There is a story that has been making the rounds of the news channels and blogosphere this past week concerning a New Jersey pastor who demanded that his 50 married church officials delete their Facebook accounts or resign from their leadership positions.  Why?  The pastor, Cedric Miller, claims that over the past six months, 20 couples in his 1100 member church have run into marital trouble due to one spouse connecting with an ex-flame via Facebook.  Quitting Facebook, he argues, will save marriages.

Reaction to this story has been mostly predictable – the pastor is being overly dramatic.  After all, Facebook is just one of many means of communicating with the world.  Should fear of having an affair cause us to give up all other means of communication as well – our phones, our email, even letters?  Why not just go all the way and disconnect ourselves from the outside world completely?  After all, we may have an affair at work, so why take the risk of getting a job?  Plus, Facebook is like most everything else in life – along with the benefits, there are risks.  Should we just stay away from Facebook out of fear of what might happen?

Well, maybe.

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Consider this intriguing question:  If everyone were to put their heads together and contribute their ideas, perceptions, and experiences, could humankind come up with a vision of reality and answers to the big questions that are better than any of the existing religions?  Could humans, through open and creative conversation, refinement, and experimentation, move humanity past wars, power struggles, and injustice to achieve a utopia on earth?  And if the answer is no, is there anything that could be gained from such an experiment?

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 Happy anniversary!

It has been one year since we began the NewLife blog, which means that it’s a great time for reflection on how God has used the blog as well as an evaluation of the benefits of blogging for a church. 
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Authenticity is a huge buzzword in Christian circles these days, as younger generations clamor for a faith and church that is real and not afraid to be who they are, in all their glory and shame.  But one pastor recently decided to take authenticity to a whole other level.  This Sunday, beginning at 9:00 PM, Pastor Troy Gramling of Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City, Florida will become the naked pastor.  Not THAT kind of naked… the transparent kind.  Pastor Gramling has had webcams set up in his house, car, office and a hotel that will be displaying his life 24/7 over the internet on www.mynakedpastor.com for all to see.  Not just for a day or two – for the next FIVE WEEKS (thanks to Monday Morning Insight for the tip).

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There are some churches that are still arguing over whether or not drums and guitars should be allowed in the church.  There are other churches that still think it’s a sin to wear jeans to Sunday service.  And then there are churches that are ready to send someone to the moon or hire Bible-quoting androids if it means bringing more people to Jesus.

You might want to sit down for this one…

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Two years ago, who would have predicted that an on-line video sharing website would attract an audience to the tune of 100 million views per day?  Is there any prophet out there who would have suggested that YouTube’s founders would be able to sell their site for the staggering sum of 1.65 billion dollars?  And how is it possible that there are (at last count) 65,000 people adding a video to this site daily?  What in the name of God is driving randomperson1969 to post a video of himself and his best friend dancing to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, or boredteenager2007 to add a clip of himself skateboarding off a 20 foot wall and crashing in an unsuspecting family’s backyard?  And would somebody explain to me why princessgurl1990 feels the need to post a video of herself smiling suggestively to the camera in her underwear??? (btw, those three examples are all made up, but sadly representative of what is out there for all to view)

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If you were paying attention to the news over the past few months, you may have been shocked to see Google acquire the rights to YouTube, a popular on-line video-sharing website, for the staggering sum of 1.65 billion dollars.  If you had never heard of or visited YouTube before, let me share a couple more astounding facts about this phenomenon – first of all, it was founded in February 2005.  That’s right – after being in existence for only a year and a half, its three founders sold the rights to YouTube for over one and a half billion dollars, the greatest get rich quick scheme ever.  Secondly, by July 2006, 65,000 new videos were uploaded to the website every day by people around the world, while 100 million clips were being viewed daily.  The most popular video, called The Evolution of Dance, has been viewed over 38 million times since it was added nine months ago.

Is your head spinning yet?

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