God called His Kingdom to have a means to communicate within it. As for the site, it's far from being perfect...we're working hard on some awesome new stuff right now!

COLLIDE: How can church leaders use ROOV effectively?

ROOV: Pastors and staff can share the word about ROOV.com with those that they come in contact with and lead. They can use it as a tool to spark conversations amongst their members, build bridges to community and rally their people to acts of service. But ROOV is just one-piece of the puzzle when it comes to fostering authentic community, people need to hear the WHY behind the fact that we should be a family. They need to hear the importance of building meaningful relationships with those that God has put around them. We, as Christians, should understand and live this out the most...yet it's sad how often it is neglected within our churches in this country. If a church would like to pilot ROOV and build community, they can find out some creative ways by writing to growroov@roov.com.

Visit roov.com to check out the online community and “get your ROOV on.”