Wednesday, August 31, 2011

From The Garden To The City Blog Tour - #1

 John Dyer has given me some great insights already in the first few pages of the introduction.  I learned some new words like media ecology “which studies how technology operates within cultures and how it changes them over time” (pg 16).  Technology is the future of the church – it is not a fad that will slip away. Technology is the fast way to disperse information to the masses.  Dyer asks the question is technology neutral?  I don't know about you but this is a difficult question - one I look forward to gaining some insight into.

I’m what I have always called a technologian (yep, I just made that word up, right now.  If you frequent my blog you know that I do that a lot).

I’ll tell you – when I started “the revolution” (my blog) I based the concept off of Mark Batterson’s book Primal where he talks about getting back to the roots of Christianity.  Since then, a lot has happened in my life and in the life of the revolution.  Technology was always kind of a secret crush of mine – but I was starting to hear the call to ministry and I “knew” that technology and the church aren’t that compatible.  I grew up in a small town – we didn’t have Wi-Fi, Starbucks, or cell phones until the start of the 21st century (maybe I’m exaggerating a little but it seemed like it) so I learned a lot very quickly when I began attending college.  I often wondered how I could incorporate my love of technology and ministry into something that could reach the masses.  I am blessed to be working for a church that has allowed me to pursue my dream by adding tech into our everyday ministry.
I stumbled upon John Dyer’s blog Don’t Eat the Fruit by accident. 
I followed a link and the next thing I knew I had reached technological heaven.  John was doing what I had always dreamed of doing!  He was integrating tech and the church – I heard that he was putting out a book – I knew I had to have it.  For 2 weeks I set out on a mission to get this book – nobody had it – then because I’m a pastor – I needed funds for other things so the book went to the wayside.  Then I had the opportunity to blog about it – I NEEDED this book!
 Fortunately, yesterday, I picked up what has to be the last copy in Central Indiana – it bodes well for the book – it is very popular.  My prayer is that John’s book touches a part of you – it helps you to see the impact that technology can have on the church – and how we can use technology to redefine our view of loving your neighbor (and who your neighbor is). 
  It also allows us to reach out to those who would NEVER set foot in a church.  After reading the Introduction to this book I am more excited than ever to dive into John Dyer’s book!  I hope you will follow along on ChurchMag, the revolution, and all the other blogs as we take a tour of From The Garden To The City.


Check out today's post by Adam Shields.

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