Carpe Digital

I thought this was so good I wanted to post it here too. This is from Mark Batterson's blog evotional.com He spoke this week at the Assemblies of God General Council in Indianapolis. By the way, Mark will be at Englewood on Wednesday, Aug. 22 at 7pm, so don't miss it. Here is his session:

"I shared a session called carpe digital at last night's leadership seminar. Thought I'd share the main thought.

In 1893, a ten thousand dollar Congressional appropriation established RFD or rural free delivery. Up until that point, rural Americans had to ride their horse into town to pick up their mail at the general store. RFD provided mail service to rural residents for the first time.

Two entrepreneurs named Aaron Montgomery Ward and Richard Sears spotted a business opportunity. They saw a new distribution channel for their products. They produced so many catalogs that they were the second most widely read books in the country behind the Bible at the turn of the 20th century. They redeemed a new medium--rural free delivery--and turned it into a distribution channel.

That is what podcasting and webcasting and blogging are all about. Jesus told us to go into all the world, but he didn't specify how. It used to be traditional modes of transportation--ships, horses, and airplanes. But digital technology is a new mode of transporation, a new distribution channel, a new medium. We've got to redeem every technology and use it for God's purposes! The message is sacred, but the medium isn't.

I talked about a few distribution channels last night:

Podcasting is circuit riding at the speed of light.
Blogging is digital discipleship.
Video technology turns screens into postmodern stained glass.
Websites are virtual front doors.
Email is word of mouse.

As new technologies emerge so do new distribution channels for the gospel.

What a time to be alive! Our generation has greater potential to fulfill the Great Commission than all previous generations combined.

Carpe digital."