Mobile Ministry Magazine

In this late night where I am wrapping up a few ends for the next work day, I am reminded to think once again about mobility and its implications on our society. One aspect of mobility being the phones, PDAs, and other mobile computing hardware and software that we use. But the other part of that being less seen, and more frequently speaking, less talked about until it becomes a problem. The issue that I speak of is manners and maturity when using mobile technology.

It sounds a bit deep, but walk with me for a little bit and maybe I can help open a few things, and help you consider another or two.

As a product reviewer, I always find that there are two main sides to every product. There is the side that the techies/first adopeters have. These are your more technical people. They keep up with the latest trends and the difference in performance of a tenth of a second is quite major. These are also those folks that infulence others to purchase or not purchase technology due to their own adoption and excitement about it.

The other side of that reviewing plane comes in those people who are more or less interested in the technology as a means to solve a problem. They could care less about the specs, unless those specs directly related to solving an issue that they need some tool to solve. These people are sometimes more conservative, but are by and large the largest group of those that consider and use technology. However, for these people, the inclination is usually to just use things, and not bother to take in instructions or advice from the techie group that may have identified potential issues with the product.

Within MMM; I find that relating technology has to come on those two main fronts. There has to be a level of conversation that meets the techies where they are at. These people are willing to press the buttons and push technology to places it may have never been before (something like what Kevin talked about in last week's article). But there is also just as large a consideration that has to be paid to those who may be interested in the technology, but do not want all the bells in whistles and lessons in order to get things up and running. For them, they want the benefit of a review or opinion that says simply, "hey, it works, go buy it."

I imagine that it was that much harder for Jesus going between those who knew the law and those who were only taught the law and wanted just what worked. While, he did not battle with whether to tell Nicodemus whether it was good to have Amazing Grace on his iPod or Zen Micro; there was this level of interaction that Jesus had that required of him and those he related to, some level of maturity and oneness of mind. As we can tell by our Lord's fame, he was quite successful.

I believe that if technology is really going to make an impact on all areas of society in a way that shows towards the heart of our Lord, then we really have to become mature in speaking and using our technological devices. Whether that is simply knowing the ins and outs of MS Word, or going between Treo and Qool smartphones. There has to be some level of informational maturity and relational maturity in this field so that it can too be redeemed towards reflecting the light and love of Jesus Christ.

Now, I know I speak nearly crazy. And if you check out the time this was posted, one might think that I am. But, I am here to consider that if MMM is a product of my faith towards what I believe God will do with technology and His Word, then I have a responsiblity to eat my fill of all the skills and understanding that He would give me, so that in preaching the Good News, a barrier would more likely be my eating habits, and not the lack of paper and pen.