Communicating at the Speed of Light
In the new world of HDTV, satellite TV, IM, Blackberries, text messaging, blogging, computer dating, Facebook, My Space and Twitter how does someone born in the last century keep up? Well as someone who was born midway through the last century all I can say is I’m not sure I will ever keep up. But, I do at least need to try to be marginally literate. Some would say, “Why bother? Give me my rotary phone and rabbit ears and I’ll be happy.”
From the prospective of someone who is concerned about reaching everyone we can with the Good News I must say all this new fangled stuff is great. No, I don’t understand it all, but I do know that it can be used for good. Maybe I can’t do it all but I can do something and encourage others to do the same. We can tell the old, old story of Jesus and His glory through these new means. I know without a doubt there are people who need to hear and we should use the new technology as tools to reach them. If we do not reach them someone else will use this new technology to lead them down a path that is not good for them. To say it another way there are plenty of people who will use all of this wonderful technology for harm rather than good. If we Christians do not have a presence, then we surrender the air waves to the ones doing harm.
The seven last words of the church are, “We’ve never done it that way before!” Those words need to fade into the past if we are going to reach the current generation for Christ. Now I am not saying that we need to jump on every band wagon that comes by, but I am saying we need to be aware of what’s available and use what we can. God’s Word is a living word. That means that it transcends time and I believe technology. Never before has there been a time when we could instantly send a message around the world and then get a reply in a matter of moments. What better message to send than the love of God to someone who needs to hear it?
I always enjoyed the Bill Cosby Show. One of my favorite episodes was when Cliff took Rudy to dance class. While he was waiting an older dance master walked up to Cliff and tapped out a few steps and then pointed at Cliff and said, “Challenge!” Can you hear my keyboard keys tapping?...Now I’m pointing, “Challenge!”
Just thinking!
Peace!
Pastor Charlie