The iChurch Method TV – The Future of Technology and Online Ministry
I was asked about the future of Internet and Technology, here was my response (the video is above while the transcript is below):
If I had to prophesy then I would say the lines between offline and online are blurring. When you want to look five or ten years down the line, look at projects that are young in their infancy that make you think, “Wow, that’s pretty interesting.”
First aspect would be something like Google Glass where you have the glasses that are connected to the internet that you wear on your face that you can actually kind of change your perception; it’s like everything you’re looking at offline has an online component to it. That way you’re never disconnected. If you’re wearing those glasses and you’re always connected to the internet, let’s say you look at a church and automatically right there in those glasses that church website comes up or pertinent information about that church comes up as you’re looking at it or looking in that direction because it’s a virtual reality type of deal. That’s what I think we’re moving towards; virtual reality, an always connected life and pretty much existence.
Secondly we’re seeing that our appliances and everything in our households—SmartHomes—are coming along. All the appliances and everything that we use in our household will be connected to the internet somehow. Wirelessly actually, because we’re seeing 4G and by then it will be 6G and whatever the years down the line, so the internet will be much faster.
Think about when you get up. While you’re brushing your teeth in the mirror, the mirror has a computer screen on it and it’s going through your tasks for the day or something like that. But, before you even look at the task you see a Daily Devotional or you see a nice message from your pastor. The church has the ability to integrate media and stay connected in people’s lives all the time. That’s the type of stuff I’m seeing. Before you reach in the refrigerator there’s a Daily Devotional on the refrigerator. You’re constantly being encouraged because you’re constantly connected to the information that’s coming from your church or your ministry. That’s the type of stuff I think will happen. When we step in the car I think the cars will drive themselves. Google already has that. So, while your car is driving you to wherever you’re going, you’re listening to a sermon. I think that’s something that will be going on.
Let’s say there’s a live service going on, a bible study or something, you’ll be able to interact with the pastor during that bible study no matter where you’re at. So, even if you’re in the car you might Tweet something or Facebook something—whatever the new social media method is—and the pastor responds to you and you’re five states away, but you’re connected to that service. There will be no difference between offline and online. There will be pretty much a virtual reality type of world.
Our kids, that will just be normal to them. They’ll be able to consume, digest, and distribute enormous amounts of information via the internet and that will just be the reality to them. I’m not sure, Google or Apple, who wins out here in this iRobot type of battle but one of them is going to win out. I love Google backwards and forwards and I think Google has a lot of great things going on.
My kids have had iPods and iPads since they were three and five, so the ease of use of those devices, they’re going to be able to connect to their churches with those devices because they’re used to them and they were so easy to pick up. They’re not going to go away from that. Kind of like when kids are three and they see McDonalds. They don’t go away from McDonalds until they learn later on how the pounds don’t come off as easily, but it pulls them in at such a young age.
Our kids and the youth of the future are going to be so technologically savvy and always connected that as long as the church is online and providing information and connectivity and a way for them to get ministry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and not shunning technology and telling them to disconnect but to integrate that into ministry, then the church will always be accessible and it will evolve with technology.
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