Do Pastors Dream of Electric Sheep?

Welcome to “Do Pastors Dream of Electric Sheep”.  I have started this blog along with a collection of my fellow pastor buddies as a way for pastors (and others) to reflect upon how technology is changing our world, and specifically, how it is changing the Ministry of the Gospel today.

The Holy Ministry has always embraced the tension of modernity.  St. Paul sailed on ships across the open waters.  And who can forget the great and scandalous discovery of St. Augustine?

When he read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud.
(The Confessions, c. 397-400)

Martin Luther, of course, was no stranger to change in the way of technology, either.  His use of the printing press revolutionized how the modern church hears and receives doctrine.  The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, of which I am a member, produced one of the very first radio “ministry” programs, called The Lutheran Hour.

Certainly there can be much benefit from recognizing and utilizing the changes in our culture and in communication.  But surely there are dangers as well.  When a church becomes too enamored of the modern, the new and the glitzy, it can allow something else to slip in under the guise of the Gospel.  One should never do a Star Wars Lent series, for example.  I’m just saying it.  Sue me.

There are a few ground rules that I would like to lay out at the start.  At some point I’ll make these into a page which can be referenced at will, but for now this will do:

1. This is not a place for doing battle over platforms.  There are plenty of Windows and Mac and Linux users out there, and I am quite certain that any of them (or others) can be used to serve the Gospel.  Comparisons are okay, but not cheap shots and absurdities.
2. We will have topics here that are technologically heavy and that are theologically heavy.  That’s okay.  Lots of room to talk around here.
3. There will be more of these that will adapt and change as the needs of the community changes.

One final note.  I have asked a few friends to join me on the editor/writer’s side of this fence.  If you are interested in becoming a writer for this blog and think of you have something to contribute, please contact me and we’ll talk.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Pastor Todd Peperkorn

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