NextGenKent

A Reaction Tim Challies,  The Next Story:  Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion,  2011. How has the “As Seen on TV” production infiltrated our society and our churches? “A solution to what was not really a problem." We have some problems that many church-assisting companies seem to sincerely help with: discipleship training, evangelism strategies, youth and children’s ministries, etc. and offer products that are meant to assist with the overall effectiveness of those ministries. But are we creating a solution to what really isn’t a problem? What if these are merely distracting us from what is REALLY important, a focus that if was met would provide its own solution? What if we focused on loving God and repenting of sin—what it takes to move us towards God and away from our idols? Would discipleship take care of itself? Would evangelism take care of itself? Would fellowship take care of itself? Would ministry take care of itself? Would keying up our l...

Reaction to: Shane Hipps, Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith, 2009. This book really preaches. It is one of those books that doesn’t just tell you how to do it—it is doing it while it is telling you how! If we look at our computer screens and refocus we can actually see our own reflection on the screen (or the outline of our reflection)—this reminds us of who we are and that we are not our computers (and our computers are not us). This “magic eye” methodology—the training of the eye to see what is there but normally overlooked—is how we need to approach the technological advances of today as well as how we live our lives as the Church in the world. We must walk the line however fine it may be between observing the 2nd Commandment of not making for ourselves graven images and using images to convey a message. The methods we chose speak a message themselves as Marshall McLuhan was quoted, “the medium is the message” (25). Even the television screen is a part of th...