COMPUTERS, CHANGE, CHURCH

I am computer user. I don’t even come close to geek status. My budget restrictions have kept me from being tempted with techno-lust, where I've got to have the latest and the greatest device even if it means I don't eat for a month. I know it’s shameful, but I still have a tube TV. I will confess, though, that I am thinking about technology this morning because I am waiting for my iPad to arrive in the mail today or tomorrow. It’s an iPad 1, and with the second version being released recently, so they’ve come down in price substantially. 

The revolution which has been taking place in computer technology, and seems like will continue into the foreseeable future, is nothing short of amazing. It’s not been all that long ago (the early 80s), personal computers first became available to the general public. I used Google to do a search for the future of technology and it pointed to me a web article at technologyreview.com regarding a new computer which will cost $25. Yes, you read that correctly, it’s not a typo, $25. Not only is the price amazing but the size of the computer is what I find equally amazing. The device is slightly larger than a USB storage stick. One end of the device plugs into a USB slot on a computer screen and into the other end you connect a keyboard. David Braben, the British inventor of this new computer and a noted game designer, sees potential in making this new computer available to children in third world countries. 

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/guest/26761/?p1=blogs

Here’s a link to a YouTube video showing Braben and his new computer: http://www.youtube.com/v/pQ7N4rycsy4

As a leader in a local church, I think the time has arrived where we need to give serious thought as to how we will leverage new technologies to accomplish missional objectives. In the next few weeks I will have my first pre-marriage counseling session via Skype with a couple who lives 400 miles away. When my dad had his eightieth birthday, we did a six-way video call via Skype which connected our family in Washington, Oregon, California, Washington, DC and Mexico, with my dad in Arkansas. Given my dad was raised on a farm near Spur, Texas, with an outhouse and the whole works, I would say the world has changed.

I know I’ve been slow to leverage the tools made available by technology, but I sense things are about to change. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see if my iPad has arrived yet. 

In my next blog, I will come back to writing on the theme of how to help others to move from good to great, from fruit to more fruit.