Often one of the biggest problems in living out our Christian faith is not being able to apply our faith to our actions on a daily basis.  Our faith becomes a Sunday activity rather than a way of life.  Perhaps one of the problems is that we don't have specific actions we can engage in day to day.

For help let me suggest that you read Hebrews 12:14-17:

"14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son."

Our family has a 33' travel trailer that we use for vacations throughout the year - others may hate it, but we find it a lot of fun.

There is one part that is not so fun and that's the maintenance of it.  Take the tires for example: there are four of them.  Each one has to be taken care of because if one blows it can leave us in a precarious situation.  I check the PSI every time we go out and make sure that they are in good shape.  

They usually are . . . until today.

I noticed that one of the tires was low and getting lower by the hour - the thing was going flat fast.  This trailer is not like a car, it doesn't come with a jack  - it's 7,000 lbs - definitely need a professional.  We belong to Good Sam's  club (like AAA for trailers) and they came out and voila - they switched the tire out for the spare and left it for me to look at.

As I examined the tire I had a hard time finding anything - until I looked closer and ran my fingers around the tread.  There it was a 2" flat head nail completely buried in the tread.  On reflection I realized I probably picked up the nail before my last trip as I noticed the tire was a little low then.  So it has been three weeks that this huge nail has been draining air out one of the most important items on my trailer.  The good news is that I took the tire in and for $18 they removed the nail and plugged the hole - good as new!

It got me thinking about our Christian life.  There are a lot of aspects of our lives, but one of the most important aspects of it is our faith - belief that God is going to do what He says He is going to do.  There can be a lot of things in our life that allow our faith to "leak" out of our lives.  So are easy to recognize; some like my nail are not evident immediately.

The Use of Technology

Technology is absolutely a gift to ministry.  Whether it’s new HD projectors or a new LED light system, technology can be used to introduce people to Jesus Christ. I can remember the first time the little church I worked at started using an overhead projector – we felt like our little worship service was transformed!  The feeling quickly left as we realized that we needed to type up lyrics to all our songs to put on overheads; what a task that was.

Despite its availability, church communities need to be aware of how to approach the use of technology and its impact on the church.  Over years of ministry I have found three key elements of that must be kept in mind while adopting technology:

1.     Remember technology is the tool and not the content of the Sunday teaching

Projectors and sound are great, but what moves hearts is a great prophetic and Biblically based sermon.  Technology should aid the sermon, not overshadow it.

Early in my ministry I was like a slave to Powerpoint presentations.  I was more concerned about how the presentations looked than I did the content of what I was teaching.  I had to scale back the presentations and just use it for key Biblical texts or points.  This gave me the freedom to focus on the sermon rather than what was on the screen.

2.     The cost of technology isn’t a guarantee of the impact of technology

Just because you spend a lot of money doesn’t mean you’ll get big impact.  The best way to approach purchasing is to first ask yourself what you want to accomplish with the technology and then spend money appropriately. 

Our church wanted to install a new light rigging with spotlights, LEDs, and other special illumination.  We spent the money (in the thousands) to get all these lights, installed them, and began to use them.  Once we did, we realized that we hadn’t thought about the natural light coming through the windows; the natural light washed out all the new technology we bought.  We spent a lot of money, but we didn’t see the impact until we solved other, much cheaper problems.

3.     Only spend the amount that you can afford to replace

Like anything, technology breaks, wears out, or becomes outdated – or all three!  If a projector is a big part of your ministry, you’ll need to have the resources to replace it right away.  Don’t overbuy on your first piece of technology only to realize you can’t replace it later.

I bought a projector for our church with special funds that were donated to our church.  The projector was top of the line with all the bells and whistles.  Unfortunately a year later (conveniently right after the extended warranty ran out) a church member dropped the projector and broke it beyond repair.  Since it was bought with money outside the budget there was no money to replace it within the budget.  We had to scramble to replace it with a lesser product.

No leader should be scared of using technology, but they should approach its use in a smart and educated manner.