Social Media and the Gospel

 I don't know how long you have to live to feel like everything has changed, but I can tell you that I  am there.   I  was saved in 1995 and way back then the internet was  just finding it's feet.  Cell phones  existed, but  required a credit check and a chunk of cash, and 'clouds' were these white puffy things in the sky.  There was no 'wi-fi', although there was 'hi-fi' (that's a joke, you're supposed to laugh).  Back then there were certain assumptions about how you conduct a ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ.
  An interesting phenomena has come to my attention in the last few years; internet ministries. I'm not talking about  where a church records a sermon and makes it available online, I'm talking about people whose entire ministry consists of making videos or commentary and publishing them on the internet via Youtube or  Facebook or some other entity.  In considering this, I  have tried not to have a knee-jerk reaction that 'everything new is bad'  and I have also tried not to  put undue honor on 'the old time ways' or 'the way we used to do it' as if that was some sort of standard.
  We live in a  world where  men invent things, and those things, by and large, can improve our lives.  For example, I use indoor plumbing and  have every intention to continue.   Some of this technology can even make us more able and effective ministers of the gospel. The Roman Empire built roads and those roads enabled the gospel to spread more quickly.  Someone  invented a printing press, and that enabled more people to have Bibles than before. Radio came on the scene and to this day  enables remote peoples to hear the  gospel.  Television ministries have taken  encouragement and edification to shut-ins.  Blogs and the internet have enabled people who have something to say to say it without having to seek permission or be part of the religious hierarchy.  Technology in and of itself is amoral, but I do have some concerns about the idea of an internet ministry as a stand-alone work, since it's apparent that  literally millions of Christians over the last two thousand years have led happy, successful,  fruitful Christian lives without ever once turning on a computer.
   The Bible says in 1 Cor 13, speaking of  the judgment seat of Christ that "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is ."  It's interesting that the issue isn't the quantity or size or the perceived success of the work; the issue is what sort it is.  Quality appears to trump quantity with God.  As we  use whatever tools technology puts at our disposal to  obey the Bible, we should be careful as to what sort of work we are doing.
  I'll use as an example a fictitious fellow named Joe.  Joe  buys a webcam, and sets up a Youtube account, and from the  privacy of his  mom's basement  records bible study videos which he then makes available for free, to the whole world.  He hasn't harmed anyone with this, and people can watch or not watch as they see fit.  After all, the Bible says 'Let all things be done to edifying" and "..notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein do rejoice , yea, and will rejoice ."  I would rather Joe make these videos than do nothing, but if all Joe does is make videos, he has missed the boat.
  God designed us to interact with real human beings, as opposed to thumbnail pictures with  goofy screen names.  God told us "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel" .  Obeying that command by necessity means you get out of your mom's basement, and you interact with the flesh and blood people in your town.  If you have  5,000 followers on Twitter and no one in your apartment building has heard the gospel, I would say that your ministry isn't of a very good 'sort'.
  Paul used the technology of letter writing to reprove, rebuke and exhort the churches he had started, but he says an interesting thing in 1 Thess 1. He says  "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.  And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:  So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.  For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad ; so that we need not to speak any thing.  For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;"  Paul preached to them the  gospel, but that gospel was  under girded by the day to day life he lived among them.  They knew he spoke the truth  by the life he lived in front of them.  I submit to you that anybody can switch on the webcam and  pretend to be super-spiritual for the duration of a web video.  It is an entirely  different sort of work to  try to live your life as an example to people who eventually will see you at your worst.
  In 1 Cor 11, Paul says "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged .  But when we are judged , we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.  Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat , tarry one for another.  And if any man hunger , let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come . "  As I said before, Paul wasn't afraid to use the technology at hand , but some things apparently can only be handled in person.
  One of the interesting observations I've made about online ministries is that commentators, some of whom hide behind  screen names and avatars are "contentious , and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath".  Anonymity  emboldens the scoffer, and  if you aren't careful, you can  get drawn into 'debates' , which according to Romans 1 is a work of the flesh.  You can lose your focus spin your wheels arguing with  the lost or the apostate, instead of speaking "sound speech, that cannot be condemned" to the world around you.  You can convince yourself that you are contending for "the faith once delivered to the saints", but the faith it speaks of was delivered face to face to people that could see your life and the example behind it. Arguing with stupid people on the internet is not a ministry nor is it the sort of thing you want to have to give account of since "every idle word that men shall speak , they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. "  There will always be one more idiot out there that  wants to vent and frankly, you don't have time to waste.
   I have a public ministry, and that  ministry serves as the foundation for every other way in which I minister.  I  taught a Sunday school class for many years, and the boldness and patience I learned in street work colored the class. I write quite a bit, but my writing would be of no power without real-life examples to draw from. I  teach the Bible, but most of my Bible  has been learned in messy  dealings with messy people.  Your primary  ministry should be one of looking men and women in their flesh and blood faces and dealing with them about their souls. Beyond that, you ought to have a ministry of encouraging and edifying real life flesh and blood believers to whom you can be an example.  Once you have all that in place, and have a good sort of work, I think it's certainly commendable to want to reach people the next street over or the next town over or the next country over and I see no scriptural prohibition against using every tool at your disposal to do so.  My advice to Joe is that he turn off the webcam, and walk outside. Engage people. Let them  laugh at you, and let them lie to you. Let them disappoint you. Let you disappoint yourself.  Let God mold you and shape you in the  way he has chosen, and when you finally do turn the web camera back on (if you do)  you will  have a ministry of a whole different sort.

A Tale of One City

There is a church in Deland FL called The BIBLE Baptist Church of Deland Fl, and for  over 30 years now they have ministered in public not only in Deland but all over Florida, and all over America. A lot of us in publick ministry have ties to Deland. We either know people there, or we have preached there, or we have  learned valuable lessons from there.  For over 30 years this group of roughly 30 or less people have  stood on the same corner in downtown holding scripture signs, preaching and handing out gospel literature on Friday afternoons. I have  preached with them, not only in Deland, but in a couple of other places.   The red shirts my team wears at a lot of our events are  modeled after the red shirts used by this  small group of believers in one little town in Florida.  I know these people,. They are not mean, they are not rude. They do not harass, bully or intimidate.  They do not block traffic.  There is ample video footage  as a testimony.  But they also make a convenient scapegoat for dowtown merchants trying to eke out a living in a  dying downtown area.  This has been the case since the church got started.   I  say all this as a preface because I maintain that, as a publick minister, the  public's reaction to  the preaching is an indicator first and foremost of the condition of their heart.  The Bible says  that "light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light". So on a Facebook page dedicated to stopping the dowtown preaching, a woman offers up her  opinion.  I  present it that opinion, unedited,spelling and grammar intact but with  her identity  obscured for her own protection.  I think her words speak for themselves. Linda wrote: "As children we learned certain guidelines or rules if you will. Guidelines that bring order to society. For example we learned to respect the space of another, we learned to play nice with one another. As we aged we learned that we have more rights like the right to vote and freedom of religion. Without guidelines such as these there would be kayos, anarchy. The BBC or red shirts are not the only ones who have these rights. If society has to acknowledge BBC’s rights than it just stands to reason that they must also acknowledge society’s rights. Now the public realizes that the BBC or red shirts have the right to practice what ever belief system they wish, they have a church to gather for worship. A building to shield them from the rain, protect them from the heat of summer and the cold of winter. BBC’s parish have stated here that they have a wonderful service and are friendly people. It almost sounds like there two different groups, but there not. If you have ventured out to DeLand on a Friday afternoon or evening than you’ve seen them. Friendly is not the word the public uses when they describe their one on one encounters with the red shirts. BBC’s congregation does not believe that the public has the right to freedom of religion. The red shirts have stomped on pretty much every basic guideline that everyone has followed since childhood. The red shirts do not play well with others, with the exception of like minded individuals and the people of their congregation. But when it comes to the general public, they employ bully tactics with a side of fire and brimstone. Freedom of religion is a joke to them. This site has been hit hard by the BBC congregation along with like minded individuals. And I have to say they are organized, we’re being hit left and right and with only a few of us willing to speak up it’s starting to feel (to me) like were fighting a loosing battle. But it’s a battle worth sticking up for. The rules apply to everyone, even the red shirts. The public are not the ones standing on a busy street corner screaming our religious views to everyone passing by. We’re not invading anyone’s space. We’re not interrupting anyone’s business. No business has closed because of us. We’re not detaining people on the street. We’re not scaring children. We’re not the one who chooses aggressive means to force people to change. That’s how BBC A.K.A the red shirts roll, not us. Part of DeLand's charm is being able to walk around and browse the shops and or grab a bit to eat, while taking in the charm of the old buildings. People should be able to do that in peace and they can as long as they don’t choose Friday afternoon/evening to visit those shops and/or restaurants. lt's like telemarketer’s. Ya know ya work all day, come home and work some more. Ya sit down to enjoy you dinner with your family and the phone rings. Now if ya don’t have caller ID, ya answer it only to find it’s a telemarketer. Someone who thinks now is a perfectly acceptable time to try to sell you something. Ya try and be polite and get them off the phone but their persistent, after all there paycheck (bread and butter per say) depends on them selling you something you don’t want. The red shirts (to me) are like telemarketers. Their trying to sell me something I don’t want. I didn’t ask for it, I don’t appreciate it being pushed onto me. No one is telling BBC not to hold services they have a church for that, they can believe as they like. But they don’t have to be telemarketer’s. THEY DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO AGRESSIVELY APROACH THE PUBLIC AND TRY TO FORCE THERE OLD TIME, OUT DATED VIEWS ONTO PEOPLE WHO DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT. The tactics that they choose to use out in public are just down right rude. It’s the rudeness factor that I find disturbing. It doesn’t matter what group of people does it, it‘s wrong and you know it. And they sound like their grasping at straws trying to justify it. They do not play well with others. Seriously if the whole circus thing was a good idea, all the churches would be doing it. There would be people shouting and picketing from every corner thru out DeLand. Then all the business in the area would suffer. Can you imagine just how much damage that would cause. They could care less how much damage they cause to the city, it’s not affecting them, it’s not taking money out of their pocket or taking food out of their children’s mouth. The red shirts just don’t get it. Just because people are different, doesn’t mean that there are evil. The city is not perfect, but is not all bad either. And trying to communicate free will to these people is like trying to talk sense to a 13 year old who thinks they know it all. We’re all taught at a young age to play nice with one another, to respect one another’s space. But these people don’t respect anyone’s space unless they are of the same primitive mind set as the red shirts. The way the red shirts treat the public is why the public has so much aggression towards the red shirts, it’s a result of their actions. You know everyone has a belief system in one way or another. And my belief system is just as important to me is theirs is to them. But they don’t want to hear that. They want to recruit everyone to their way of life. It may be just me, but I find that insulting. Jesus use to speak to people out in the open. Those people would come from far and wide to hear his message. But that’s not what’s happening in DeLand. People don’t come to hear BBC preach, if they wanted to hear one of BBC’s sermons then they would attend their one of there services. You know in their church…..on Sunday. There’s no preaching going on just picketing and yelling. Picketing is not preaching, it’s that simple. BBC’s group is not there to help the community, there their to disrupt the community. They don’t invite the public to their services, in a friendly welcoming manner. They chase people down, detain them and tell their children that they are going to hell for believing in Santa Clause. To a child you are associating fear with the word god. Not exactly the warm fuzzy feeling that they should be conveying. And BBC honestly think that’s ok??? Their tactics are aggressive, intrusive and create negativity . With the internet there’s no need to create so much hostility out in public. People have enough problem now a days, the red shirts are just adding to it. Back when Jesus was alive, speaking to people out in public was the way to spread his message. But with the internet at out finger tips that’s not necessary anymore. But they still refuse to stop, they dig there heals in and insist it’s for our own good. They must think were children. Children who needs a stern lesson in religion. I highly doubt that BBC would like a dose of their own medicine, after all people usually don’t. I wonder how BBC would feel if the public treated them the way they have treated the public? I wonder how BBC would react to people picketing their church on Sunday before and during every service? I would be curious to see how they feel having their services interrupted, their space being invaded and possibly there income reduced. Not to mention creating a hostile environment. I mean BBC doesn’t see anything wrong with doing it to the public Religion isn’t a one size fits all kinda thing, it’s a personal, what's good for one person may not be good for another."