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I'm sitting in my living room right now watching Craig Groeschel on my Apple TV. I think this guy is amazing. He has a number of podcasts, including one that is in high def, designed for the Apple TV. The quality is amazing! Craig is certainly "cutting edge" when it comes to technology.

I'm far from cutting edge, but I do love using technology. In fact, if I were to be honest, I enjoy discovering new ways of using technology within the context of ministry more than just about anything else I do as a pastor. I love using Keynote, video, etc. in my preaching.

But, there are times when it can be very challenging to stay on top of it all. The thing that probably consumes more of my time than anything else would be writing the daily devotional, The Oil Change. When I first began writing them (a little more than a year ago – WOW!), I would spend an entire day and manage to write a few weeks worth of devotionals. At one point, I was almost a month ahead with them. However, in the past few months, I am usually lucky if I can be a week ahead. Often, like right now, I am writing the next day's devotional the night before (I just finished tomorrow's OC). I need to come up with a better way of doing it, because it because far too challenging to keep on top of them. There have been a few times when I've considered taking a break from writing them, but then I get an email from some stranger from somewhere around the world, who tells me that they are learning the Bible for the first time in their life! I recently had someone send me an email to say thank you for the Oil Changes. They commented, "For years, I have tried to understand the Bible. Now, thanks to the Oil Change, I finally get it. Thank you." How can I put it aside when I read things like that? (BTW, if you don't get the emails, you can subscribe in the box at the top right of my blog).

I also twitter and blog. Twittering is fairly easy and doesn't take much thinking. I really enjoy reading the "tweets" of other people, and have found that I'm getting to know some people through their short notes, in a way that I could never connect with them in person. I know that seems so strange to some of you reading this, but it's true. Some people are just wired that way, and I guess I'm one of them.

This blog is also something that I enjoy, although sometimes I put too much pressure on myself to make sure that I'm posting consistently. I want my posts to be deep, spiritual, and full of wisdom. The problem is, I'm often in a goofy, shallow, silly mood when I sit down to write. Either I have to just relax and let my blog be an extension of who I am, or I have to get more serious with it and make sure that people are challenged through it. I think I'll just relax.

Anyway, the point I'm making is technology can be an amazing tool to use in ministry. I think people have an incredible opportunity to connect with their pastor through online community if they wish to do so. But, if we're not careful, technology can become a very demanding master to us. It should never be that. Ever.

What do you think?