[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Daily Thought for Wednesday, June 1, 2016

[Paul Smith]

Hello and good day to you all on this first day of a brand-new month, 
at least that's what it is for most of us as this message is being 
written, although for you in Australia and New Zealand it's already 
your Thursday.  At any rate I hope that your day is going well, by 
God's matchless grace and His providential care.

The following article is somewhat long and admittedly dated, but 
nonetheless I hope that it will bring you some fresh spiritual food for 
thought.  It is entitled "The Social Network Gospel" by Robert C. 
Crosby, rendered as follows:

How interconnectivity helps us better engage the Bible

In the 15th century, Johannes Gutenberg and Martin Luther both wanted 
to get Scripture into the hands of the masses.  Centuries later, in a 
new millennium with technologies far exceeding any they could have 
imagined, their vision has been fulfilled at a stunning pace.

Not only do billions around the world have the Bible online, and not 
only are many of them actually _accessing and _reading it, they're also 
actively _engaging with the Word of God--and with one another in far 
flung virtual communities across the planet.

With these trends, the vocabulary of Bible dissemination is changing.  
For centuries, the buzzword was _distribution, with a focus on quantity 
delivered.  The new buzzword is _engagement.  Lamar Vest, president and 
CEO of the American Bible Society (ABS), says we're witnessing "a 
revival of Bible engagement.  For too long we have judged our 
effectiveness by the number of Bibles distributed.  We are determined 
to no longer judge our effectiveness by tonnage but by impact."

Vest's comments came at a conference in Orlando, Florida, held late 
last year (2012) by the Forum of Bible Agencies and largely catalyzed 
by ABS and its new engagement initiative, Uncover the Word.  The event 
drew representatives from over 125 organizations, including Willow 
Creek Association, Renovare, the Salvation Army, Christianity Today, 
and Scripture Union, plus many denominations.  Participants were urged 
to "leave behind their logos and egos" and join a "movement" for 
Scripture engagement.

Presenters included Bobby Gruenewald, founder of
YouVerson.com, with over 50 million users; Mark Brown, creator of the 
Bible page on Facebook, with over 8.5 million "friends"; Jim Mellado, 
president of Willow Creek Association; Rick Warren, pastor of 
Saddleback Church; Webb, president of Renovare; and Sam Rodriguez, 
president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

"The Bible has long stood as the centerpiece for the moral ethos in 
this country," Rodriguez said in his opening address.  "We have lost 
that.  This movement will reaffirm biblical orthodoxy among us.  It 
will be a prophetic, truth-telling movement.  We will reengage the 
culture with this story."

New research from the ABS and the Barna Group--called State of the 
Bible 2011--was also presented.  Results showed that 45% of Americans 
say God regularly speaks to them through the Bible, but 50% say the 
book is hard to understand.  "Some see that 50% statistic as a 
problem," said Mark Forshaw, executive director of ABS's Global 
Scripture Impact, "but we are choosing to view it as an opportunity."

The study also showed that while 86% cite the Bible as "a sacred book," 
only 20% are engaging it in their personal lives.  Joel Hunter, pastor 
of Northland Church in Orlando, cited a widespread "de-emphasis on the 
Bible.  Unfortunately, we are biblically ignorant.  We go to the Bible 
when we need something, but we are not married to it."

Are the marvels of modern technology--the information superhighway on 
steroids--changing that?



The New Roman Roads

The ancient Roman roads spanned more than 250,000 miles.  The Romans 
started building these continent-connecting arteries in 500 B.C., 
enabling both their empire to grow and the Gospel to advance rapidly.

Today's Roman roads are the Internet, the smartphone, the tablet, and 
social media, ready and waiting for innumerable journeys of faith and 
witness.  While the ancient roads connected hundreds of towns and 
cities, the new ones connect millions of homes and individuals.  New 
York Times columnist Tom Friedman recently wrote, "The world has gone 
from connected to hyperconnected."

There are an estimated 400 million smartphones (iPhones, Androids, 
Blackberries, and so on) across the globe.  Brown estimates that number 
will rise to 1 billion within a few years, because "more and more 
people are doing everything on their smartphones." Last year (2012), 
for the first time, sales of smartphones and tablets surpassed those of 
laptop and desktop computers.  Daily time spent on apps now exceeds 
time spent online on laptops and desktops.

These new technologies bring unprecedented access and analytical tools. 
The question is no longer, "How many Bibles do you own?" but, "How 
accessible is the Bible to you in various formats?" My bookshelf may 
hold three copies, but my smartphone can hold 300 versions.

The way people read and respond to Scripture is going through an 
epochal transformation, in both form and function.  Innovative 
communication media are creating unprecedented pathways for a new 
generation of Bible innovators--and even more traditional, "old-school" 
publishers and organizations are coming around.

Nearing its 200th anniversary (this year, 2016), ABS is making an 
effort to shake off potential organizational aging and drift.  (Even 
the _society reflects an earlier era).  Founded in 1816, ABS began with 
a twofold mission:  to advance the Word of God and to end slavery.  The 
society's first president, Elias Boudinot, had served in the 
Continental Congress; Francis Scott Key was ABS's vice president from 
1818 until his death in 1843.

It's a rich history at ABS, and now they're aiming to make more history 
through _Uncover _the _Word.  It's the type of work Paul described as a 
"supporting ligament" (Eph 4:16)--connecting people with gifts to 
people with needs.  They are especially focusing on bringing churches, 
leaders and innovators together to promote scriptural engagement 
through collaborative efforts.  Yesterday's "societies" are becoming 
today's networks.



Traveling the New Highways

Because these new roads are ready for travel, a vast host of pilgrims 
will be needed.  But what principles can we learn from the vanguards of 
online Bible engagement? Here are a few nuggets gleaned from 
conversations with some of today's most seasoned travelers:

_Initiative.  In the digital age, the most effective travelers are not 
the timid.  Instead, a few lone souls and a few small nimble teams have 
tried their hands at Bible engagement online and are proving most 
successful.  More aggressive learn-as-you-go approaches are trumping 
calculated study-first strategies.  Those who start simply, and simply 
start, rule the new roads.

_Stones _and _Phones.  The Bible conference in Orlando concluded in 
prayer with each participant holding a small stone in one hand and a 
smartphone in the other.  Conference attendees were reminded that the 
Word of God first engraved upon stone tablets at Mount Sinai could now 
be communicated on the faces of a billion mobile phones and computer tablets.

Technology has changed the game.  Printed Bibles have to be duplicated, 
bound, packaged, shipped, displayed, sold, taken somewhere, and then 
opened and read.  Digital Bibles, however, begin as electronic bytes on 
a server and can become a thousand or a million copies on the faces of 
smartphones in mere seconds.

While the message of Scripture has not changed, the delivery of it has. 
Gruenewald says, "We understand that Bible translators might have given 
30 years of their lives to what now takes us 30 seconds to download."

Luther regarded Gutenberg's invention as more than a new science, 
something truly glorious.  He called the printing press "God's highest 
... act of grace, whereby the business of the gospel is driven 
forward." Luther had recognized a new "road." What might he have said 
about the iPad or the Android phone? And just how would Luther and his 
colleagues have harnessed and traveled these new roads for the kingdom? 
How will we?

The pulse of online Bible engagement is rapid response and connections. 
While Brown's Facebook page may not have more users than other sites, 
it frequently draws more interactivity.  That means that more people 
are typing, responding, liking, sharing, forwarding, and clicking on 
this page than any other.  Remembering that there is a soul on the 
other end, and responding promptly, are vital to online engagement.

_Frequency.  In the app-development world, conventional wisdom says, 
"Think big, start small, fail fast; learn rapidly." To try repeatedly 
is vital in engaging people with Scripture online.  The digital 
environment welcomes raw attempts and quicly forgives trial-and-error 
efforts that are promptly corrected and adapted with improvements.

_Saturation.  The forwarding and referring capacities of digital Bible 
engagement means the potential for reaching people has little to do 
with a traveler's budget and more to do with vision.  Things can 
quickly go viral.  Effective travel on the new roads involves a 
constant awareness of reaching broadly--that a small impact on one soul 
has the potential of reaching thousands more in a short span of time.

And there you have Mr. Crosby's article.  You probably thought that it 
would never end, but it did, praise God, and I hope there was something 
he wrote and you read that gave you some spiritual food to chew on.

And that will do it for today.  Until tomorrow when, Lord willing 
another Daily Thought message and article will be posted, guaranteed to 
be much shorter, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us 
safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we 
live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul