Spiritually Speaking

I remember the first time I typed information into a computer mainframe. I was a junior at Harding University (go Bison) and was enrolled in a math class designed, I believe, to keep football players eligible to play. As a Bible major, destined to work with smaller congregations in Churches of Christ, I only needed to learn how to balance a checkbook and count to 100 (I don’t really use either skill these days, since my wife takes care of the checkbook and Randy Barrett counts the people in the pews). However, the improvements in ministry brought about by the computer age have been nothing short of life changing.

In the early days of our ministry, I would surround myself with the essential tools of the trade: a HUGE volume of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (used to find that particular verse of scripture when all you could remember was one or two key words), a Greek New Testament (mainly to make folks think I was smart) and copies of two or three translations of the Bible (King James, New King James, and New American Standard at that point in my studies).

Now I have a laptop. If I want to find a passage of scripture, I just enter a few words and, in less time than it takes to say “Bob’s your uncle,” the information pops up on the screen. Most of the time, I can copy and paste the necessary information directly into my notes for further study.

Add to that our new adventures in live-streaming worship. I realize larger, more techno-savvy congregations have been doing this for quite some time, but I’ve just recently found the fascination. First, I’ve been watching the live feed from the Riverside Church of Christ in Burlington on Facebook (you should definitely check it out). But, I’ve also been watching my intern’s bride sell makeup – so far, I haven’t bought a thing.

But last Sunday we started playing around with live-feed and posted the sermon to Facebook. You can find it on my page, Wilson Tyree, or on the church’s page at College Hill Church of Christ. Find us. Like us. Follow us. My favorite part, so far, is that the camera angle makes me look taller and thinner.

See you Sunday!