Digital Ministries began offering free websites to Christian churches and ministries way back at the turn of the century. Then last year we got so busy that we had to suspend the offer and do some serious reworking of our servers and support software.

Free Website Offer Resumed
With our house in order once more, I am very excited to report that we are again offering free websites and blogs to qualified Christian churches and ministries. And FREE means FREE… no advertisements, no hidden charges, no strings, just a website or blog setup, hosted and maintained at no cost.

Hosted On Multi-user WordPress Software
WordPress is one of the most widely used blog and website content management systems available today. It offers tremendous flexibility, see for yourself at wordpress.org. Here are some of the features that we find most useful:

• Flexible themes with a multitude of formats. Within the WordPress theme structure, we have developed a custom theme structure that allows us to quickly provide custom website and blog designs to meet almost any need.
• Over 8,000 plugins that provide functionality for almost every conceivable requirement.
• Media interfaces for photos, galleries, sideshows, MP3 and video presentations.
• Integration with Picasa, Flickr, Youtube, and many other media hosting sites.
• Connections to social networking, like Twitter, Buzz, Facebook, and many, many more.
• File and PDF downloads, for study and sermon notes, commentaries, information sheets, announcements, etc.
• Forms for data collection, surveys, prayer requests, information requests and comments.
• Advanced blog features including categories, tags, archives, comments, pings, ATOM and RSS.
• Automatic posting of teasers to Twitter, Buzz, etc.
• Mobile page formatting for Blackberry, Iphone, etc.
• Multiple, password protected, administrator, editor, author and subscriber accounts.

And the list goes on and on. The possibilities to showcase your ministry, reach your audience and deliver your message are truly endless. There has never been a better opportunity to use digital technology and the Internet to advance your ministry and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Designed For Active Ministries and Busy Ministry Leaders
We think there are three reasons you might be interested in our offer:

1. You need to put your financial resources into your ministry, but you also need an Internet presence.
2. You are too busy doing ministry to setup and maintain a website or blog.
3. You know ministry, but not technology, so you need someone to help make it happen.

That’s why we offer a complete service…. setup and maintenance. You provide the content, such as information, graphics, photos, audio and video. We take it from there. Once your website is setup, you can email changes at anytime, and we will make them. And you can make the blog posts from your blackberry or iphone, twitter account, web browser or email. Or you can write the posts as articles and email them to us. Send along files, photos, mp3s and video and we will load them. Post photos to your free Picasa or Flickr account, and video to your free Youtube account, and we will display them directly on your website or in your blog.

Whatever works in your busy schedule, we will do our best to support you and keep your website and blog up-to-date.

What’s The Catch?
Well, to be honest, there are some qualifications to our offer. Read our Free Website Offer overview and then consider the Offer Details. Then, if you and your ministry qualify, fill out the Website Request Form, and we can get started.

It’s The Lord’s Work
What ever we do, lets be sure we always give the glory and honor to Jesus Christ, Lord of Lord and King of Kings.

May He bless you and your ministry today!

Beginning in October, 2009, all of my bible study and sermon notes have been consolidated on my personal blog, poimenJohn.org. These notes are more my personal work and don’t really relate directly to technology anyway, so that is a more appropriate place to post them. I hope you find something that will bless you on my blog. John

An often heard expression in Christendom takes the general form:

“God said it; I believe it; that settles it.”

I heard Billy Graham say this once as he was calling people forward for a decision, and I have also heard Greg Laurie use it in the same context.

Sometimes, particularly around some Calvary Chapel and Southern Baptist diggs, you will hear a shortened version:

“God said it; that settles it!”

Usually this shortened form is shouted while a large, black Bible is waved high above the preacher’s head, and perhaps a foot is stomped to help form the exclamation point at the end. Whatever it is that the preacher said just before uttering these six words, that’s what God said too, and that’s what is settled right there and then.

For me, it is this last, shortened form, these six little words, that make a statement that it is at the same time most true, and most damaging.

Yes these six words do form the ultimate statement of truth. What God says is true regardless of what anyone thinks or believes. And what God says has the power to settle all questions, again without respect to us, our beliefs or our feelings. What is right is right because God says it is; God needs no human affirmation to support His position.

Now if the living God is as cold and judgmental as that statement implies, then there would really be nothing further to discuss. The people who believe they know and understand with certainty all that God has said would live as if every matter has been settled in their favor. And they would claim this knowledge gives them the right to proclaim the true meaning of God’s words to the rest of us. These surefooted messengers of God’s ultimate will would rule with unquestioned authority in our churches and in our lives. As for the rest of us?  Well, we would submit of course, as good Christians do.

Ah, but perhaps there is something wrong with these six words. It’s not with what they say, it’s with what they imply. So long as these words are not being used to justify someone’s personal interpretation of God’s Word, then they are simply an encouraging statement and affirmation of divine authority. Who could argue? Certainly not me.

Wait a minute — that’s not the end of it. This simple statement also claims that something has been settled. What? What is settled by which thing that God said? How does one person come to know the exact meaning of God’s words and His particular intentions as to what matters would be settled by those words?

Some of the Jews, like the Pharisees, had figured all of this out by the time Jesus came to Jerusalem to teach them the true meaning of God’s Word. These Jews had established a system of over 600  regulations to keep people in strict obedience to God’s word. For example, they had figured out exactly what could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath, so as to make sure no one did any work on the Sabbath, which as we all know, is against God’s word. Jesus broke some of those rules when He healed a man by the pool of Bethesda on a Sabbath (Jn 5:1-19). The Jews eventually killed Jesus for this kind of stuff. God had said it, the Jews had read it, and they settled it — on the cross.

What caused the Jews to make this mistake was not that they didn’t know God’s word. Oh, they knew that word well. Some of us know God’s word well like that also. No, their problem was that they didn’t know God. Get the distinction? They knew God’s word, but not God’s heart. Some of us may not be in tune with God’s heart either.

Jesus was so good at making everything clear. He simplified God’s word so much that the Jews just couldn’t believe Him. Look at what Jesus said about rules, regulations, laws and commandments:

Not 600 regulations, but two simple rules. One really when you think of it — love.

None of us can understand or apply God’s word without knowing God’s heart. Christians have tried for 2000 years to formulate a set of rules, some call them doctrine, that will govern human conduct in a way that will please God.  Truly, it hasn’t worked all that well.

The problem is that reasonable men and women can look at the same verse in the Bible and come up with vastly different meanings. The Christian Church today is a perfect example.  How many denominations do we have, and still the Church is dividing. It turns out that the six word statement “God said it, that settles it,” usually just gives license to the zealots and false prophets who would take control of God’s people and lead them far from God’s will.

God gave His Spirit to interpret His Word (Jn 14:26); and then He gives some of His children gifts that allow them to understand and teach His Word (1 Cor. 12-14; Eph. 4:7-16) and finally He calls some of these to serve Him by teaching others the truth (2 Cor. 3:16; 1:Tim 3:2; 2 Tim 2:15; Tit 1:5-9). Understanding what “God said” requires God’s Spirit, God’s gifting and God’s calling. If you “settle it” outside of that context, you have settled nothing.

God has always provided gifted and called prophets and pastor teachers to declare His Word. Through them God fulfills the prophecy of Jeremiah:

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”(Jer. 31:34, cf Joel 2:28-29))

As we gather together in the fellowship of our Lord’s church, in unity, each one gifted and called for God’s purpose, each one contributing that portion of God’s Spirit which they have received, then, and only then, can know God and His will. So it follows that only then are we able to settle matters according to God’s wisdom, which James describes this way:

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (Jas 3:17-18)

When the statement, “God said it, that settles it!” empowers individuals to lay down mandates that divide the church, it is not the result of God-given wisdom. Rather, the God of love, who is love, would have us use His words to unite His people in peace, gentleness and mercy.

Righteousness always seeks peace and unity; it never seeks division, especially through ultimatum.

Martin Luther wrote this:

Human reason can’t quite identify God correctly. Reason knows that there is a God, but it can’t figure out which god is the true God. This is exactly what happened to the Jewish leaders while Christ was on earth. John the Baptizer plainly told them that Christ was present. They knew that Christ was living among them and walking among the people. But they couldn’t tell which person it was. Hardly any of them could believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ.

He’s right. Humans are fallen beings. We have nothing within us that would allow us to recognize God. We must rely on the Holy Spirit to show God to us. That’s why people who don’t want to know God find that it is easy to believe that God does not exist.

The Bible says, “draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:8) That’s the key. To find God, you must be looking for Him; and sincerely hoping to find Him. Then God will allow His Holy Spirit to help you recognize Him. When this happens, your eyes are opened, and you find that God has been with you all along. When you start to see God with “spiritual” eyes, you find that the evidence of God is everywhere. And when you call for Him, He is right there beside you.

But if you really don’t want to find God, then He will honor your desires and remain hidden.

The Bible tells us that, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” (Heb. 9:27) If someone truly wants to reject God, He will remain hidden from that person during his or her life here on earth. But not after death. Then God has promised a fair and equal judgment of all people. That’s the time when God punishes those folks who have failed to live up to their responsibilities to seek God and obey Him. The Bible says that those people who rejected God during their lifetime, will also be separated from God in eternity. They will still live in eternity, but without God. The Bible calls this the “outer darkness.” It’s kind of hell, if you get the idea.

The Good News is that for anyone who met Jesus during their lifetime, and decided to accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation and righteousness, this final judgment time is a no-brainier. These believers, the Bible calls them saints,  have traded their sin for the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). In other words, Jesus’ free gift to anyone who wants it, is a complete cleansing from all sin and wrongdoing (John 3:16). These folks have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to answer for and nothing to fear; they are the blessed children of God (John 1:12). They get to live in eternity with God and all of God’s People.  It’s like a big wedding party for everyone who loves God. Because when you love God; God loves right back.

The following prayer has been widely reported over the past few years and attributed to Billy Graham. I believe it was originally aired by the late Paul Harvey on one of his radio programs:

When we think about our nation, we often think of the now famous verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14:

This verse is part of a prayer offered by King Solomon when he dedicated the Jerusalem Temple. The context of this verse indicates that it is a quotation from God, given when He had appeared to Solomon one night. This verse, of course, applies to the nation of Israel, and is regarding prayers offered by them in God’s Temple. It has nothing to do with our nation, although it does reveal God’s heart. It might be reasonable to assume that God would say much the same thing to the Christians in our nation.

I think it is just as likely that God might deal with us in the same way as He dealt with Abraham concerning his brother’s son Lot. When God sought to destroy Sodom and surrounding cities, He came to Abraham and revealed His intentions. Abraham began negotiating with God in an attempt to save Lot and the other “righteous” people who might be living there. After some haggling, God agreed  saying, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten [righteous].”

Perhaps as Christians we might be in the position to make a similar argument with the Lord. Because of the faithful Christian brothers and sisters who do live in our nation, and because of our children and grandchildren whom we are raising to become faithful Christians, we could ask God to spare this nation.

The result of Abraham’s prayer was not that God spared Sodom, but He lead Lot and his family to safety before the destruction began. So we might expect the same from God today. Perhaps He will lead us, the righteous in Christ, to safety before He destroys our nation. God’s answer to our prayers would probably what we know as the rapture, where He would take all believers out of the world and keep them safely in Heaven while He judges the earth.

Our main concern should probably be to make sure our friends and family are in line to participate in the rapture. So then our prayer for this nation might be from Rom 10:9:

I say this because I think it is unlikely that any  of us, no matter how obedient and faithful we might be, will be able to seriously suggest to God that our nation should be spared the judgment it most surely deserves.

If we believe that Billy Graham’s prayer is correct, then after we confess this to God, we need to get busy proclaiming the Gospel to our family, friends and associates. And we need to be praying for them, each one, by name, that they would receive that Gospel, repent and give their heart to Jesus.

Check out Jason’s blog on the guy who took time to help. Here’s the link: From Jason Hope [jth] | [jth]BLOG

How does this figure in my interest of technology in ministry? It’s the cell pic and blog. Jason has used the technology he had handy to capture what an old friend of mine used to call a “teachable moment.”

Ministry was happening and Jason recorded it. And then he linked up what he saw with the eternal truths of Scripture, and out comes his blog entry. It is about the guy in the wheelchair? Is it about the guy who helped? Is it about Jason? No, it’s about Jesus.

Technology allows a watchful pastor to capture a relevant illustration to teach a new generation about an generationless Savior.  Jason’s blog is a living commentary on our Lord and His Word.

Praise the Lord, He is still on the throne.

The Cross Marks The Way

The way out is marked by the cross.

There is a cesspool in the world named self-pity. It is fed by sewers of shame, fear and discouragement, which flow with abundance from this fallen world. Self-pity begins when pride is injured by the guilt of sin. This wound festers into shame, fear and discouragement; and they produce anger, bitterness, and finally self-righteousness. From this cesspool of self-pity men and women try to stand up and shake their fists at God. And when God ignores them, they turn their fists on one another. Self-pity always ends up feeding the pride that caused it, in an endless dance of self-centered misery. This is hell

The world teaches us to survive in this cesspool by numbing our minds with drugs and alcohol; and distracting our attention with greed and lust. Our culture produces endless streams of pornography, violence, gambling, materialism and now even virtual realities to feed our every lust. But lust can only be fed, it can never be satisfied. So when all of this fails, our culture gives us enemies to fight and idols to worship. Still nothing stops the pain of injured pride, which always leads its captives back into the cesspool.

The Bible teaches us to stand up and walk out of this cesspool, to leave it all behind us. Jesus defeated guilt at the cross. The Bible says, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (Jn 8:36). Jesus, the One who never deserved death, died to prove His love. The Son of God entered our stinking cesspool to become the Son of Man; so He could show us a narrow path to the foot of the cross, the only place where sin is freely exchanged for righteousness. The Bible says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:21) How can we, the ones He made righteous, entertain any guilt? If we do, we declare His defeat. But He was not defeated; He rose to live and freely give life. (Rom. 5:18; Eph. 2:8) Only our pride must die that we may accept His free gift. And with it, dies the self-pity it cultivates. Where there is only His righteousness, there is no guilt and no pride. And where there is no pride, there is no self-pity.

To lift us out of this cesspool and lead us to a new life in the light of His glory, Jesus sent His Spirit. Through His Spirit, He gathers unto Himself His beautiful Bride, the Church. His Bride lives to celebrate His life and His love. And His love must always bring an end to self-pity; for love looks away from self. It cannot be injured by guilt. It has no shame or fear. It cannot be discouraged. All of this His love replaces by the hope that flows from faith in that perfect Love. (1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thess. 5:8)

In our culture, the cross is placed over a grave, to mark the place of the dead. So here is a cross you may use to place over the grave of pride and self-pity. You have no need of them, because you have been set free; so let them die. You are the beautiful Bride of Christ, clothed in a pure white robe of His righteousness. You have the freedom to love; the freedom to look away from yourself and truly see the others around you. You have the freedom to become what God made you to be; to become what you have always been in His eyes, to become a Child of God and an ambassador of His love. Look on this cross and remember that the Son of God became the Son of Man; so that, in Him, you have the freedom to become a Child of God. (Jn 1:12) Come to the cross of life and leave the cesspool forever behind you. Join your true family in His Kingdom.

The way out of this cesspool is marked by the cross.

Here’s a pastor and church that gets it. What, how to use digital technology today! Pastor Chad Bowen at Metamorphosis Church in Greenville, SC. Check out this recent news cast, and follow the links to the article and to the church website.

You can read more about how Pastor Chad Bowen and the Metamorphosis Church is using social networking technologies to spread the Word of God through Amy Wood’s article on the Channel 7 News site: http://www.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article/tweeting_the_word/17767/

And check out their super multimedia website at: http://metachurch.cc/

These guys really know how to use digital technology to reach the “technology” generation. My congratulations to Pastor Bowen and his great team.

jasonhopelive.org

Hey, if you want to find out about a great youth ministry, and see a great ministry website, check out http://jasonhopelive.org.

The [jth]Team is doing a great job reaching young people with revelant ministry by using all the media and technology that their audience knows and expects. Books, video, audio, public appearances, web, blog, twitter, whatever it takes, they are reaching out with a message of encouragement and HOPE.

Jason and his team have just published a new book, Field of Grace, which you can get directly from their website store.

Field of Grace

In addition to this great website, Jason publishes a blog, http://entourage.jasonhopelive.org where Jason and his team keep everyone informed of their ministry activities.

Both the website and the blog address many vital issues affecting young adults today.  The “Hot Topics” list includes topics like:

• Homosexuality
• Peer Pressure
• Prayer Life
• Standing Still
• Veterans
• Homeless
• Faith…Over Board
• The Heart
• Relationships/The Ex-Factor

And they don’t pull any punches in telling the truth from God’s Word and from their hearts.

I encourage you to visit their website, check out Jason’s book, and stay connected with this vital ministry.

OK, that sounds way to …. Well, it is a transformation of sorts! And if you think it isn’t a huge effort, I certainly have some things you can do in your spare time. I need to stop complaining and get to the point. Here’s where we are as of May 8, 2009.

JasonHopeLive.org is converted and being completely managed by Jason and Lauren. This one went very well, but then I expected that because Lauren is smart, professional and on top of everything. Nothing gets past her, and so my job is more as coach than anything else. I appreciate Jason and Lauren’s support and encouragement, as well as their technical expertice and boundless energy. I learned a great deal from converting their site, and now I hope to put that new knowledge to work.

That was the good news folks. Now we come back down to reality.

I am stuck in the mud with HolinessAndUnity.org. I was able to design a home page just fine, and that went rather quickly, if not smoothly. But I can’t seem to come up with a template for the inside pages or the blog. I used some dramatic graphics and probably too much contrast and color on the home page; so that nothing that has any room for content looks even remotely good by comparison. I love that home page and I surely don’t want to part with it, but the entire conversion is stuck waiting for the guts of the site to happen. Maybe they would be happy with just a home page? I need some inspiration, from above please, to get me out of this rut.

FireEscapeMountainHome.org is a new project waiting to get started. I was there tonight, and both Rick and Michelle asked about the webpage. Once upon a time I mentioned something to them about “the first of May.” Now to any graphic designer or programmer, “the first of” really means “any time during — if you’re lucky.” Why is it that clients never understand the fine points of project management and status reporting? Well, I must, must, must, get FireEscapeMountainHome.org done this coming week. I only live 10 miles away from there. They can come to get me anytime, so I have to get this one done.

So that’s May and into June. What comes after that, I can’t say for sure. I’d like to get AfricanChruchPlanting.org converted, because Eva has updates and I am having trouble with them in TYPO3. Actually, I am having trouble with HolinessAndUnity.org updates as well. They take time away from conversions. After Eva’s site, I think I would look at BowmanChurch.org. But by that time, who knows what the priorities might be.

I’ve been doing this ministry since 1998, and it has never gotten any easier. I am always late, short on inspiration, and long on headaches. Still, for whatever reason, God keeps telling me to stick with it. So I stumble along and my gracious Lord makes it all work out just fine.

I’m thinking of putting up a prayer request site. If you have any ideas along those lines, let me know.

Blessings to you.

I just finished the redo of Jason Hope Ministries web site (jasonhopelive.org). You should visit his page and see what is going on there. He has just published his first book, “Field of Grace.” I can’t wait to get my copy!

This website is a milestone for Digital Ministries in that it is our first transition from TYPO3 to WordPress. To make this possible, I adopted a WordPress theme that would alow me to use “child themes” to copy same theme and adapt it for various websites. This structure is important to us for two reasons. First it allows me to become  familiar with one WordPress theme, so that I can adapt it quickly to meet the needs of a variety of clients.  Second it makes it possible for meto help clients with common usage issues. I chose the Hybrid these as the base, and then consulted several child themes to come up with one that would do the job for Jason Hope Ministries. Once I learn “the ropes” on this project, I hope to start converting more clients.

In his devotional, “How The Bible Is Structured,” Charles Stanley tells us that the Bible reveals God’s plan for “redeeming mankind from enslavement to sin.” The plan Stanley sees has seven steps:

• Redemption Plan. God foresaw humanity’s need of salvation. Therefore, He was laying the groundwork for Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, even as He created the world in Genesis 1 and 2 (Eph. 1:4).
• Redemption Need. Over the course of the first nine chapters, people clearly demonstrate how much they need to be saved. Wickedness swells until God must intervene with an animal sacrifice (Gen. 3:21), a flood (Gen. 6:13), and forced separation (Gen. 11:9).
• Redemption Preparations. The remainder of the Old Testament tells Israel’s story. The nation forms and matures with a two-fold purpose: 1) to proclaim Jehovah as the one true God and 2) to receive God’s Son Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
• Redemption Achieved. The four gospels document the fulfillment of God’s plan through Jesus Christ. His death fully pays the penalty for all of mankind’s sin.
• Redemption Shared. The book of Acts tells of the gospel spreading far and wide.
• Redemption Explained. Jesus’ followers write epistles—or letters—revealing the Holy Spirit’s teaching so that all believers may grow in wisdom.
• Redemption Realized. Revelation shows God’s faithful followers joining Him eternally in a new heaven and new earth.

Stanley goes on to remind us that, “even though God’s Word must necessarily be read and studied in pieces, do not forget that it does function as a whole. Once you understand the Bible’s outline, you can see how the Lord works in individual books and chapters.” ( How The Bible Is Structured, Charles Stanley, Early Light Devotional, In Touch Ministries, Intouch.org)

In saying this Stanley makes a critical point that pastors and Bible teachers often forget. The Bible must be considered as a single, integrated document. In academic circles this is known as “canonical criticism.” This approach to understanding the Bible “seeks to take more seriously the fact that the Bible is a collection of canonical writings regarded as sacred and normative in two communities of faith, Israel and the church.” (Biblical Criticism, BibleTexts.com quoting: Harper’s Bible Dictionary, edited by Paul J. Achtemier, San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985)

Looking at the Bible as a whole rather than a collection of unrelated, or loosely related,  pieces makes a huge difference in how we understand Scripture. For example, just looking at the physical organization of the entire document, we see that there are two testaments. That leads to the obvious question: Why? What is the purpose of these two testaments? Jesus held the Pharisees responsible for knowing the purpose of the Old Testament before there was a New Testament to answer the question in detail. (Mat. 22:29; Jn 3:10; Jn 5:39;  Lk 24:27; etc.) How much more is Jesus expecting the pastors and Bible teachers of today to know the difference between these testaments. Yet many have been misled, even entire denominations enslaved to the bondage of legalism, all because their leaders and teachers did not understand the purpose of the Old Testament.

The Bible is largely a document that reveals God and defines several types of relationships that He chooses to have with the men and women He created. It tells many stories of these relationships, and through these stories, reveals much about both the divine and human natures. Today, a Christian’s relationship with God is defined by Jesus, His redemptive work, and the Church He created through the Holy Spirit. All believers have a personal relationship with God as mediated through Jesus, because we have been given the free gift of Jesus’ righteousness, which makes it possible for us to be in God’s presence (2 Cor. 5:12; Rom. 9:30; 1 Pet. 3:12, 18; Gal. 3:11; etc).  But that personal relationship is defined within the context of the Church (1 Jn 1:3, 7; Eph. 5:24-32; Heb. 10:25, etc.).

The Bible reveals God and His nature progressively, a little bit at a time. Mostly this revelation is presented through narrative descriptions of people’s interaction with God. In the Old Testament, we see God through His People, Israel. In the New Testament we see God through Jesus and His People, the communion of the saints, His Church. Thus we see God in relationship with man through several relationships that God has defined. God is being revealed from our point-of-view, so we can understand what we are being taught. We must learn about God the way God intended us to learn, progressively, in the way the lessons are presented in the Bible. So we come to understand what God did in the past and what He is doing now; we also learn the different ways we may choose to react to what God is doing; and then we learn the consequences of our choices. That is what Stalney calls God’s redemptive plan. Today, the relationship we have with God is through Jesus and His Church. To understand this we must understand the purpose of the New Testament.

It is all spelled out in the Bible. But we can only see it if we look at the entire Book God has given us; not just the pieces we find interesting. There are two testaments in the Bible. Both have an important purpose, and both tell a vital story that we must understand. Eternaty depends on it!

This forum got a big boost when I discovered how to merge posts from here with posts from Technologia kai o Poimenas  (Technology And The Pastor), which is located at tkp.dmin.org. I am bringing the posts over about once a week. The two forums are similar, but here the focus is more on using technology in ministry, while Technologia kai o Poimenas is more about the ministry that technology empoweres. You might consider the distinction insignificant, but I felt that it was necessary to protect the ministers from the geeks. The only thing is that I can’t truly define either of those terms, and even if I could, I wouldn’t be sure which forum was appropriate for …. Oh well, anyway, I’ve gotten some content for this forum to get it going.

I hope this will become a forum for the free exchange of ideas on the ways God wants His Church to use technology. Your ideas are welcome and very much needed. This forum will be much better, and more useful, without me doing all the writing.  So, if you would like to enter posts, just register and get going, or email me and let me know so I can setup an account for you.  You can get me at: john@dmin.org.

Also please visit Technologia kai o Poimenas (Technology and the Pastor) at tkp.dmin.org. The content there will be different in the future. As I said, there I am hoping to minister to pastors and other ministry leaders directly, so it is part of what I have been doing with Digital Ministries all along. The idea is that I can post resources and threads that will be helpful to folks. Have a look at what’s there now, and then contribute something.

poimenJohn

The idea for Technologia kai o Poimentas comes out of my work in supporting ministers and ministries in using technology. I got into this thing we now call “technology” quite by accident in 1969. I was freshly discharged from 4 years service in the U. S. Army, and I needed a job. My father worked at Lincoln National Life Insurance Co., in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and he knew they needed a computer operator. After I learned to operate computers, I wanted to learn how to program them, so I changed my major at Purdue, University. The rest, as they say, is history — my history I guess, which leads to this blog.

I knew the Lord in my youth, but walked away as a young adult. (Where have you heard that before?) The truth is that I wanted nothing to do with God from about 14 until the Lord reeled me back in at 46 yrs. old. That 32 years in the wilderness would have ended in my death, had the Lord not intervened. I knew that as soon as He called me, so I took it all very seriously. After 20 years in software engineering, during the birth of the Information Age no less, and another 9 years in digital graphics, I left the business world and became a pastor. While I was still working in digital graphics, I attended evening classes at Bible college and then at seminary. I finished up seminary while I served as an associate pastor. By the time I turned 52 years old,  I had earned a Master in Pastoral Studies, and a Master of Divinity from Azusa Pacific University, and I was ordained as a staff pastor at Horizon Christian Fellowship, in San Diego, California.

Because of my background in digital technology, Horizon asked me to oversee the computer network for the church, school and Bible college, and to help develop their webpage. With only a small staff, and being unable to do all of the work myself, I turned to our congregation for help. To my amazement, there were dozens of “geeks, ” who had not been called to any other ministries. They were anxious to help the Lord by sharing their technical training, skills and resources. There were network engineers, computer technicians, software developers, graphic designers — literally every skill that was needed to build a first class digital network to serve the Lord within the church and schools, and on the “World Wide Web.”

While all of this was going on, the Lord was leading me to complete the Doctor of Ministry program at Azusa Pacific. My degree was in spiritual formation, with an emphasis on how technology could be used to support spiritual growth. My dissertation was titled, “Crossing The Technology Barrier: Roles for Technology In The 21st Century Church.” As I was writing the dissertation, I began to realize that many churches and ministry organizations were struggling in their efforts to adopt technology. In some cases it was funding, in others it was resources or technical skills, but it all ended up blocking the use of digital technology in the church at the very moment when the world was exploding with digital applications. I was afraid that the church was becoming even more irrelevant by the day, and that our precious youth were loosing interest in the backward ways of a declining faith community. That fear led me to start Digital Ministries, Inc., a non-profit corporation dedicated to helping churches and ministry organizations adopt appropriate digital technology to revitalize their approaches to ministry.

I had many plans for Digital Ministries back then. But here we are, 11 years later, and we are still working on the first few items on my list. We develop and support free websites and blogs for Christian ministry organizations who need our help, and now I have begun writing this blog. I am doing it to learn for myself, and to try to spark some discussion among pastors and ministry leaders about the application of digital technology in the Church. You can check from time to time to see if there are any other visitors to this blog. That will be the measure of my success.

Anyway, just to finish my story, my wife Marilyn and I are now living in Gassville, Arkansas. I teach a couple of bible study groups each week and continue to devote most of my time to Digital Ministries. I have served at a couple of churches as an assistant pastor, but it turns out that I know too much to fill that position effectively. The senior pastors always end up thinking that I want their job (why on earth would I?), and so they become defensive and our relationship eventually suffers. Recently I have been thinking about starting a small chruch, but I have never quite felt that I had a green light from the Lord for that step. So I teach, and write, and help ministers with digital technology. Sometime soon, I hope to meet the Chief Technologist face to face, and then I can rest from my labors as He has.

Oh, by the way, my screen name, poimenJohn, is a very awkward attempt to say “Pastor John” in Greek. It sounds great as long as you don’t speak Greek!

In his devotional, “The Question of Inerrancy,” based on 2 Tim. 3:14-17, Dr. Charles Stanley makes a compelling argument. While there are many critics of the Bible who relish in finding what they see as inconsistencies, their approach is always based on taking the Bible apart and finding fault with the pieces. Stanley says, “This leaves the Christian in the pew fretting over how to distinguish between God’s Word and a scribe’s opinion.”

However, the Bible was not given to us as a collection of verses. It was given as a book in two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. They are complete literary units that must be understood in their entire context, and they must be understood together. Stanley goes on to explain, “Reading the Bible as a whole document will reveal that each part is consistent with every other. God did allow for writers’ differences in viewpoint and background, which can at times give the appearance of discrepancy. Further study, however, always reveals how the various parts fit together.”

I fully believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. I have proven to myself and others time and time again that Scripture holds together and consistantly reveals God and His will for us. It is only when we take it apart in ways that were never intended that we find these supposed inconsistencies.

Technology, the stuff on my desk right now, and the connection it gives me with a large part of the world, has a lot to do with how I know and teach about Jesus, the Bible and Sin. I have a wonderful collection of leather bound, printed bibles in all translations, some hundreds of years old. I love them; but I almost never use them. Because I have the Bible in every translation plus the original languages, lexicons, commentaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, concordances — more reference material than I could ever use, all on the wide screen LCD here on my desktop. I use Logos Bible Software (http://www.logos.com/), which is loaded with all of this precious digital information that I have collected over the years. I’ve been using Logos since 1997. So I know and teach about Jesus through the Bible which is brought to me by some very sophisticated technology.

Sin – oh yes, that’s here on this screen too. Sometimes obvious, often subtle, intruding in a thousand ways on what should be the private conversation I am having with my Lord. And not just here, but there too! Out there, on the net, on the LCD HDTV, on my Zune, and even on my RAZR. (I don’t have a pod or blackberry; I’m too old.)

I need to get a grip. This technology makes everything faster, more dramatic, simpler and more complex all at once.

Now I have this blog to help …

I have to get ready for tomorrow, Sunday. I have a sermon on the third chapter of John. What should I say?