Today, I’m attending the first of two funerals for a family member that recently passed. As with many sudden deaths, there’s a bit of a scramble to make sure that the deceased’s estate is taken care of. When my mother and I sat to talk about this passing versus my father’s passing over a decade ago, we talked about things such as “where is your emergency information” and “how would my mother notify my ‘digital relationships’ about my passing.”

Those are certainly some important questions and caused me to make sure that my digital information and archives are put in a position that emergency personnel and my family/friends are able to make the right decisions concerning my properties. But, I was left at a bit of a loss when I thought about that effect in terms of digital spaces. Especially since I do a lot online (where I’m usually the teacher to my friends/family) and what I do I actually hope that it has more of an effect when I’m done than when I’m working in it.

The last part is what I’d want to open the door to. We have books like Foxe’s Book of Martyrs or even various commentaries and quotations of those who heard many fathers/mothers of the faith and recorded them. This is great, and has left for us an amazing wealth of knowledge and perspectives with which to mature our walk of faith. When we go digital, or our ministry is mobile (mobile = portable, action-oriented instead of doctrine-defining), how much of that becomes left into the residue that becomes the following generations of faith?

For example, you’ve taken Netcasters (read our review) to heart and have created a space where you’ve discipled several believers from various regions on how to create and share Gospel-centered literature. Your legacy looks like that of a pastor-teacher or evangelist, however the fruit of your labors isn’t that people copy your materials to others, but that they develop materials themselves to which is passed on. Does it matter if your name is written into the faithfulness of that effort? Does it matter if you did or didn’t do all you could to make this effort more successful? If you will, can your digital actions create – really, continue – in the rich history of using various technologies to share the impact of the love of Christ to the world?

I often ask, “in 100 years, when someone looks back on my life, will they be able to measure my life/actions against Scripture and it be clear that I am doing something in the same line of faith and love that the Bible records? Or, is what I do and how I live so far off that I’d be considered apostate and a sign of what not to do?” Does mobile (in) ministry look like the fruit of the faith? I surely hope so, but really, that’s something that will be judged better when I’m gone than when I’m here.