Today’s Friday 5 is with John Dyer, a guy that I’ve gotten to know through the web and also our convenient association with Dallas Theological Seminary.
The guy is not only smart but also well grounded theologically. This, in particular, is something that’s refreshing, especially for me, and if you haven’t checked out one of his newest blogs, Don’t Eat The Fruit, then you should… two posts and it went on my gooreader. I don’t just say this because he has a familiar theological background… check him out for yourself and test the waters.
Also, stay tuned to what he’s doing… because he’s a developer… which means he’s always cooking up something cool.
Name?
John Charles Dickey Dyer. I have always enjoyed having four names.
Blog/Website[s]?
Code: http://johndyer.name
Theology: http://www.donteatthefruit.com/
Bible: http://www.bestcommentaries.com/
Work: http://www.dts.edu/
Time Bandits or Favorite Websites?
http://ajaxian.com/
http://smashingmagazine.com/
http://ted.com/
http://engadget.com/
http://io9.com/
Whatcha Working On?
Just launched a new www.dts.edu, and now revamping DTS’s online education platform. I’m also writing about viewing technology from a theological perspective at www.donteatthefruit.com and looking to expand www.bestcommentaries.com.
How do you see Web Technology impacting The Kingdom?
As someone with multiple computers, an iPhone, and a long list of development languages, I love making web site and web apps, especially for ministries like Dallas Seminary. However, in reading about the influence of technology on the church over the last 2,000 years, I’ve begun to see that for all its good effects, technology usually also has some unintended not-so-positive effects.
For example, as a youth pastor I bought a projector to show verses on screen for kids without Bibles. However, I later noticed that fewer kids brought or opened their Bibles in church. My use of the projector turned out to be a trade off, rather than something that was 100% “good.”
When it comes to the web, I want to us to be careful that we are not coming with “[fancy and persuasive websites], but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Cor 2:4) and that we are not more enamored with fast and easy online relationships than with the difficult, messy, and beautiful people around us. If we get to a place where we are more excited about the latest web craze than we are about what the Father can do through the Son and by the Spirit in the world He created then we will have massively misused our ten talents.
With those warnings in place, I do see the web, when used cautiously and judiciously, as enabling the church to do its basic mission of teaching the truth and loving people well. In my own line of work, I am most excited about the many seminaries that are implementing online education programs which make it so that students no longer need to move across the country to train for ministry, but instead can stay in their existing communities and receive both education and on the job training. In this case, I think the technology is being used in a way that strengthens real-world relationships and enables the basic mission of the Body of Christ.
Sam McDonald says
I really enjoy the two warnings there. I too am a programmer and a christian, and I must admit it is hard sometimes to step away from the computer and the project to engage with the people around me.
Since the topic has come up of programmers and Christians I must say that I am a huge fan of the first Chapter of "The Mythical Man-Month". When he discusses why programming is enjoyable he links it to be being parts of of Gods nature to create things. As a programmer I had a lot of trouble figuring out where I fit into the Kingdom of heaven and this small piece of truth helped me to understand what the programmer is, and possibly what his job would be in heaven.
human3rror says
Sam,
thanks for weighing in…! i've actually never heard of the mythical man-month and i'm going to have to check that out.
Sam McDonald says
Its really good stuff. In no way is it a Christian book, it is a book about managing computer programmers, but it is also the only computer science book I know of that has been able to stay in print for 30 years. It is a great book for programmers, and the few biblical analogies in the first chapter really made my day.