Godcast: The Pre-Internet Age
I read a CNN.com article today on life before the Internet. According to Pew research, only one in seven Americans were online in 1995. I still remember when we were cutting edge because our "connection card" had a space for email. It's comical how many compliments we got by just having the option for people to write down their email address!
It's hard to imagine "asking for directions" now isn't it? Can you imagine physically "going to the bank" to transfer money? It's funny to think about "using the telephone" to get movie times isn't it? Can you imagine not downloading music? And remember when you had to take classes in a classroom? The Internet has changed just about everything!
I now get my voicemail as an email. In fact, instead of using the telephone line as a modem. Our church office now uses the Internet as our phone line. By the way, remember when you had to "sign off" because you didn't want to go over your monthly time limit online?
Broadband has changed the rules of the game. I think the day will come when everybody is online all the time or at least has the potential. The real question is this: will the church be there ready and waiting? I just happen to believe that "go into all the world" and "go into the highways and bylaws" includes cyberspace. We think of those passages geographically and demographically. We need to think about them technologically as well.
Will people someday laughingly say, "Remember when you had to physically go to church to hear a sermon!" I don't think godcasts replace the importance of the "assembling together of yourselves" (Hebrews 10:25) any more than radio or TV. But yesterday I read about a pastor of a small church (100 people) in California who is podcasting to thousands of people. My reaction is: praise God. He is impacting more people in cyberspace than he is in person! I know there is no replacement for face-to-face ministry. But I think it's "all of the above."
It's hard to imagine "asking for directions" now isn't it? Can you imagine physically "going to the bank" to transfer money? It's funny to think about "using the telephone" to get movie times isn't it? Can you imagine not downloading music? And remember when you had to take classes in a classroom? The Internet has changed just about everything!
I now get my voicemail as an email. In fact, instead of using the telephone line as a modem. Our church office now uses the Internet as our phone line. By the way, remember when you had to "sign off" because you didn't want to go over your monthly time limit online?
Broadband has changed the rules of the game. I think the day will come when everybody is online all the time or at least has the potential. The real question is this: will the church be there ready and waiting? I just happen to believe that "go into all the world" and "go into the highways and bylaws" includes cyberspace. We think of those passages geographically and demographically. We need to think about them technologically as well.
Will people someday laughingly say, "Remember when you had to physically go to church to hear a sermon!" I don't think godcasts replace the importance of the "assembling together of yourselves" (Hebrews 10:25) any more than radio or TV. But yesterday I read about a pastor of a small church (100 people) in California who is podcasting to thousands of people. My reaction is: praise God. He is impacting more people in cyberspace than he is in person! I know there is no replacement for face-to-face ministry. But I think it's "all of the above."
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