Keith & Kay Seabourn

This item on the history and future of the internet came out in today in Tony Whittaker’s Web Evangelism Guide. It’s an 8 minute presentation. The facts from 1994 to 2005 are accurate. The projections for the next 10 years (2005 to 2014) are based on directions from the internet of the past 10 years.

It’s a very amazing, thought-provoking presentation. I encourage everyone to watch it. Pay special attention to the growing role of social networks and personalization. I thought the ending thoughts of “It’s what we wanted. It’s what we chose.” is very powerful.

What if this perspective plays out fairly accurately? The issue is not whether it’s right or wrong (personalized, use of private info, somewhat invasive use of info from your social network to further personalize your experience, etc.). The issue is what if it does work out this way? What can we do to make sure there is spiritual truth included in the powerful information engines that drive content at people. What if the world’s population decides that giving up personal privacy is worth it for the quality of information we can receive?

I remember watching a Francis Schaeffer film series How Should We Then Live? in the 1980’s. The series was a similar thing, taking the past and using it to project the future world and asking Christians how should we then live to be ready. In it, Shaeffer said that people will give up all rights as long as they are guaranteed two things — personal peace and affluence. People will submit to authoritarian police states to guarantee safety (personal peace). Personal peace and affluence. Sounds much like personalized information and easy life through access to info, even if it’s not accurate. Personalized is more important than accurate, more important than free.

What should we be doing today to make sure the gospel is accessable to people through these powerful information engines that we see developing?

Don’t know if this U.S. News & World Report article or not. It has some interesting quotes that might be useful to ministries that work with college students and professors. [Disclaimer: I served in ministry for 10 years to Christian Leadership Ministries, Campus Crusade for Christ's ministry to university professors. I am biased!]

Some quotes. [Color emphasis is mine.]

Large majorities of undergraduates, for instance, say they seek meaning and purpose in their lives, yet just 8 percent report hearing professors discuss spiritual or religious issues in or out of the classroom, according to a major study of campus religious life by University of California-Los Angeles researchers. “There is a poor fit today between students’ interest in spiritual matters and the universities’ general lack of interest in those concerns,” says Alexander Astin, founder of UCLA’ s Higher Education Research Institute.

Riley found that these schools are providing intellectual heft to a generation of spiritual seekers that is already influencing American society, business, and government.

True, total enrollment in colleges with some kind of sectarian affiliation hasn’t grown as a percentage of total college enrollment during the past 20 years. But at schools with an intensively religious focus, she notes, student numbers have surged.

In doing so, they exemplify a form of profound intellectual diversity that is, paradoxically, often threatening to the self-described champions of that ideal on the majority of the nation’s campuses. “There is still pressure,” Marsden says, “to uphold the view that diversity trumps everything else, including the view that there may be absolutes.” Yet it’s precisely that devotion to absolutes that seems to account for the appeal of God on the Quad ’s quietly thriving colleges.

It seems that college students are looking for respected influencers, like their professors, to be talk with them about spiritual things. They are looking for absolutes. The do see the shallowness of current tolerance and diversity. They will go to where they find intense discussions about spiritual matters.

This seriousness about serious issues is what led to the construction of a number of internet websites in the mid and late 1990’s. Leadership University, Español Leadership University, Origins, Stonewall Revisited, Academic Initiative, William Lane Craig Philosopher, Doug Yeo Bass Trombonist, Probe Ministries, and Loving Monday.

We believed (and still do) in the purpose statement, Telling the truth at the speed of life.

“Where are you on your spiritual journey? Are you moving toward God? Away from God? Staying about the same?”

Last week I in California for some meetings. Returning to Orlando last Friday night, my God-assigned seat was next to Amy (names have been changed). She was friendly and open to conversation.

As I asked Amy questions, she began describing her spiritual quest to know God. To her, God was some kind of new age being “who is out there somewhere.” Then she said, “God is OK, but I’m not very sure about the Jesus thing.”

Jesus is divisive. I remember hearing our director in the Middle East speaking about the U.S. interest in exploring similarities between Islam and Christianity following 9-11. He said that similarity discussions seemed to go along quite OK until the topic of Jesus Christ came up.

Jesus is divisive. He himself said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34).

Paul said, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Cor. 2:1-2)

It turns out that Amy’s daughter is a college student at a nearby college. She is on the rowing team. I have a Campus Crusade friend who volunteers as the sailing coach at the college. Amy phoned her daughter Tammy (before we took off!) and she knows Coach Stephens also. God had established a point of contact between Amy and me.

It turns out that Tammy had a terrible car accident a year or two ago and had come to Christ as a result of that traumatic experience. Amy (the mom) had watched Tammy’s life take on purpose and meaning. While Amy was intrigued by the changes in Tammy’s life, she still wasn’t “very sure about the Jesus thing”.

We talked a while. I gave her a copy of the Four Spiritual Laws. She was interested in a church, but she also is somewhat of a free spirit. She told me where she lived and I recommended a very contemporary church called H2O Church.

Amy did not make a commitment to Christ. But she did take my business card and promise to email me after she reads the Four Laws booklet and visits H2O. I hope she does.

Asking questions is a great way to discover where a person is spiritually. If a person is open to talking about spiritual things, we can have an opportunity to talk about Jesus. To help me in my evangelism, I’ve found great ideas from Campus Crusade’s Cojourners project.

Every day we can look for opportunities to ask people “Where are you on your spiritual journey?”

Are you helping people learn more about “the Jesus thing” as they journey toward God?

I read an interesting article on leadership from someone I have learned from before. Until I read this article, however, I didn’t know that Peter Drucker had been a longtime counsellor to Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church, and author of The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life.

On his 95th birthday, Drucker granted a rare interview with Forbes at Rick Warren’s request.

Some thoughts from the interview:

Leaders ask “What needs to be done”? These needs should then be correlated with “Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?”

I’ve seen a great many people who are exceedingly good at execution, but exceedingly poor at picking the important things. They are magnificent at getting the unimportant things done.

Leaders … know what they are trying to do. They are purpose driven–yes, mission driven. They know how to establish a mission.

[Leaders] know how to say no. … the effective ones learn how to say no and stick with it.

I always advise my friend Rick Warren, “Don’t tell me what you’re doing, Rick. Tell me what you stopped doing.”

When you’re alone, in your secret office, ask the question, “What needs to be done?” Develop your priorities and don’t have more than two.

Effective leaders match the objective needs of their company with the subjective competencies.

Build on your strengths and find strong people to do the other necessary tasks.

You know, I was the first one to talk about leadership 50 years ago, but there is too much talk, too much emphasis on [charismatic leadership] today and not enough on effectiveness.

I required myself to identify something I will do based on this article. Here’s mine:

Map what needs to be done against what am I good at doing. I’ll write down two priorities and measure my effectiveness in executing these ruthlessly.

Read the article. What leadership principles will you write down?

It’s 4:30 a.m. here in Orange County, California, but my body thinks it’s in Orange County, Florida, where it’s 7:30 a.m.! I’ve been fighting a losing battle for the past hour, so I decided to get up. Ahhh, jet lag is one of the results of crossing time zones. But this morning, it feels
more like jet lead, since by body is leading the actual time! A college friend who spent his career in the Army introduced me to melatonin to help with jet lag, but I forgot mine this trip!

I’m in southern California to meet with Jesus Film Project leaders and others who want to find ways to combine the Jesus Film Project tools and resources with new methods of delivering via the internet. In October, the Jesus film made it’s internet debut. Although the film has been available on the internet for several years, the Jesus Film Project recently acquired total rights for the film which means they can now develop new ways to present it, ways that are more effective in the internet communications media.

We are spending today discussing how to capitalize on the new opportunities available.

Last night over dinner, Jim Green (the new executive director of the Jesus Film Project) and I were reminiscing about our shared experiences during many years together on the African continent. Mike Waid, a more recent friend although a long-term Campus Crusade staff, is giving leadership to the development of internet use of Jesus Film Project tools and resources.

The Jesus film is probably the most effective evangelistic tool in the history of the world. It is available in in 887 languages, as of January 1, 2005. The number changes every month as they continue to add new translations. The cumulative viewing and listening audience is nearing 6
billion people! Almost 200 million people have indicated decisions for Christ. Over 1,500 denominations and mission agencies are using the film. I know of nothing in recorded history that has been used this widely by God to introduce people to new life in Christ.

Rev. 7:9-10 is becoming even more true:

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”