I can see the future from here

We're going somewhere. I'm trying hard to put my finger on it. It's about to come clear. I'm trying to figure out why I'm so tortured lately about the way religion is organized. Something is out of kelter. I see books with titles such as "Why Men Hate Church." I hear on the radio about "why youth are opting out [of church]." I go to a church service and see many, many people leave without uttering a word to anyone on the way out. I see new churches of all kinds experiementing with various ways to organize. Some try the stip center approach. Some try the mega church approach. Some try the satelllite campus approach. Some try the TV approach.

Here's the deal. If I had grown up in 1930, I would have lived in a much more rural, isolated setting than today. I would have probably not driven to a gathering place, but walked or ridden a wagon or horse. I would have wanted to stay 3 or 4 hours with other believers and eaten a meal with them before returning to the house and my daily chores. I would have had only limited contact with those believers except on days like Wednesday and Sunday to interact with them. If I had a phone I would have more than likely been on a party line. People wrote letters to each other that the other parties would have received in about a week. Televsion? What television. Radio, yes, but very limited on how many stations were in the area. Iceboxes were big. Flying was experimentally done by the military mainly. Music was not "in a can" but remembered in the mind. People sang tunes actually from their lips, not just in mental assent.



Here's the other deal. If had grown up in the year 2008, I would have lived in an urban area, other people around me all the time. I would go to gathering places in my own car, probably not with parents, but by myself or with a friend or two. I can be anywhere I want to go probably in a 30 minute radius, and I have people to see, places to go, things to do, all of which can be accomplished in a matter of 30 minutes or less. I can see anyone, anytime in 30 minutes or lessor virtually on My Space or Facebook. I have a cell phone that also doubles as a camera and computer. I can text message, leave voicemail, or talk directly to a person. I can email if I want right from my phone. Handwritten letters are what I study in history class because I have 4 email accounts and a My Space account. Letters are boring. Television? That's old hat. The generation before me was known as the television generation. I don't have time to sit and watch boring serials. If I watch at all, it's to watch America's Next Top Model, Survivor, Deal or No deal, American Idol, or some reality show. Who needs the pie in the sky stuff or hypothetical TV. Satellite radio is much more efficient than regular radio and has a menu of more than 100 stations for whatever my mood is or whatever the occasion calls for. All my music is professionally sung and recorded. I can listen around the clock. Mostly I walk or jog with earbuds wired to an MP3 or MP4 player. Why sing when you can hear any kind of music sung professionally anytime, anywhere? Oh, and if I want to go outside a radius of 150 miles, I can hop on a commercial flight for about $100 one-way to most places in a 10-state area or anywhere in the world for about $1000.

Here's my deal. I go to work and get more emails than phone calls. I meet with vendors who have flown in from Austin or Albuquerque. I go to conferences over a weekend like the one I attended in Maryland just 3 weeks ago. I sometimes listen to satellite radio at home through my satellite TV. I am on the board of an online high school. I like to blog and put pictures of anywhere in the world on my blog that I capture from the internet. I can call from my cell phone anywhere in the world to anyone, anytime. I often make out-of town phone calls at while driving on trips and nearly always at work. I listen to the radio or MP3 player while I drive 35 minnutes to work in another town from where I live. I many times call people related to work from my car going either to or from home. I can make You Tube videos and send them to people who can watch them on their computers or phone. And I watch Numbers on TV every Friday night.

So, what kind of organizational structure am I really looking for when it comes to other believers. At least once a week I get some kind of devotional email. I can read the Bible in any translation or in the original tongues from internet site like studylight.org. I can see the most inspirational power points with embedded video clips when people send me those in my email. I listen to Christian music any time I want it no matter where I am. I can go to any church's website and download the sermon in audio or video. I listened the other day to a sermon on CD driving back from a friend's house in a town 150 miles away, which is only 2 hours and 15 minutes of my precious time going 72 MPH on an interstate highway. This is why I am tortured. The organizational structure I seek is not in a building with others that I have no contact with outside of that building. It's not in a place in which very little stimulus takes place outside of visiting with individuals that I could make a phone call to and get the same amount of visiting done without driving somewhere.



I say check out the two virtual worlds of 2nd Life and Active Worlds and you will see the church of the future. If I'm in Maryland or in flight to Austin or on the road to see my mother or staying at the lake or at work, anytime, anywhere, I can tap into one of these worlds, carry on conversation and be out. The future from here is anywhere, anytime. I think that is very much in keeping with what the message of Jesus is trying to accomplish. It's also not bound by time or space, so when we do get to the stage of colonizing the moon or terraforming Mars for habitation, the church is there anytime, anywhere.