Image via CrunchBase

Practically everyone and everything demands an email address from you these days. Purchase flowers online, book a room or a flight, to access a news site, set up a blog, join a social network, download a new program, leave a comment on a website, or keep in touch with family or friends. Any or all demand your email address.

There was a time when I had just one but now I have multiple email addresses for a multitude of uses and reasons. First of all I found it necessary just to keep up with it all. I compartmentalized my e-life with a separate email addresses for the following:

1. Personal

Friends and family are the only ones with access to this one. Plus a few key financial ties.

2. Business

This one is for work only.

3. Blogs

I have a separate address for each one of my blogs.

4. Social Networks

A separate address for each one. Imperative to keep on top of it all.

5. Ministry

A separate address for use at church and in ministry.

6. False Flag

A ‘throwaway’ address to give when demanded but care less about and don’t want to be bothered.

Here’s a tip for keeping track of it all.

I have nearly a dozen on Gmail alone that I can access and check up on going to just one log-in site: gmail.com. It really doesn’t take that long and is much easier than working with 2 or 3 different addresses like I use too and having to wade through all sorts of unrelated junk mail and spam.

At least now I can determine where everything is coming from a whole lot easier than I use to. Plus I can more readily find what’s really important.    

(Image via Wikipedia)

The Barna Group has completed a new study showing something that all of us directly experience- that families are more technology and media dependent than ever.

They conclude that modern families by and large are negligent in applying concepts of Biblical stewardship to how much of their time is spent online, watching TV, and on various digital devices.

Also, nearly all of those surveyed say that they have never received any kind of teaching at their church concerning how they can be good stewards of media, entertainment or technology.

The study also shows something you might not expect that parents are nearly as involved with tech as their children and teenagers. Not only that, but by nearly a two-to-one ratio, parents think of technology as actually making their family life better rather than worse.

Barna Group president David Kinnaman draws the following conclusions from their research:

“Technology is shaping family interactions in unprecedented ways, but we seem to lack a strategic commitment to the stewardship of technology. Parents, tweens and teens need more coaching and input in order to face the countless choices they make regarding how technology affects their attention, interests, talents and resources.”

Response: It is interesting that churches have substantially ignored this growing situation among modern families in America. Again, technology seems to be dividing the generations with each doing their own techno thing.

My own family is not that much different. I’m on the computer right now writing this article while my wife is in the same room watching TV. Earlier I was watching TV and she was transferring family pictures on the computer to an online account, checking her Facebook site and playing Farmville. Not to mention that the grandkids were here today playing video games and the oldest one, 13, was texting his friends while listening to his ipod and watching TV at the same time.

Nothing like it was in the 50′s when I was a kid and the entire family gathered together around the TV.  All the social commentators and preachers at the time said that TV was ruining the American family. At least we were all in the same room together watching the same show. Plus there was even time for short conversations during the commercials.              *Top

           (Image via CrunchBase)

St. Pixels, is an online 3D church, hosting the first-ever interactive worship service on Facebook. According to St. Pixels designer, Mark Howe: 

“Love it or hate it, Facebook is where people are in 2011. If the Gospel is for today’s connected culture, it has to find a distinctive but culturally-appropriate place within social networking.”

“It’s easy to build irrelevant ghettos in cyberspace or to abandon distinctives in the rush to embrace the latest online fad. Our Facebook application is an attempt to engage with a cultural phenomenon on its own terms while holding onto the Gospel that has transformed so many cultures across the centuries.”

The multimedia church is hoping to proclaim Christ through new media outlets like Facebook and potentially reach out and touch some of the reported 600 million neighbors on the social network site.

The first service is scheduled to be launched on May 10. St. Pixels intends “to create a sacred space and a welcoming and witnessing community on the Internet.” They also hope to make disciples and provide opportunities for theological discussion and exploration.             *Top

“For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them; for creating a new system of exchanging information; and for changing how we all live our lives, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year.”

The runner–up is said to have been Wikileaks’ Julian Assange who was a strong candidate before his recent legal problems.

Response: The choice and even the runner-up demonstrates how much a part of our daily lives the Internet has become. No longer just the playground of techno-geeks, nearly every family and person in America plus one billion and half people around the world are touched in some way by the web.

For some of you who thought that it was all just a fad that would eventually play out now is the times to consider that we are really in the midst of a communication revolution. I’m sure that friends of Gutenberg were not all that sure about his invention of the printing press either at first. Those who saw the first autos laughed for a while and kept on riding in their horse and buggies, and those who saw the first TV broadcast in 1939 probably didn’t see much future in it.

However when it comes to the Internet the future is right now and it is making it possible to take Jesus to countries where it is illegal to preach the Gospel. it is a revolution and a new day. Time to get aboard, we could be looking at the generation referred to in Daniel 12:4 -

  “…to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

Millions are searching for knowledge and all sorts of stuff on the internet everyday in every nation of the world. We really do need to make it easy for the world to find Christ even if by supposed accident.            *Top

Image via Wikipedia

According to AVG, the Internet security firm, nearly 92% of children in the U.S have some type of online presence by the time they reach just 2 years of age. The young children either show up in articles and pictures in their mothers social net page or they have their very own site.

We are seeing the rise of a new phenomenon with the lives of people receiving full documentation on the Internet from the time they are born and even before. Over 500 million folks around the world are participating in Facebook alone not to mention MySpace and others.

My wife and nearly all of the grandparents we know have pictures of their grandchildren online. With this new group of kids growing up we could be looking at the first generation that is fully represented and documented on the Internet ‘from cradle to grave’?

The gospel needs to reach that generation and what better way than to use the very online instruments and tools that are now so part of the modern human experience.            *Top        

(Image via CrunchBase)

NEW YORK — A small Web company called Power.com has sued Facebook, saying it doesn’t follow its own policy of giving users control over their content. Meanwhile, Facebook is suing Power.com over copyright and trademark violations.

It’s hard to know who to root for here—though Facebook did recently claim that of your content belonged to them until they reversed themselves after a well deserved backlash. So we probably should be rooting for Power.com and greater freedom of use. 

Create your own ‘social network’ for your church members, ministry, or youth group. Here’s a free service that gets it done:  Grou.ps  Or for a small fee, Ning is always a good option.

Why have your own network and not use Facebook or MySpace –after all lot’s of folks are already on those networks? It is a matter of connecting to your own group in a special way that doesn’t include a whole lot of other stuff that divert attention away from the church or group members getting to know one another better and actually sharing with one another. Also you can feature church or group activities and keep everyone informed on stuff that coming up soon.

Here’s one minister’s networking experience:

“It’s been really great getting people to create profiles, share their testimonies and post photos of church events.   We also use it to mass communicate with our members.   Many members have created their own small groups and have organized some really cool things on the network.  Most churches try to identify small group needs and invent small groups.  This social network is a great place for them to happen organically.  It definitely has been a tool to help people come together and get to know one another.”

*Top