This is a Guest Post by Rodlie Ortiz.
I recently came back from a trip to Europe where I had the opportunity to visit several cities including Rome, one of the great epicenters of church history. As I toured the beauties of the Vatican and surrounding areas, I was struck with a thought: the greatest minds in the world were focused on making church an awesome place to be.
I mean there I was in the Sistine Chapel, beholding the work of the greatest artistic mind of his time (Michelangelo), who painted what some consider to be the greatest work of art ever.
Awesome.
There I was at the Pantheon. The building originally dedicated to all gods by the Romans and later used as a church. It holds the record for the largest unreinforced concrete dome. It exactly as high as it is wide, seemingly no simple feat at that time. Awesome.
I could go on and on, but here’s the point: in antiquity it was the church that was the “backbone of technological innovation,” to apply the words of Klaas Verbeken to a different subject. New technologies and systems were developed so that they could be used to glorify God.
And here we are all those years later. And who is one of the greatest users and innovators of all things techie? The porn industry. Tink betamax vs. vhs, blueray vs. hd-dvd, etc.
What a bummer. It’s as if the devil has stolen the playbook of the early church and has caught on to its effectiveness.
Why has this reversal happened? I’m not sure. Perhaps as Christians we’ve cooled to the idea that Jesus is coming soon. Perhaps we’ve become bored with the mandate to take the gospel to every “nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6).
I don’t know why exactly the reversal has happened, but I know it will take technology, and it will take as much intensity and passion towards saving people, as the enemy is using towards making sure they are lost.
So, I make a call for techies of all stripes. I make a call to artisans and artists of every kind. Whether you’re paid or not. Use your gifts and talents to advance technology and the kingdom as never before.
Use your code-typing, twitter-blazing fingers, your set-building hands, your broadway-looking faces, your Chris Martin voices, and do your thing…all so that church could be an amazing place to be once again…so that we could fulfill our mandate and go home asap.
Josh Wagner says
Bring it on! This is something that is very close to my heart at the moment. The church, as I've said before, needs to be at the forefront of art and technology. Like it used to be. Promote some good church art, if you can. Get the word out that church art does not equal bad art.
Got me going this morning! 😉
human3rror says
Josh,
wish you were here at Orange!
Josh Wagner says
Yeah, me too! Some day, gonna go to some great conferences.
Phillip Gibb says
Very cool – lead the way not play catch up!!!
Paul Steinbrueck says
Hi Rodlie! Very thought provoking post. I think the role reversal has more to do with the world than the church. I want to think on it some more though and possibly blog about it myself.
BTW, I see you pastor 2 churches in the Tampa area. I live in the Tampa area. Could you post links to your churches' websites? I couldn't find them on your blog.
Rodlie Ortiz says
Thanks for the feature, John.
@Paul, I do pastor two churches in Tampa. Here's the site for one of them:
http://www.carrollwoodchurch.com
The other is in Riverview and doesn't have a site.
I was assigned to these two churches by my denomination (Seventh-day Adventist) and I'm basically planting a new church within the church @ Carrollwood. When I came there weren't many there, so we've been helping them to grow and reach the next level.
Concerning tech, I think there are various churches out there that do a good job of implementing tech.
Northpoint, of course…i have to mention that one! 😉
But from what I'm hearing it seems like Granger Community Church is doing a good job in this area as well, as well as quite a few others.
Paul Steinbrueck says
Rodlie, Carroowood to Riverview, that's a long haul. I'm in the Clearwater area.
Thanks again for guest blogging here on ChurchCrunch. I blogged my thoughts on the topic and hope to engage some more people in the conversation over on our blog.
Innovation: Is the World is Kicking the Church’s Butt?
http://blog.ourchurch.com/2009/05/01/innovation-w…