“I do think it’s something to ask ourselves: Do I have to comment on every news story? I don’t think so, unless you feel like, here’s a big cultural moment where I’m going to comment because my people in my church really need to know what I think about it.”
“We pastors—and I pastored for six years and I’m involved in church life—we have to do, I think, a better job at equipping our people on how to live in a digital age…the fruits of the Spirit still matter online, all the sins of the tongue and all the sins that we can commit against each other rhetorically, they’re outlined in Scripture, still matter and count online.”
“There is a place for pastors and leaders to pull aside a member who is just really being very toxic or going after people or slandering, spreading lies and half-truths to say, ‘I love you, brother, or I love you sister, but you know, the way that you’re acting online, we have some concerns.’”
“The quality of our offline life will determine the quality of our online life…It seems like online engagement in some ways can be an escape or a fig leaf for some things that are going on offline.”
“The online space is not some separate sphere that is exempt from all these rules of biblical discipleship.”
“We’ve said for what, 20 years, that the website is the front door of a church now, right?…I also think the staff, social media, particularly the senior pastor, is a front door.”
“If you’re having an issue within the organization, resolve that internally…not in public.”
“Be very careful that we don’t put off the idea that the people we’re representing as leaders, that we’re embarrassed by them.”
“If you’re a worship leader at a church, you think, ‘I’m just the worship leader. But man, you can embarrass your whole church online. Or if you’re a staff member at a Christian organization, you can embarrass your organization.”
“Don’t commit the organization to a political position they haven’t thought through yet.”
“We think technology is a laptop or a microphone or an iPhone, but really, technology is just the act of taking the raw materials of creation and innovating. It’s fulfilling the creation mandate.”
“The Bible has a lot to say about what we say.”
