You Are Real (& You Matter)

Yes, you read that right: You are real.

This might be no surprise to you, but it's a reminder I think we all need to hear (and a declaration I have to make myself sometimes) because there is a pervasive tendency in digital culture to allow the anonymity that the barrier of the screen creates to divide us, leading us to say and do things we would never have the gall to say to somebody in person.

Although I'm a huge fan of digital media and heavily invested in online learning, I also know full well that behind every screen name, avatar, or default profile image is a real person who matters not only to me but to God...as well as to others around them. Now, I make it a special point to only "friend" people who I know and have interacted with somehow in some part of my life (along with about half a dozen virtual friends that I still want to connect with in person someday, but whom I know super-well digitally).

So, that's why I say "you are real."  If you're seeing this, we've met somewhere, somehow, and I know you. You're not just some random user in a forum who saw my post and wanted to rant; you're somebody I know somehow. And you matter.

Awhile back, I had an online debate with a fellow minister about the ethics and ramifications of "virtual church" (ironically, this was before COVID-19 lockdowns), and he was absolutely convinced that it was impossible to connect with people digitally in a meaningful way.  He simply couldn't make the leap to how online contexts are so often a reflection of the reality we often experience in person. Of course, with me having taught and studied online (as well as in person and hybrid), and my having spent the last 10+ years (now 15) developing quality online learning experiences, and with me being an early adopter of livestream and videoconferencing technologies, he was picking a fight with the wrong guy (it's kind of a losing proposition to insist something can't be done when you're arguing with somebody who's been doing it for over a decade).

And, ironically, we were having this whole discussion on Facebook, via screen names, with avatars and selected media samples to represent ourselves. So it was hard not to chuckle at the notion that either I was an AI "bot" or he was simply proving my point with every attempt to argue otherwise (if I'm not a real person, why does it matter what I think?). Upon later reflection, I realized he was letting that screen barrier and the anonymity it creates get in the way of a potential friendship, especially considering everything else we had in common. Sometimes we care more about wanting to be right than about our relationship with the person on the other end.

Remember...

1. We are not as different nor as divided as the media want to make us think we are. Such outlets thrive on portended divisiveness because it sells airtime and goods.  Don't believe it.
2. Most of us have significantly more in common with those we argue with than the few things we disagree on.  Focus on what you have in common and your shared concerns, and you will be amazed at how much more productive, meaningful, and transformative your interactions are.
3. All of us are facing challenges and struggles and situations that seem unprecedented in our experience.  When I finished a huge regional conference with international attendees, followed by multiple meetings since then and today via Zoom with many different groups of people I know, work with, and interact with, I was reminded of this once again.

And knowing this forces me to think long and hard about how I respond to others online, because...not only are YOU real, but so am I. And so are "THEY" (and in reality, there is no "they," only "WE" - if we can allow ourselves to be part of a global community of progress).  When everything's "they" and "them," and there's no "we," then we've lost the most precious human capacity and privilege we have - COMMUNITY.

So, greet somebody today, tomorrow, and the next day as if they're real...because they are.  A fellow citizen and traveler through life's journey with challenges and struggles much like you and I face...trying to make sense of it all and make a difference.

And see if that doesn't change your perspective a bit (as well as how they respond to you).

- - - 
SOURCE: Image generated by DALL-E 3 (ChatGPT4o) in collaboration with David J. Swisher.  Text republished from an original Facebook post I made Aug. 13, 2020 (updated slightly).

When the Medium Shapes the Message

Whatever technological medium is used to convey a message inevitably becomes part of that message, sends a message, and shapes that message.

I want to believe (and still try to insist) that technology is morally neutral, and that it's what we do with it that allows it to be used for good or evil.  But at the same time, I realize that embedded within that is a subtle reality that the moment we encode any form of communication into a specific medium, that medium inevitably shapes the message.  For example, how many of us have met plenty of people who are absolutely convinced that the Bible is - and has always been - in printed form, in 1600's Shakespearean English, and who can't conceive of the possibility that there was a time when the Word of God was a voice, etched in stone, then a living Person, later encapsulated into a set of scrolls, and now today in bound print form.  Many parishioners today also struggle to understand how the Word might be online or in a smartphone app with hypertext and multiple translations.  The words are familiar, but the form has changed, and so it makes many churchgoers uneasy.  In my line of work with educational hypermedia and digital church contexts, I enjoy seeing the Word of God transmediated into video form or immersive media, but I have seen plenty of pushback from ardent followers who can’t stand the possibility that online and digital forms could be every bit the Word of God as a bound, printed Bible in 400-year-old English.   

 

Don't believe me?  Try removing the Word from the context of a Bible in print form in the typical Midwestern Protestant church in the U.S. and see what happens!  Check out how differently a live discourse by Jesus might come across to a first-century audience on a hillside than it does to us today as written text in a printed, bound book.  Try suggesting (or reading from) a newer translation of those words into the colloquial expressions of today's English and watch the sparks fly!  Or try re-rendering the Bible in its original form (letter, scroll, etc.)... 

 

One time awhile back a church I was pastoring was doing a terrible job at living out the teachings of the New Testament (it wasn't for lack of biblical knowledge, though, as they had one of the highest participation rates I've ever seen for adult Sunday School and evening Bible studies; they just weren't "getting" it and living it; they were good at telling others how to live, but didn't do well at aligning their own lives to it).  So I took a couple of chapters from one of the N.T. letters (James 2 & 3) about favoritism, quarrels & disputes, prejudice, and the need to put others' needs above our own (the stuff we were having a problem with) from a modern colloquial translation, printed them off onto regular paper in a handwriting font, crumpled it up and re-smoothed it a few times to make it look well-read, and folded it up into an airmail envelope...and then I introduced it by saying, "Friends, we've received a letter from one of our missionaries who's been serving faithfully overseas but has heard of some of our challenges, and he took the time to write us and share some advice about how to live out the teachings of Christ amidst the struggles we're facing."  And then I pulled out the crumpled "letter" and read it. 

You could have heard a pin drop.  It was poignant, personal, and convicting...one of the hardest-hitting messages I've "preached."  The missionary obviously knew our situations and people and saw through our pretenses and went straight to the heart of the matter.  A couple of our dearest and most mature saints smiled when they realized what I was doing, but most were in deep thought, perplexed, sullen, or even angry.  Some were furious afterwards, and a couple of them challenged me on it and said, "How dare you read anything from the pulpit other than the Word of God," and one even threatened to call my District Superintendent and report me for this "heresy"!   

So that night I explained that what I had read WAS the Word of God, the missionary was none other than the biblical James, and you've got that "letter" in your Bible (and I had them turn there to see it for themselves and pulled out my crumpled letter and read parts of it to compare).  The problem, I explained, is that we've gotten so comfortable with the printed text form of our Bible that we're not hearing it like it was originally written...to a church just like ours, from a missionary (just like those we support), about real issues and challenges we're facing in the life of the church and in living out Christ's teachings.  The way I read that was exactly how James sent it; it wasn’t until many centuries later that his encyclical was gathered and bound with other Scripture into a printed volume.  Hearing it that way, it became very real to you, didn't it? 

I remember my Greek professor, Gordon Dutile, telling stories about reactions he had received from church folks when he read Scripture.  He was fluent enough in the original languages of the New Testament that he didn't preach from a modern translation but would instead read directly from his Greek New Testament, translating as he read.  He shared stories, though, of many times when parishioners asked him what translation he was reading from or challenged him, claiming that what he read couldn't have been the Word of God because it wasn't in the familiar translation they grew up with.  Once someone even questioned its validity because it had a burgundy hard leatherette binding instead of black leather.

It reminds me of this parody video I enjoy which re-creates what it might have been like to introduce bound print volumes to Medieval-era monks who were used to papyrus scrolls:

As hilarious and implausible as that might seem, having spent two decades implementing new technologies in educational and ministry contexts, I can relate quite well; I have had many conversations with people that went much like that!

And a big part of the problem is that we presume that new forms of media must follow the same norms and conventions as the familiar ones we have grown accustomed to, which inevitably limits our ability to embrace the features that make the new media format an improvement.  And in so doing, often we struggle to make the conceptual leap behind how it's an "improvement" because we have only seen and appreciated the former medium.

Maybe we need to stop dissecting the Bible as set of propositional truths for teaching (and for telling other people how to live) and instead read it the way it was originally delivered, as the Word of God to us on how we're supposed to live as a body of Christ...in the form and language that best communicates with our heart?!! 

Strange Days of Great Hope & Opportunity

This is not the first time the Church has had to meet in homes during a crisis.

Illustration of a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

It happened in Moses' day, Elijah's day, and Jesus' day. It happened during the early Church period as well as in the Dark Ages.  It happened during the time of Patrick, the days of Martin Luther, during the time of the Wesley brothers, and during the time of air raids, war, and Holocaust. This is neither new nor something to fear.

We've endured persecution and plagues, several dozen times throughout our history at least: Times when we weren't welcome to meet in larger facilities and times when even being seen meeting with other Christians meant immediate arrest and likely death. And in all those times, the Church has thrived...and grown...exponentially.

In fact, much of what we refer to as the "New Testament" was written as circular letters to groups of Christians meeting in homes who couldn't gather in public places, and about three-fourths of those letters were written by someone who was locked up or under house arrest or even living in exile. Some of the earliest church multipliers in Jesus' day were people delivered from "incurable diseases" and demonic affliction, and rather than welcome them in His entourage (giving them "stage time"), Jesus encouraged them to stay put and instead be a living witness to a life transformed in their immediate family and community.

At its core, we are an ἐκκλησία "ekklesia" (the called out ones). Not the "people who meet in a building," but the people who live and love differently...the people who face adversity with courage and still have enough love to share with others in need. The people willing to speak truth with conviction, whether or not it suits our own best interests, a people who know the difference between what we have a "right" to do and what IS right to do.

We've been a movement since Day 1, and we are at our best when we are creative innovators who find new ways to BE the Church in our culture no matter the challenges. Our confinement to fancy buildings dedicated for church use is a relatively recent invention (and a rather inefficient one at that given the larger) scope of how life change happens).

What an awesome opportunity for the Church #MadeNew to arise!

Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.? Or Myopic Nostalgia?

Millions of Americans will celebrate the legacy and accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr. today, oblivious to the well-documented fact that MLK's Christian faith was the very foundation, substance, and rationale behind all of the reforms for which he advocated.  An ordained Baptist minister, King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as a tangible application of the teachings and principles of the Bible, and he organized multiple marches based entirely on the principles of non-violent resistance which were derived straight from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (inspired by Gandhi's example, who also derived his understanding from the Sermon on the Mount).  King's legendary "I Have a Dream Speech," indisputably ranked as one of the greatest speeches of all time (by nearly every speech and rhetoric group there is) is laden with Biblical imagery, metaphors, and concepts, and its principles and applications cannot be rightly understood nor accomplished apart from Christian faith.  King is undoubtedly an example of Christianity lived right and it is good that that we celebrate.

Sadly, he will be referred to tens of thousands of times today as a "civil rights leader" and praised for his civil rights reforms, but seldom will he be called a "pastor" or "ministry leader," even though this was his primary identity while he was alive and how he was most often introduced.  Rarely will those who laud his accomplishments acknowledge the source of his reforms was his Christian faith nor that the inspiration for his efforts was the work of Jesus in his life.  This is cultural appropriation at its most perverse: Celebrating the outcome while repudiating the means, claiming the results while distancing oneself from the motives, iconizing the messenger while categorically denying the man behind the image, and categorically reducing the sum total of a ministry leader's tangible application of Jesus' teachings to a mere accolade of "civil rights reform."

Ironically, thousands of those who detest Christianity and who most vehemently protest Christians' insistence that it is impossible to separate one's beliefs from behavior in public and the marketplace and that Christianity is only rightly expressed when it is lived out as Jesus taught will simultaneously champion King's legacy today while categorically rejecting the efforts of dozens of other well-known "activists" who have stood up to heavy-handed societal and governmental injustices and chose instead to live and act according to the teachings of the Bible, even when it's unpopular or has been made illegal to do so.  Have we forgotten that King was beaten, jailed, criticized, condemned, and ostracized for his actions?  

Indeed, many who praise King today would have vilified him in his day. Right now there are dozens (actually hundreds) of Christian leaders who at this very moment are facing lawsuits, unjust fines, repossessions of their property and shutdowns of their businesses simply for choosing to live out the teachings of their faith in practical, tangible ways where they live and work, amidst a society that would rather Christians keep their faith private.  One day their efforts, too, may be championed as "civil rights reform" and their beliefs and behaviors validated, but right now it's a living hell of fighting an unjust system which seeks to silence all dissenters rather than embody the civil discourse and mutual respect which enables a civilization to thrive.  And sadly, many of their worst critics are those who claim to share their faith but think it's preferable to keep such matters private.  I, for one, am grateful that King chose not to keep his faith to himself!

Yes, let's give the man his due today.  Martin Luther King, Jr's life and legacy deserve to be celebrated.  But please don't stop there, or you'll simply be doing him and his legacy lip service, invalidating his efforts by disassociating the reason for his reforms from the outcomes he achieved.  Instead, work to end the tyranny of persecution no matter the source (even when it's us) and no matter the recipients (even when it's somebody we don't like or can't stand).  And don't even pretend that King's work is finished or try to rest until "the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."  Until the day comes when King's descendants "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," King's dream has not yet been realized.

King's speech (transcript, audio, & pics) can be viewed on American Rhetoric's "Top 100 Speeches," where it is #1: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

Obsessed With the Wrong Kingdom?

Sage wisdom from Jeff Piepho, pastor of Revolution Church (Salina, KS)...

If you've ever had trouble sleeping because "that person" might get elected, but you've never had a sleepless night praying for someone to be saved...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

If your blood boils when you hear candidates lie, but your blood never boiled because of your own sin...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

If you've said "Trump" or "Hillary" or "Gary" or even "Jill" more than "Jesus" lately...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

If you have said that "Christians have a duty to vote!"...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

If you spend more time trying to convince people to vote a certain way than you do trying to share the gospel and save them from the fires of eternal hell...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

If you find it more embarrassing to pray for someone, than to share your political ideology...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

If you spend over an hour watching a Presidential debate, but "don't have time" to do serious Bible reading and prayer...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

If you are more fired up by/annoyed by/excited by political discussions than you are by sermons...
          ...you might be obsessed with the wrong Kingdom.

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him
who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not

grow weary and lose heart."      ~ Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV)

Written by guest blogger Jeff Piepho, pastor of Revolution Church (a contemporary Brethren in Christ congregation in Salina, KS).  A graduate of Biola University, Jeff obtained a Masters degree in Christian Apologetics.  He is politically informed and involved, but knows how to keep his priorities straight.  Jeff hosts a popular weekly radio show called Truth Revolution, which is where “faith and reason meet” as each week he and associate pastor Dave Waggoner tackle science, mathematics, archeology, and logic, integrating them into faith, Biblical studies, and religion. Truth Revolution can be heard on thirteen radio channels and podcasts, as well as broadcasts on YouTube: Truth Revolution Live!

Copyright © 2016 Jeff Piepho (used by permission).

The "Pokémon Go" Phenomenon: Friend, Not Foe

I was one of those ministers in the early 90s who was adamantly opposed to Pokémon and I strongly felt that no Christian should engage in it, and further, that parents (& churches) should protect their kids from it. I had just come out of Bible college, was in some of my first youth ministry assignments, and although Pokémon was all the rage then, I did my research and concluded that it was a doorway to alternative (Eastern) spirituality. In hindsight looking back, it's hard to believe that trading cards could lead people into demonic possession, but we had some pretty convincing information back then (albeit a bit overhyped and exaggerated), and when I saw a few episodes of the cartoon show later, my worst fears were realized because they DID portray some clearly Eastern religious themes which contradicted Christianity. However, as a student of semiotics & future studies (a Biblically-informed trendwatcher) with many geek friends these days, I've been really watching this Pokémon Go phenomenon from its earliest announcement, and to be honest, I prepared for the worst. Instead, I've found that it's not at all what I imagined (or feared). I have been playing it with my 14-year old son as a way to not only engage with him but also find out why it's so popular and determine whether there's any concern. As an active player, I HAVE YET TO FIND A SINGLE SPIRITUAL CONCERN. We're now 9th level (of some 20+), already have a few "rares" (higher level characters), and have played around with "evolving" a few characters into more powerful ones, and I simply cannot find a single thing in the entire game/app to criticize or condemn, and nothing which suggests an agenda of alternative spirituality. If Niantic (the American company which developed the app in coordination with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company) had ulterior motives in releasing it, I certainly can't find evidence of that. On the contrary, it's just fun! It IS quite addicting because you want to collect them all, and like all games and activities, it does raise time management issues. I've also read some accounts of people doing stupid things while playing the game (driving, walking off a cliff, mobs chasing a rare appearance, etc.). But the game itself isn't the problem here; it's people not using common sense, failing to balance work & leisure, and/or doing stupid things because they've allowed themselves to get caught up in something without proper boundaries. People do that in all sorts of areas of life, and much of our ministry deals with the fallout from that kind of stuff. Beyond that, however, I see lots of positives. It has forced millions of kids and young adults (& even middle-aged adults) to get out from in front of the TV, Netflix, Xbox, and computer and WALK (we have, too), and since most of the PokéStops and gyms are churches, community buildings, and civic interest features, it is quite informational. I have walked alot in this game and found all kinds of neat historic markers and information about my town's heritage, things I never would have discovered if I hadn't been trying to chase down an elusive virtual Pokémon character who was missing from my Pokédex (collection). It's positively transformative on a community, too. I used to avoid my town's downtown square at night because of the several bars which surround its perimeter, but now it's a happening place overrun by Pokémon Go players! (the last few nights, I've counted well over 50 players of all ages, including entire families and groups of teens playing together). I've met and talked with more people on the square and in local parks this last week while playing the game than I have met in the last 2 months combined! We're total strangers, but we immediately have something in common to talk about. I can understand the hesitation to embrace the unfamiliar (especially if you grew up in the 80s or early 90s and know its checkered past). But past misperceptions don't equate to present realities, so I encourage you to look beyond those. I can't help but think that God can use this for Kingdom potential and that a wise ministry leader would look for opportunities to engage! (the pic here is what our downtown courthouse square & vicinity look like within the game)

Bored Naysayers

The arrival of 2015 brought with it a deluge of articles from a variety of  news outlets, all acknowledging that Back to the Future II was set in 2015 and then critiquing all of the things which didn’t come to pass as imagined.  Unfortunately, most of these articles are are misguided in their facts - about both the movie and technology - and are overly critical.  So as a die-hard Back to the Future fan who graduated that magical year (1989), allow me to counter their shortsightedness.

First, it’s not Oct. 21st (the date in the “future” when Marty McFly arrived), so these articles' criticisms are 9 months premature.  With technology innovation, that timeframe is like eons.

Second, we DO already have many of these technologies:

• Video calling (through Skype, FaceTime, and a variety of cloud-based webconferencing systems) are fairly common now, as well as card-based financial access like Marty used in his call from Needles.
• No, we don’t have flying cars in common usage…yet, and no, our cars don’t all have angled designs modeled after a Lamborghini on steroids.  That looked cool and “futuristic” in 1989 but it turns out it’s not that aerodynamic.  However, flying cars do exist: Check out the AeroMobile and the Terrafugia Transition.  It may be a few years before they’re practical and their usage is widespread, but B2TF wasn’t too far off.
• No, we can’t hydrate a pizza in 30 seconds…yet, and such machines aren’t in common circulation.  But all of the technology involved already exists; we can dehydrate and rehydrate food efficiently both on planet Earth and with lightweight space food for astronauts. It just isn’t that practical or lucrative of an idea. 

There are also many more of B2TF’s technologies which currently exist or are in beta stages, just not in widespread usage yet:

• A prototype of self-tying power shoes has been developed and its inventor is actively trying to get them to market: http://youtu.be/k_Efr2TaEPo
• Hoverboards do exist…sort of.  Two models have been proposed and working prototypes of them are in circulation (one is even trying to release them by the Oct. 21st date).  I’m not impressed with either; their inventors struggled with some very obvious practicality issues and I don’t think either of the current solutions reflect B2TF’s design intent at all, but I am certain my kids will get to enjoy something very similar to Marty’s hoverboard within my lifetime.
• Robots filling your car up at a fuel station may be non-existent, but we have robots in active use now for nearly all repetitive tasks, from vaccuming your floor to milking a cow to machining a car or laptop.  And let’s not forget the electric cars with inductive charging stations like the Tesla which make B2TF’s depiction seem archaic compared to what we have now.  It’s not that we can’t, it’s that in general the public is simply not ready for trusting their car fueling to a machine…yet (but we’re getting closer to it since we have no problem paying at the pump with automated systems).
• We also don’t quite have an indoor garden center fruit dispenser.  But with all of the advances in hydroponics as well as the 4x4 gardening movement, it’s only a matter of time before something along these lines becomes a practical reality.

The two things they didn’t get “right” were Jaws 19 and the Cubs winning the World Series.  But keep in mind, these supposed “predictions” were satire anyway: Nobody wants to see 16 more editions of that movie; we’ve long since moved on to piranhas, anacondas, and vampires.  And the Cubs winning a World Series?  Well, as this article suggests, don’t give up just yet; what seemed impossible in 1989 isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

So what on earth does this have to do with church communication?  Church folk are notorious for being bored naysayers, criticizing every new idea, approach, and innovation.  And most of the time, we don’t have our facts straight nor even take the time to understand what’s really being proposed before we shoot it down.  In so doing, we make a cynical media seem lame in its debunking of ideas.

An irrelevant but well-timed question or a critical and skeptical groan from a respected board member can kill a Spirit-inspired idea before it even has a chance at consideration.  Much of the science fiction I read as a kid has become today’s technology, and I continually admire those thinkers of the past whose revolutionary ideas seemed preposterous back then and now are commonplace.  As my mentor pastor Jess Gibson often said, “He that says it can’t be done should not interrupt the one who’s actually doing it.”

Creativity and innovation are gifts from God which reflect His character and He delights in it.  Negativity and criticism are foreign to God’s personality and anathema to His character.  Therefore, use your words carefully (Matthew 12:36-37); take care to ensure that you're encouraging your pastor and church leaders as they explore innovative ideas to solve tomorrow's challenges.