My kids are big fans of the Discovery Channel show “Mythbusters.” The guys on the show tackle common myths that we all might think are true putting them to the scientific test to determine if they are true or just a myth. Every time I go out of town I make sure to download a new episode for the kids and myself. I watch it while I’m on the plane so that I have am ready when I am bombarded by their questions from the show.
My favorite Mythbusters myth is called “Penny Drop”. Basically, the myth is that if you drop a penny from a tall building, such as the Empire State building, the penny would be going so fast that if it were to hit someone it could and would kill them. Result??? Not true. The myth was “busted”! It might hurt, but it certainly won’t kill you. In light of this show, I thought I might do a set of myths about the internet and campus ministry and why I think they are busted myths.
“The Terminator Myth.”
One of the greatest films of all time (at least if you are a guy) is “Terminator”. The basic plot of the movie is that our society is too dependent on computers as they are entrusted to run everything so that humans don’t have to do anything. My point is that computers don’t do ministry, people do. Computers are just a tool to help humans get things done better. So why don’t we apply the same thing to ministry? After all, if computers could do ministry all by themselves, we could just build robots to share the Jesus film and pass out Bibles in extremely closed countries. They could get arrested and even beaten, but we could still program them to continue to share the Gospel with people and provide information to others. Computers don’t build movements, people empowered by the Holy Spirit do.
“Geeks Rule”
This myth is that as a leader I delegate trying to do campus ministry on the internet to the IT (Information Technology) Department. After all, it is dealing with computers and who better to run our internet ministry than the IT department? However, this myth gets its origins from myth #1. Ministry is still ministry and you should put your best ministry leaders to lead. IT guys certainly do ministry and their help in getting the systems and structures in place to help your internet ministry is invaluable, it’s not wise to delegate the entirety of internet ministry to the IT Department.