Phil Snider, a pastor, writer and teacher from Missouri, will visit Bluffton University for a March 12 forum on the rapidly changing nature of social media and its implications for building communities and making a difference in the world.

Snider will speak at 11 a.m. in Founders Hall on “Emerging from Facebook: Community, Justice and Religion in a Digital Age.” His presentation is free and open to the public.

Snider has been senior minister of Brentwood Christian Church in Springfield, Mo., since 2003. His books include “Toward a Hopeful Future: Why the Emergent Church is Good News for Mainline Congregations,” winner of the 2011 Pilgrim Press Mayflower Award for best book in church and society.

He holds a doctor of ministry degree from Chicago Theological Seminary and a master of divinity degree from Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, Okla. His bachelor’s degree is from Missouri State University, where he is an adjunct instructor and guest lecturer in the religious studies department.