Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox
Why pastors need to embrace technology
by Manda Gibson
Brad Powell – senior pastor of NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Mich. – says that ministers must be driven by two things: revelation and relevance. And he says few churches get both right.
Revelation has to do with God’s truth, and he says that most churches do a good job of communicating truth. But almost all churches struggle with relevance, he says.
“For me, revelation is the value, but it’s only valuable to people if they understand it,” he said. “Relevance deals with speaking the language of the culture; it’s the conduit through which all communication takes place.”
For Powell, a major part of being relevant is being savvy about technology. The language of today’s teens and 20-somethings is MySpace, Facebook, iPhones, and iPods, he said.
“We are in a technologically based culture,” he said. “If we don’t learn to embrace technology, we will never be able to communicate to this culture and generation.”
