Echo Hub

I’m interested to see what does happen with videoteaching.com and the future. We’ve been creating pastoral Christian “heroes.” Which, could end up biting us in the butt. But, at the same time i’m excited to see how anything can be used to further the Kingdom so sign me up!

Something that I am worried about is that many pastors “cast vision” through their messages. Would we end up having Driscoll’s vision for the church or what God has placed there with the leadership? Will there be “professional” Christians in the future at all? Only God knows and I’m excited to see what He does.

In a previous era books extended the teaching ministry of pastors, so why not video, podcasts, or holograms? But the role of “pastor” or “teacher” is a Biblical category (Ehpesians 4:11) so the deep question is: how far can a “pastor” be removed from his people? Also keep in mind a less-than-Biblical consideration from Marshall McLuhan–the medium is the message.

I love churches that utilize every technological means for spreading the gospel, but there remains something amazing about a teacher/shepherd who can not only say the right things well, but say them to the face. I like online church and teaching concepts, but worry a bit about people missing out on that incarnational aspect of shepherding.

Nonetheless, I’m glad for the disciples being made in ways they’ve never been made before. I too look forward to seeing what the future holds.

It does seem fascinating, but at some point we have to step back and ask if we’re headed down a biblical path. A local assembly needs to have their own pastoral staff to guide them personally. Of course there are many great and gifted men that we look to to help us, but the biblical model of church planting is for a pastor to begin the work and then train others to assume the role when they are spiritually mature. The idea of a spiritual “VJ” as a replacement for a pastor is not biblical in any sense. The Apostle Paul planted churches and then passed them on to converts. Though he did write to them and help them, he was in no way still their pastor.

I hear what you’re saying, Mike. But are the words “pastor” and “preacher” interchangeable? Could/should a church have one (an in-person pastor) without the other (an in-person preacher)?

The idea of a bunch of Mark Driscoll fans is a bad one for a church plant in my opinion. The problem with most of our churches is not that we borrow resources and ideas but we borrow people. The whole idea of a church plant should be, at its very heart, to find unchurched people. Creating this sort of movie-theater type church where you could announce “what’s showing” each week is not all bad, but it does feed the consumerist approach to church that hurts a lot of congregations and makes church all about what we can get out of it. I think there’s definitely ways to utilize this in a way that is effective but I think churches and church plants should be focused on reaching people that nobody is reaching. If that’s through video campuses then great, but if that leads to a bunch of people who are already in churches just swapping places, I don’t know if that is a good thing. I know I may be taking what you’re saying a touch too literally, and I don’t think it’s a crime for people to switch churches, but I think we as church planters should plant churches to fit a need that’s not being met, not attract a bunch of Christians who like things done a certain way or to hear a certain person talk.

I’m with mike and ian on this. Pastor and preacher are two different things, and although embracing technology is a good thing, and live streaming is a good thing, I don’t think that video should replace a pastor who is uniquely invested into the city in which he lives. We see this with Paul, even in Corinth when he invested in Corinth for 18 months, he didn’t just say, “I’ll write letters and send them to you.” He did write letters, but he also sent men like Timothy to help shepherd the flocks, preach to them, and invest in them personally. That’s the difference, and I would venture to say that your example, Mark Driscoll, might say the same.

Great thoughts, guys. Like I said, I’m not sure how comfortable I am with that kind of scenario, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

Then if we see unbiblical patterns in emerging trends, we must ensure they never come to fruition. I’m not saying that videoteaching.com is wrong at all, I think it will be a great resource for churches… in its proper place.
To answer your question above Scott, the Bible does distinguish between pastors and teachers etc., but going back to Paul’s example of church planting, I just can’t see a biblical example for this extremity.
Also, planting and building a church based almost solely on a personality seems like it would foster the old problem of “I am of Paul, I am of Appolos…”

One question I’ve wrestled with is what happens when all the guys on videoteaching.com die? If we use videos, we will spend less time raising up new communicators.

Ed Stetzer once raised the question about Andy Stanley and Ed Young about how they cut their teeth preaching in their dad’s church. Would they be who they are if they pressed play on a video of their dad teaching?

As a pastor, it is tempting to use Driscoll or someone else when I am out of town instead of having someone else speak who isn’t as good, but has a teaching gift and a calling on their life. I don’t know which is better, I know which one will go better, but in the long run, I don’t know that this is the answer.

I know that Lifechurch has been exploring video worship. It seems like the day could come where potentially we have 50 teaching pastors and 50 worship leaders in America. How then do we play out Eph. 4:11 for those called to do those things?

I think rahul is on to something, this feels like something that could end up biting us.

Josh,

I share that same concern, which is why I was really impressed with Erwin McManus’ approach at Mosaic:

“We don’t do video venues at all. I did five of the venues live (last Sunday) at four different locations, and then I had four different people in our community speaking at the other four venues live … I’m a huge fan of technology. The challenge is when you start using technology to advance something in this moment that may actually slow it down for the future. So while putting me in nine venues helps us today, it doesn’t necessarily help us in terms of raising up a generation of world class communicators tomorrow.”

(BTW, here’s the full McManus article: http://www.collidemagazine.com/article/104/the-futurist)

I can see this happening, but in the smaller, rural areas it’s going to take a long time.

You might think it would take a long time to catch on in the rural areas. I am proof that is a wrong assumption. The church that I’ll say found me started putting up signs to their satellite campus in very rural Justin, TX. I went to try it and was skeptical of the video format, but then my life quickly changed for the better from all the applications of the Bible I was taught. We now have a permanent building. Repeat my story about 800 times which is what attendance was when we moved to a permanent location. I never heard any kountry gentleman say this is too modern. They loved it!

I for one am skeptical but not opposed to this approach.
I am signing up however. I think in the very least this could be used as a tool to spark creativity. Watch review and then reinvent for your local congregation. The bible isn’t copywritten. I am of course not talking about a word for word photocopy of the message. I also see the value of this application in trying to cast vision to some potential naysayers of the more “modern approach”.

Read Chapter 1 of The Great Giveaway by David Fitch. He about covers it.

It’s like history shows that we must stay current with what is relevant to the people we are trying to reach. Surely we couldn’t explain video, web, etc. to certain cultures and yes there are areas still here in America that don’t know anything about technology. On the other hand many good points were made, and maybe it could work in some situations, but how can we be so sure we get the sermon for the right group of people? We still need to raise up apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors, teachers, no VJ can take the place of either one. But we must keep up with the times, what ever time that is at your local church….

Francis Chan (who is an amazing communicator) said he has 7 questions to ask when preparing a message. One of them is “Am I relying on the Holy Spirit or my own cleverness?” I think there is a dangerous trend to not utilize technology as a tool but to embrace it as the message and use it as a crutch. If there are preachers out there who aren’t flashy, but bring the solid Word of God every week, are we saying they aren’t good enough for entertaining a church? Because that’s what’s seemingly at stake here like so many of these guys have said: advancing a consumer mentality. It is destroying us. That’s why the American church has no impact in our culture. We love ourselves much more than we love God. Will Driscoll’s video visit the sick in the hospital? Mentor a young minister? Cast vision for the future?
I use video sermons in my student ministry every now and then for effect. But to replace my teaching entirely with them would cause great harm to my students, and honestly to myself. Good idea to wrestle with these things…

The future? The future is now. Come hear Andy Stanley…every Sunday…in, among other places…western PA…