Over the last several years, the average American has, in their mind, become less “average.” They now view themselves as technology aficionados who can post, share, or tweet their opinions and emotions as they aimlessly meander the streets of relativity looking for a place at which others will take notice of them.  Everyone now has an opinion about everything that happens in society. Star athletes chime in on politics. Politicians are asked their opinions about athletics. In some cases, high school students have more “followers” than many Ivy League professors. Thus, you might be thinking, “Oh great, another blog!” I must admit that on the surface, it seems somewhat trivial for our church to have its’ own blog. Or is it? In his book, The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion, author Tim Challies summarizes his preface by saying: “Over the past three decades, digital technologies have powerfully changed our lives. They are woven into the very way we understand and relate to the world around us. We are now a digital culture. We are no longer who and what we were just a few decades ago.” It’s safe to say, technology is here and it’s not going away. Challies continues through the rest of his book to help the reader biblically answer the question, “Do you own your technology? Or does it own you?”  Now before this entry turns into a book review (maybe we’ll save that for later), I believe this is an appropriate question to consider as we inaugurate our new church website of which this blog is a small part. 

Technology has been proven to be an extremely helpful tool in aiding us to be more efficient and productive in a lot of ways. The question is, can we use it as a church to make us more efficient and productive? And if we can, then how? Please understand, I’m neither advocating that we commercialize the Gospel nor saying we have anything to do with “winning souls.” My point is that Jesus ordained the church, the pillar and ground of the truth, to be a people who would faithfully proclaim the Gospel, lovingly build up one another, and passionately worship His matchless name. I believe technology can be an incredibly useful tool in fulfilling these purposes. The key, however, is balance.

I’ve had the privilege of growing up under and being mentored by several pastors. While not perfect, these men have had a profound influence on my life. If there has been one important ministry principle they have reiterated to me over the years, it is the necessity of maintaining balance in ministry. Instead of our ministry being defined by a widely swinging pendulum, we should be identified as one that is consistent and faithful in both doctrine and practice. While technology offers large benefits for church ministries, the dangers that technology brings with it must be weighed carefully to ensure it is used within the realms of accomplishing God’s purpose for His church.

It is our desire that this blog, or any technology we use, be a useful tool insomuch as it will provide greater opportunity for our pastoral leadership to effectively shepherd those whom the Lord has entrusted to us. We do not have all of the answers. We just have a passion to thoroughly and accurately “feed the flock” the Good Shepherd has entrusted to us.