One final thought from the “txt msg” series. This series has been making me think a lot about the future of “preaching”. I think we are just beginning to tap the power (as are other churches) of using media to make Sunday Mornings “interactive”… Frankly, though I think the whole dynamic of “preaching” is changing. We live in a world where any local “joe” can write his own review of a new book on amazon…where a stay at home mom can become the “authority” on an issue by writing her own wikipedia entry and starting a website. I think the days of the “learned pastor” coming “down from the mountain” of seminary education and being the “final authority” on scripture are coming to an end… People are less likely to except the “authoritarian preacher” when (if the church has wi–fi) they could pull up more information than a single seminary degree can provide on their laptop…

I know this transformation scares a lot of religious leaders…what will happen to biblical truth?…we can’t exactly “wiki” the gospel and re-write it in any way we chose… we can’t exactly put the parts of the Bible we may not like up for an “online vote”… However, I actually think the future for “preaching” looks bright.

I know that people don’t come to actionchurch to listen to a bobble head like me because of my great education… I clearly state most weeks that I am “some guy you met in the bar” who has never been to seminary. Every week I just try to “do my homework” on a “life question” and present some new possibilities from God’s word for it’s solution… I don’t see my job on Sunday morning as being a final “authority”… but as someone who serves by doing the scriptural “research and development” for the topic…Preaching becomes an act of service…not a show of “dominance”… Something “old” is “new” again.