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Why Pastors Should Embrace the Smartphone Revolution

I am not advocating:

  • abandoning people for a podcast.
  • leaving the local church for a live webcast.
  • evangelism and discipleship strictly from the confines of your keyboard.
  • individuals baptizing themselves alone in a hot tub at home while broadcasting to the church from their webcam.

What I am advocating with every fiber of my being is for individual Christians, churches and organizations to leverage this technology and connect with as many people as possible to spread the good news of Jesus as God, our savior and our only hope. Here are three themes to pray, chew on and move forward with:

Prayer 

This might have caught you a bit off-guard as being the first opportunity, but I really think prayer can be at the core of using smart mobile technology. I’m not just talking about the ubiquitous “Praying” post on Facebook. Writing and sharing individual prayers for people and events can be used by God in profound ways. You would not believe the heartfelt reactions when someone receives a specific prayer, for a specific need at a specific point in time. Whether it’s for physical healing, emotional hurt or other human needs, immediately delivering a specific prayer to those in pain through mobile smart devices can be used by God to touch hearts and meet their deepest needs.

Here’s how it can work: While I was writing this article, a dear friend posted a prayer request on Facebook. A relative was facing life-threatening physical problems and asked for prayer. Taking just a few minutes, I wrote out a short, five-sentence prayer specifically for him. While I don’t think it was a historic prayer, it meant the world to those in the throes of tragedy.

There is nothing quite as humbling as knowing someone has gone before the throne of grace on our behalf and delivering that prayer right to that person in the midst of his need. It does not matter if he is a believer or not, in the crucible of pain just about everyone will appreciate your kindness and prayer. And because you took the time to write it out, he can come back to it later on for additional encouragement and strength. Follow-up and relationship building are also natural byproducts of sending a prayer along to someone in need.

Engage

This is getting our proverbal digital hands dirty and hearts involved with our culture through smart mobile technology. This is not in-your-face political or sports-related rhetoric, nor is it forwarding hundreds of polarizing pictures and emails. It is thoughtful and sensitive commentary on articles and opinions published in local and national media. It is to be measured less by volume and more by depth. This can be a great way to influence many on overarching issues facing our culture and lives, talking about faith and Jesus being the most complete solution to our personal brokenness and mankind’s problems.

Since anyone can comment, your influence can be considerable. You would be amazed at who’s reading and its possible impact. Someone I know who regularly and thoughtfully comments on articles was recently contacted by a digital publisher because of their comments. After a few conversations, they agreed to be a regular contributor based mainly on their consistent and high-quality posts. All media outlets are in desperate need of quality content in this 24-7-365 demand cycle. If I can have letters to the editor published in USA Today, so can you.