I frequently encounter people who are skeptical at best, fearful at worst, when it comes to using the Internet.  That’s understandable and it’s not particularly noteworthy.  If you're reading this, you may not be one of them. But for others of us, new media technologies can be intimidating.  We all wonder, for example, what Internet transparency really means for our lives.  Will every detail of our personal worlds, from our searches to our medical histories, from our preferences to our mortgages, be accessible to someone, someday through online means?

So, many of us hang back.  We’re waiting, watching, wondering, thinking.  Maybe Internet technology won’t be so overwhelming someday, we reason.  We use cryptic passwords; we put up initials as user names, we write dark blogs behind firewalls.   We guard our Internet presence with filters and privacy shields.  We moderate comments.  We’re being prudent; we’re being careful.  We’re protecting ourselves.

There have been many research studies conducted on the diffusion of new innovations that reveal a predictable adoption pattern made up of layers of adopters.   There are those who lead the pack, those who start mid-stream and those who end up making up the laggards.  The laggards usually record the highest levels of resistance (read: fear).

I'm wondering if Christians realize that the Internet is the broadcasting opportunity of our generation.  Have I under- stated?  Maybe I mean of all time.

As a Christian in a postmodern culture, I’ve got all the Good News that’s fit to print, stream, podcast, vlog, etc.  But am I?  Am I pursuing the Internet as a medium with the passion due a mouthpiece that will one day be the instant information distributor for the whole planet and likely, if predictions are accurate, be attached to my body, on the walls of my office, in my grocery store, airport, and flashing over the moving marquees down the freeway I drive?

I’m convicted that I’ve been too utilitarian, using the Internet simply to look up maps, check bank balances and receive emails.  Maybe we could just sidestep all this new Internet technology.  Or maybe Web 2.0 is like a necessary evil that we just have to put up with.    After all, social bookmarking sites are filled with “bad” stuff.  Why would we go there?    Hey wait a minute…….Wouldn’t social networking sites be kind of a ready-made venue to set up shop – a modern day Corinth might be able to use some good news?

In an online web article, Dr. Jack Hayford, President of the Foursquare Church used this directive:   “We have a cultural mandate, an apostolic directive that commissions us to use "all possible means," a phrase meaning, "If you would 'reach the world,' communicate in ways it can understand."      I Corinthians 9:22   I’m taking that directive seriously in a new way as we migrate online and explore new means of communication.

Think of it like this: Ever watch the old, original, earliest TV shows or movies and think wow, wish I’d been around back then; wish I was in on the ground floor before the competition to participate got so fierce?  Well, basically, this dwarfs that.  The Internet is not a locally contained opportunity, not even a nationally contained opportunity.  The Internet provides the global opportunity for Christians to speak to the world.

Of course, there’s a lot of bad stuff cluttering up the Internet.   Yes, it’s a mash-up of profundity and noise with a good helping of some really dangerous side dishes.  Yes, we should be conscientious and prudent, especially with our children.  Yes, there are caveats. 

But, now remind me again why Christians shouldn’t be right in the middle of it?   Because if the Technological Revolution ends up paralleling the Renaissance, (well, dwarfing it) it would sure be a miscalculation for the Church to be judgmental, apathetic, aloof or afraid when it comes to using the Web for our purposes.