Now that I have posted signs on campus promoting this blog, I feel as though it is important to state what exactly this blog is about.
- Tech-Min is devoted to helping church members and ministers, whether they be lay or ordained, develop an understanding of the power the tools of the information age posses.
I have no doubt in my mind that the advent of computers and the internet are the printing presses of today. Just as Martin Luther & the Wittenberg theologians utilized this new technology to their advantage, so should we utilize our technology in the same way. The difference is that we are responsible for using it. The majority of computer in ministry is still very much a personal thing as opposed to having experts who operated the printing press.
Today the internet, computers and related technology are used for so much good. They are used to guide our military service people safely through dangerous situations. They are used to organize people speaking truth to power in places like Egypt and even near us in Oakland. They have the capability to assist the ministers of Christ in their care for his flock. People do not often realize this, and what this blog hopes to do is to bring this to the reader's attention.
- Tech-min is devoted addressing the fear & frustration that surround computers, the internet, and other technologies and to display the possibilities for good.
Without a doubt computers are misused for evil. Sexual predators, identity thieves, black-hat hackers (hackers who attack computers with evil intent) all have abused this technology that has been given by God.
This does not mean however that they must be thrown out the door. Computing technology is an opportunity for Christians around the world and in the neighbor hood to gain a connection despite distance or lack of availability. The blog seeks to help the readers protect themselves with basic precautions.
I worked with a person who used computers in an attempt to meet up with a child who was under his care for sexual purposes. The girl was protected however, because her father knew what he was doing and through network monitoring software, save this girl from the unspeakable.
- Tech-min desires to make known the capabilities of computers, the internet, social media and other technologies so that they may serve you in ministry.
I have seen both successful and poor attempts at utilizing these tools for ministry. The bad church websites, which I'm sure most of you are familiar with, fail because they are little more than a yellow page ad. This includes the lame Facebook page that becomes derelict.
Unlike the yellow page ad, these media are capable of so much more than their current usage. Success has been had as people have embraced these tools, especially social media, to reach out to people in unknown places. The "it gets better videos" on you tube sent a source of hope for those in places that don't respect the sexuality of all their inhabitants. As time passes, church members die and church members are born. The church members that are being born today will grow up with these tools and know how to work through them, so then you should be able to communicate with them in their element.
- Tech-min hopes to move the casual user to the next level of computing skill.
PLTS has offered financial management instruction and endowment laboratories in order to help future ministers learn to manage their funds, so they can help others. In the same way this blog hopes to educate the user to some degree, so that they can manage their own virtual life in order to create a real presence in their ministries.
- Tech-min hopes to do this in an accessible manner.
It is the blogs hope to do accomplish these goals in a way that people are not scared off by the complexity on the surface. This is an area of growth for the blog. In this I hope the readers take an active part in making this better so that it can accomplish it's mission better.
In closing the blog realizes that it will not change the face of ministry forever. If it helps at least one it was not a waste of time. The blog hopes however that it is able to help a few at least.
As a person who deals with laziness, I have learned to used these tools to help me get things done with less effort. As the Dean of Science fiction writes: “Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” - Robert A. Heinlein. As he also writes, this is done through hard work and a commitment to researching an easier way to do something. I recommend that one should read "The story of David Lamb, the man who was too lazy to fail."
In essence it communicates that it making things easy requires a certain amount of effort before hand. However the rewards are great.
Sources and content: The majority of this information comes from personal experience. The gaps of knowledge that the writer has are combated by research of other technological online literature that may be either unknown, inaccessible or irrelevant to the purpose of ministry.
Thank you and the blog hopes you are able to learn a thing or too about these magnificent tools.
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