Mobile Ministry Magazine

Any good presentation also contains a history about its speaker and the circumstances that led to this point. In snippet #2 of the BibleTech presentation, we give you some of the history of MMM and how its evolved to an intersection of faith and mobile technology, and where that point's MMM and the Christian Body as a whole towards for future items:

Mobile Ministry Magazine was started in 2004 as a response to (a) boredom and (b) an increasing awareness of the misunderstanding that the Body (in the Americas and Western Europe) had towards the impact of mobile devices and connected services. And while many were aware of this as possible, few in the Body were taking that literal next step of answering the call that 4 billion mobile users bring to the table. Most settled for the smaller set of folks who wanted websites and social networks. And though this is good, it didn't address the simple fact that for most, their mobile is with them just as much (if not more) than the clothes on their back.

So MMM asked a simple question: who in the Body would be the ideal target audience for educating the masses about the intersection of faith with mobile technology. Of course, I chose pastors and teachers. These would be those persons ahead of the technology curve, already established authorities, and hopefully, open enough to the newness of mobile that they would at least listen.

That did not happen. Ironically enough, before the iPhone, MMM was very much ignored because many in MMM's initial target group did not see the point of instant communication devices, accessibility, or understood enough about it to teach healthy boundaries and how to navigate a world around them that had gotten the memo and were moving quickly.

These days, MMM has a voice with some people, but the point isn't the voice, its the realization that the Christian Body has and always will intersect with modern technologies. And we have to not merely adapt to them, but innovate over them in order to keep the message clear, approachable, honest, and consistent with its initial speaking.

Mobile devices and services offer the ability to literally be a stoplight towards whatever we are doing, and we have to respond - either in faith or tech - then have a resultant action that will effect those around us.

So MMM has evolved since that first 2004 magazine. In April 2005, MMM launched as a website and expounding on various approaches towards looking at mobile devices and connected technologies - reviewing them, asking questions, tying the understanding and reflection of Scripture, trying and failing at several types of communication solutions, and connecting with others in the Body who share similar passions - in order to demonstrate and create a baseline of knowledge that will enable current and new leaders the ability to discern how to correctly apply these and future technologies in ways that mirror that first passing of a lesson by word-of-mouth...

Labels: BibleTech