Technology Is _______: A Contest

| By Scott McClellan | Found in Technology | 58 Comments

techis

We’ve never done anything like this … so we’ll see how it goes. We’re going to do a contest, and here’s the deal:

The prompt is, “Technology is ________ …”

You can respond with a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a story, a picture, a video, or a culinary creation. OK, probably not a culinary creation. Whatever you come up with, however you choose to respond, post it (or a link to it) in the comments section by Wednesday, February 3. At that point, I’m going to pick a winner and send them a bunch of stuff — a few books, a few DVDs, some Igniter stuff, maybe a T-shirt, and who knows what else.

There are two catches that go along with this. First, I’m going to pick the winner based on whatever challenges, inspires, intrigues, provokes, amuses, or moves me the most. There’s no rhyme or reason to that, and it may not be entirely fair, but that’s what I’m going to do. Second, if you live outside the US, I’m not going to ship the box to you because I don’t want to eat the massive shipping costs. However, I’ll figure out a cool digital package for you and send it to you electronically.

Well, that’s the contest! Good luck. Enter. Be bold. And if this fails on an epic scale, we can all point and laugh.

Here’s where I turn it over to you. Technology is ________ …

  • http://www.jessemedina.com Jesse Medina

    …like a little ninja in Jesus' back pocket.

  • Frank3

    Cloudy

  • http://www.theworkisneverdone.com Brian Holt

    …dangerous. I've spent much of my life living by the following assumption: "The methods may change, but the message never will." Unfortunately, this is false. No technology is neutral. Every technology will change you, no matter what you use it to say. Too often we presume to know what a technology will do to use in the church, and too often we accept technology without proper thought. Technology can be leveraged to great heights, but never without change in our message…and never without change in us.

  • John Charles Dickey

    … anthropologie (you know, that hip apparel store)

  • http://iChilly.com chilly

    Kip Dynamite
    see my post: http://www.ichilly.com/?p=910

  • http://www.twitter.com/_lowedown _lowedown

    Addictive

  • http://www.springbaptist.org Joe Ferreira

    …another paintbrush at the artist's disposal.

  • Marc

    …what it is. All technological advances become obsolete over time (often a very short time, think IPhones). This is the nature of technology; to advance upon whatever currently exists. However, it is our knowledge that allows us to use technology in a way that enhances life. The best teacher is not the one with the best technology. The best teacher is the one with the most knowledge, often most effectively through the latest vessel of technology.

    Also, technology is awesome.

  • http://www.mybridgecafe.com jr. forasteros

    a tool that reveals (at least) the level to which we've disciplined ourselves.

  • Chris M

    … getting it wrong 10,000 times before you get it right.

  • Bill

    Technology is one step removed.

  • http://www.kingsleyclan.blogspot.com Matt Kingsley

    Technology is THE defining force of our society in which efficiency isn't an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/human3rror human3rror

    both the lamest and most effective way to get more money out of a job if you have it sprinkled strategically on your already-super-bogus resume.

  • Chris M

    … spending 6 hours trying to do something that would have taken 15 minutes if you had just done it the old way.

  • http://twitter.com/aaronalexander Aaron Alexander

    …a way to fake it, make it, break it, bend the rules, discover our *selves*, connect, and disconnect.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/seedsdropper seedsdropper

    …like a Gremlin – (Must love the 80's) yes! Gremlims – There can be rules to hang out with it – There are consequences if you don't use it the right way – But guess! what! – CHANGE is Inevitable!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24CFZqSEAA

  • Matt Hafer

    change for better or worse

  • http://topsy.com/tb/bit.ly/5IAR5g Tweets that mention Collide Magazine » Blog Archive » Technology Is _______: A Contest — Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Collide Magazine, PostRank – Church. PostRank – Church said: Technology Is _______: A Contest http://topblo.gs/54wqgu #postrank #church [...]

  • Josh B

    (in the church) not to wow people, but to engage them in moments where they get to meet with God.

  • http://the-welcome-matt.blogspot.com Matt C

    …a resplendently useful servant and a despotic master.

  • Marcus Rhoads

    Technology is challenging our limits

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/anthonycoppedge anthonycoppedge

    …what simplifies our processes by complicating our lives.

  • http://movimientoja.com hector

    …an extension of our inability

  • http://www.jmphotographyonline.ca jay

    A dictatorship

  • Martin E Massinger

    Technology is stagnant. I think we are long overdue for a breakthrough.

  • http://atone.bandcamp.com/ a.perez

    Technology is… driving people mad one pixel at a time as they crash from an information download while getting infected with a virus and their physical memory is being used up by unnecessary process.

  • http://www.ryanspilhaus.com Ryan

    dang. Got to it first ;)

  • http://www.ryanspilhaus.com Ryan

    Totally
    Exceptional
    Computers
    Having
    No
    Other
    Logical
    Orders
    Getting
    Younger

    Yup. Just busted out the acrostic.

  • http://www.ryanspilhaus.com Ryan

    at least I think it's called an acrostic. Hah.

  • Greg

    Technology is change. 

    Observe the following substitutions:

    He who rejects TECHNOLOGY is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.  ~Harold Wilson

    There is a certain relief in TECHNOLOGY, even though it be from bad to worse!  As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place.  ~Washington Irving

    It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to TECHNOLOGY.  ~Author unknown

    The wheel of TECHNOLOGY moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down.  ~Jawaharlal Nehru

    Those who expect moments of TECHNOLOGY to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history.  ~Joan Wallach Scott

    It’s the most unhappy people who most fear TECHNOLOGY.  ~Mignon McLaughlin,

    God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot TECHNOLOGY; The courage to TECHNOLOGY the things that I can; And the wisdom to know the difference. -Reinhold Niebuhr

    So let me remind you tonight that TECHNOLOGY will not be easy. TECHNOLOGY will take time. There will be setbacks and false starts and sometimes we’ll make mistakes…Yes, we can. Yes, we can TECHNOLOGY. Yes, we can…And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words — yes, we can. -Barack Obama

  • dlp

    just technology. It's what you do with it and how much it controls your life that makes it something else.

  • seth
  • http://sethsoul.wordpress.com seth
  • Greg

    …is a capuchin monkey, hosting infectious diseases like Papyrus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj9SUJdpJS4) and constanly slapping you in the face (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjt8v7oFRXg).

  • http://thedailywalk.net thedailywalk

    a good friend and lurking enemy.

  • http://www.mediaministryblog.com Michael

    …an incredible tool for the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

  • http://www.sacrificemystory.com Randall Potter

    is birthed by one person's idea and killed by another's.

  • http://www.randallpotter.com/blog Randall Potter

    is just a sequel.

  • http://www.randallpotter.com/blog Randall Potter

    is a never ending stream of low-budget zombie sequels whose script was handled by "crowd sourcing."

  • reva skie

    Technology is both amazing and frightening. Amazing how far we have come, frightening that we seemingly can't do anything we used to do without it.

  • Gus Beltrami

    …what keeps us from spending time together.

  • http://artinstereo.wordpress.com Russ

    …the greatest thing in the world until it fails. Then we're just stuck at the front of the line with a handful of merchandise, staring at the clerk, feeling like a chump because we don't carry cash in a world where debit cards appear to be the most convenient idea ever until the computer crashes. But up until that, it was awesome.

  • MANATTWeb

    a collection of tools that propel us forward in what pursuits either our own minds or the Mind of God has for us.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/MarcoWill Marcus Williamson

    neither good or bad, just those that use it.

  • http://www.camnio.com camnio media

    is a small glimpse of the human brain put on electronics…more like a fingerprint of what the human brain could do

  • http://worshipinhd.com/blog/technology-is/ Worship in HD

    Technology is……

    Scott McClellan from Collide recently posed the question, “Technology is…“, asking readers to fill in the blank.  Not one to stand back from debate, I threw my hat in the ring.  Technology is … not enough.
    You may remember my …..

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/WorshipInHD WorshipInHD

    …not enough.

    Good stuff, Scott. Blog entry: http://worshipinhd.com/blog

  • Keith Cotton
  • http://intensedebate.com/people/del914 del914

    … like Time; You can have too much, yet never have enough.

  • Matt

    man's attempt to undue God's curse upon Adam and Eve

  • Jason

    …Sasquatch. Elusive, hairy, living with the Henderson's & some congregations don't believe he exists!

  • Bryan Benitez

    unstoppable…

  • http://mylonelyplace.wordpress.com Kevin

    …only as good as the creativity and intentions of the user. Just like anything else, in the right hands it can be an incredible force for good. In the wrong hands, it can destroy.

  • http://theplungen2.blogspot.com Larry Darnell

    used to glorify God. When I was in 10th grade and used an Apple computer for the first time, I never would have imagined majoring in computer science or one day using those skills for God's glory. God had a plan that I would never have believed if I had not lived it. Funny but true story…I was teaching at a business college in 1990 and distinctly remember telling my students that this world wide web thing was big in Europe but it would never catch on here in the US. Epic technology FAIL. Proved I am no prophet. Better stick to ministry using technology then.

  • Pete

    Technology is candy…don't over do it or you will get sick

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Donnagray Donnagray

    http://twitpic.com/10dpe7
    Think I sent that to the wrong place originally.
    Technology is so full of wires.

  • Chris M

    Technology is… not an excuse for lack of substance.

  • Chris M

    Technology is… the fiber leading to the next link in the Evolution of Man.