Why the Internet? Why Facebook? Why Twitter? Why blog? Why the online presence in ministry? Where do I begin? I could easily say too much, which is sometimes saying nothing at all. So, let me TRY to be concise here (and then write more over the next few days):- Although the message never changes, our methods in ministry absolutely have to change as culture changes. Watch the news or listen to the radio for 15 minutes and count how many times you hear/see the words twitter, blog, Faceboook, etc... The church needs to wake up, catch up....and in my opinion get ahead of everyone else. We are a decade behind half the time. On the ocean of the Internet, there are many, many, many fish to catch! Ignoring it can be detrimental to Christian Mission.
- 30-45 minutes of preaching in Sunday is not enough for me! Maybe it is for you, but not for me. As a Pastor, it leaves me hungry to share more, teach more and impart more. Look, as long as I am dwelling with the Father and His word, I am being filled with truth that I want to share. As a Pastor, I preach, meet with Staff and a few partners throughout the week and attend a Small Group...and that's it. That's the extent of my platform for impact. Social networking and online opportunities exponentially increase the potential for impact every week! I cannot pass that up! I care too much about lost and hurting people to ignore that chance to impart.
- The Mystery of Ministry Measurement. I love the mystery in this whole thing. You just never know who reads what, and what difference it makes. I have received emails, comments and calls from people indicating a moment of impact in their life over something they read or received at just the right moment. I think of this in terms of Mark 4 and the scattering of seed. You never know what kind of soil a blog, tweet or status update may be falling on.
A few final bullets for this morning:
- I am NOT advocating for Twitter, Facebook, or Blogging specifically. They just happen to be popular now. If that changes (and it will), I will change with it to remain effective on this front.
- Tomorrow I will write about how and why I balance personal and ministry stuff in this scene.
- In the next few posts, I will address building community and connection, how relationships are impacted (good and bad), dealing with online excessiveness and addiction and more...
This is helping me to think out loud and articulate my own thoughts. Add to this. Challenge it. Improve it. I'd value hearing from you.
This is good stuff...but I have been thinking, How does the Medium effect the message? For instance we meet in a movie theatre and reaching "unchurched/dechurched" people. What does the medium (movie theatre/screen) that usually entertains people and those people subconciously have that mindset coming into a place like that say to them as they hear the gospel message. Does the medium effect how they receive/don't recieve the message, or how its interprated? Just some thoughts.
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