No Money, Big Problem

Chances are, if you are 30 or under and reading this, you likely carry little to no cash in your wallet on a regular basis. 

As I mentioned yesterday, many of today's youth carry cellphones, and most of these phones are "smart" phones, capable of downloading and uploading data and running programs. 

I am a 30 year old female. I do not regularly carry a purse - I'll admit this isn't normal - but what I do carry are the essentials - my driver's license, my bank card, and my cell phone. 

[Some of you might say, "what about car keys?" Well, I don't always need those, especially if I am walking most places or the boyfriend is driving]

My regular job is as a cashier at ALDI food market. If you're not familiar with this store, you should be. It is amazing to me how many people pay for their bills totaling under $2, and sometimes even less, with debit cards! 

Fewer and fewer people, and especially young people, use cash as a regular means of payment. 

So what does this mean in the pews of our churches? 

Well, I am a perfect example of what can go wrong. 

I frequently travel for work and pleasure, and am also in search of a new home church. Because of this, I am often checking that visitor box in the pew pad, or signing the big red leather bound visitor ledger. Many times its not until Sunday morning that I know if my schedule [or admittedly, sleepiness from working late the night before] will allow me to attend worship. 

So there I am, sitting in the pew with my cell phone and debit card, with no forethought put into how I was going to tithe. 

This is where the concept of "digital giving" is truly a gift from God. 

Ideally it would work like this. Visitors would open their bulletin and see a link, or QR code, that can be accessed with a smartphone. Or they would see a short number which serves as an address for a text message. [Text 10101 to give"] While sitting in the pew, the visitor could tithe electronically. 

If this were a feature at the churches I visit, I would be more likely to tithe. You see, its not that I don't want to give offerings, its just that most of the time I don't have cash on me. And for those of you that may say, "just write a check!," my generation and younger ones don't carry those either.  

I dare say I would give 100% of the time - even if it was only a dollar or two. These "micro-donations" are the giving of the future - and you've probably already done it at a check-out register for the United Way or similar, or via text messaging to the Red Cross. 

These services are good for more than just visitors with no cash. I think they can be great way to increase tithing among teens. - Encouraging them to learn to use their expensive smart phones as a tool of stewardship - Giving a connection between what they have and what they should give back to God. 

I'd love to hear from anyone that has experience in this sort of tithing. What lessons have you learned from using digital tithing as a user or implementor? I didn't mention website giving, but if your church uses such a service, have you seen an increase or decrease in overall giving? What lessons are you learning? 

I also found the book, "Digital Giving: How Technology is Changing Charity" by Richard McPherson. Thinking it would be worth reading. Anyone read it?

Technology, School Shootings, and the Holy Spirit

We are in an age where, it seems to me at least, that every student over the age of 12 has a cell phone. And the most frustrating thing about this situations - they all have nicer phones than me!

So I remember getting my first cell phone. I was 17. I had to buy it myself and pay for the plan myself. And yet I still had to convince my mother to let me do it because at 17 I needed her to sign the contract. I told her I needed it because I would be driving 3.5 hours to college and should have it for emergencies.

I agree with the present argument that teens should have cell phones for safety purposes. I was in high school during Columbine. I, along with my classmates, stood outside for two and half hours during the first of many bomb threats that ensued after the shooting. And as we have seen since - most recently in Newtown - SMS and social media are the first ways that news about personal safety and crises are being spread. I can only imagine how it felt to be the parent of a VT, Columbine, Chardon, Taft student, or the parent of any other student ever in harm's way.

One mother of a Chardon High student expresses a message often heard in the media following such events,

“Thank God she finally got to me. I was so relieved and I thought to myself ‘My daughter will always have her cell phone with her.’”

In this article from Cleveland.com about the Chardon shooting and the use of technology in the crisis, parent, teachers, students, and even emergency workers use social media to spread news about events. There is a downside though. When we expect to get information immediately and we don't, we worry sooner, and probably worse that if 
we didn't have that expectation of immediacy.

"I had been frantically trying to text my daughter and getting no response,” said Darlene Schmuhl, whose daughter Melissa escaped unharmed. “Finally, I got a text she sent me from someone else’s phone, but not until after a lot of worrying.”

There's another problem here too - While information is getting out, it is also, like any other media outlet, guilty of misinformation. We certainly saw that happen regarding the suspect in Newtown. 

So in a world where messages are going in every direction, and those messages are reaching further and faster than ever before, where can we make room for Christ's message and God's love? 

One way youth leaders deal with cell phones and electronics in the hands of every kid, is to instruct them to turn the phones off and put them away. 

Another way to deal with this - actively encourage the use of the phones in their devotional, prayer, educational, worship and spiritual lives. 

We have to look to the future. These devices are not going away. Instead of carrying a bible to youth group or confirmation class, students will be carrying tablets. Its a fact that we have to deal with. We can't fool ourselves into thinking that we can force youth away from social media simply because the church says to out of fear. Certainly the devil is working in new media and technology. But the devil is working everywhere. The best we can do is steer our youth towards best uses of technology in Holy Spirit led lives.

Interlinc is sharing two blogs with ways to combine spiritual practices, 
youth and technology.

What Spirit led practices have you witnessed, used, or led to engage youth in technology?

The Modernity of Franciscan Friars

An article today in the Huffington Post tells of America's largest Franciscan order's embracing of technology.

Franciscan Friar´s take on technology


This ancient Christian group is reinventing its prayer life through social media. The purpose of this is to,

hope to reach a younger audience, increase the number of faithful and spread the faith.

One thing we have discussed in class is the demographic of social media users. I am surprised to read that they are expecting that only youth are using social media. As we have learned in class, limiting social media  to younger audiences is inaccurate . The largest growing demographic of social media users are among baby boomers. That being said, I think the Franciscan' s, should thus ministry be used, will be surprised by the variety of ages among the respondents.

All of us can learn from the Franciscans. Not only should we embrace social media in our worship life, but we should also realize that this is a ministry to more than just young people.


What creative ways have you used electronic media in your ministry setting?

New Media Salvation

Verity Jones, of the Center for Pastoral Excellence, and coordinator of the New Media Project formerly at Union Seminary spoke to us via Skype today.

We discussed the New Media Project which started as a way to teach religious groups to be technologically savvy. The work developed into deep theological research and discussion regarding the implications of media use by pastors, congregations, other religious leaders. The intention of the research, and the website, is to discuss how to use new mediums, such as facebook and YouTube, in ways that will strengthen faith communities.

Ms. Jones asked about the role of new media in salvation -
Not all theological schools will agree with this presupposition, but If Christ is our mediator, the intermediate agency, and we are students of medium, the means to bring something forth, then can media be a way to salvation?

In other words, can media be a mediator to the Mediator?

Can the internet truly be a means by which people are brought to Christ? Well, as much as I believe in this incarnate ministry of which we are a part, I also believe that the Holy Spirit is working and will be at work in the world through every possible means. This means that people can in fact come to Christ through their online community, even if there is no physical one.


But, we can never ever think that this is a replacement to physical community. Its our job as ministers in this new world to make sure that there is a relational ministry active in the world. When we seek to provide comforts to others we not only serve Christ in that person, but ARE Christ to that person.

"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to the one of the least of these, you did it to me...I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me...Truly I said to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me." 

Through social network we can feed more people spiritual food - some for the very first time. Hopefully later this week we will discuss how to make those virtual encounters develop into faithful physical encounters.

One is Silver and the Other Gold

Today was the first meeting of my last seminary class...in theory. It is the last class I actually need to graduate but, knowing me, it won't be the last class I actually take. 

As I mentioned a few days ago, this week's course is called Religion & 21st Century Media. Our assignment is to write a blog each day that pertains to our class discussion. 

Today, while in class, I received notification of a new post by Pastor Keith Anderson. Pr. Keith is a Lutheran pastor well known in media/tech circles. His book, co-written with Dr. Elizabeth Drescher, is titled Click2Save and I would highly recommend it for congregational study and as a resource for ministry leaders. 

I invite you to read Pr. Keith's blog for today. It tied in perfectly with the lecture today from Dr. Scott L. Thumma of Hartford Seminary [Visit www.HartfordInstitute.org for a million resources and statistics on religious trends in America]

What do you think about how we categorized generations in the church? Are we in danger of losing our current active worshippers because we are choosing to focus our ministry efforts on the generations that aren't already in the pews? In other words, will we lose older members because we're too worried about getting young adults involved? 

You can find Pr. Keith's most recent post here:
http://pastorkeithanderson.net/item/the-churchs-generational-log-jam-is-making-everybody-cranky

Social Experiment or Faith Test?

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace, and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. 

The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

This photo, along with its accompanying story, has gone viral. Whenever I see stories like this, the skeptic in me immediately questions its authenticity. I did a little research and found it is true. Check out Joshua Bell - http://www.joshuabell.com/ 

The link below is to the Washington Post story. What a fascinating experiment. I can think of more than a few times when I have been guilty of the same - walking right past street musicans and the like. In fact, there is a saxaphone player that is frequently at the New Carrolton Station. One day, as I was riding up the escalator, I heard him playing "I Love to Tell the Story." Just hearing that song put a smile on my face and set a positive mood in me for the rest of the day. I owe that man a lot. And yet, I have walked past him since and rarely make eye contact. 

Regardless of the talent - world renouned artist or self trained street musician - this is a matter of human worth. Do you see Christ in everyone? Do you really look and see Christ in those around you? 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Gita time

First time a Gita is used at a swearing in ceremony...and now there is a Hindu in both the house and the senate

My Triumphant Return

Well hello blogger-sphere.

I will be returning to the daily blog starting Monday. Ok,  so I have to admit, its being forced by another professor but I think its for the best. I really need to make this a regular thing.

Starting Monday I will participating in a class here at LTSG titled, "Religion and 21st Century Media" with two employees of the Odyssey Networks. Dr. Shafer is the Sr. VP for "faith community relations, philanthropy, education and human resources" and Mr. Tombers is the head of "new media and distribution."

While reading the syllabus my excitement for this course increased. I am looking forward to the many Skype sessions that are planned with a variety of faith and media workers and entrepreneurs. I am especially looking forward to doing some networking since I am in search of an internship to complete my degree here at LTSG.

I pray everyone had a great Christmas season. The end is near.....Epiphany is in sight.

'Til next time,

~Stephanie