Sticks & Chisels 1.1

"Sticks & Chisels" will be an ongoing, weekly post reflecting on a class I'm taking this semester at Summit Christian College. This is the first of the series.
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What if we ignored technology's development?

Technology is with us. It always has been. Creative use of sticks and chisels, the wheel, the fulcrum & lever, pulley systems, weapons, wagons, the battery, lightbulbs... the discovery and ability to manipulate these technologies and others have shaped our world for ages. Ancient cultures often advanced or fell (at least in part) due to their mastery of new technologies. Some sociologists & anthropologists have even made careers of exploring the relationship of cultures and their technologies. I won't dig too deep into that hole here, but if effective use of technology has shaped the history of humanity, then I think our use of technology in the church is vital to our current and future progress.

Part of why I started to blog in the first place several years ago was to take advantage of social media technology's capacity for sharing a message. This was a technology at that time, of which most of the people I knew were afraid or at least skeptical. Today, the skepticism has subsided, but not completely. There is still a lot of fear toward social media and skepticism that most new technology is nothing more than fad.

So I was excited to enroll in a class called Creative Uses of the Computer in Ministry. We started Tuesday night, and I'm anticipating some very productive Tuesday nights this semester! I knew ahead of time who was going to be in the class for the most part, but it was awesome to get to know the 1 guy that I didn't already know. He's a 70 year old retired pharmacist from Gering who just wants to get a better handle on how he can use computers to serve Christ.

It was awesome to watch as he set up a blog for the first time. He was unsure of this new territory, but excited to jump in and try something new. I have no idea what technologies will exist when I'm 70 years old, but I hope that I'll have that same attitude. I hope to always be willing to learn something new that will help me to reveal God to people who don't notice Him.