Validation is a crucial exercise. We do all sorts of things in life, yet it’s the things we do that find favour amongst others, especially others we richly respect, that compels us to continue to do the things we do.
I found reassurance in this fact recently when I read one of the most respected and time-honoured pastors in Perth give his blessing to those, like I, who minister in the ether. Those of us engaged in speaking about God using internet tools like blogs, Facebook and Twitter etc can safely look to our elders who’ve preceded us in this work.
And when I cast my mind over some of these local champions of faith I thought of three (amongst many) that have made such an impact on the immediate world around them. These are Pastors Margaret Court, Phil Baker and Graham Mabury. The latter-most is the person who’s effectively blessed the practice of cyber-discipleship and cyber-evangelism. (I’d call myself more passionate regarding the former than the latter.)
But, let us get it into context. This is why I love the Bible--the words never change (though our meaning for those words can change due to our growth with God).
Graham Mabury’s benedictory quote goes like this:
This unreserved ‘blessing’ does not come without qualification. We who do this are to do so considerately, and with respect and fairness i.e. prayerfully. We who do this are to do it in a way that hopefully inspires and enlarges people’s lives and their visions of life i.e. do it creatively. We who do this are finally to do it in a way that is powered by the Holy Spirit, for we cannot be salt and light to the world without living a spiritually-congruent ‘called’ life.“God bless every one of you who is prayerfully, creatively, Holy Spirit powerfully being salt and light in cyber space. You are His witnesses in MySpace, Facebook and to the uttermost blog on the net. Go into all the [virtual] world and make disciples, and He will be with you to the end of the [technological] age.”[1]
--Technologically ‘enhanced’ paraphrase of Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.
Who knows what medium we’ll be using in 5-years, let alone twenty. Let us hope we can urge those ambassadors of God to also be prayerful, creative and led by the Spirit in the way they do ministry. Most importantly, however, because we are ‘in attendance,’ let us carry the present baton with distinction.
Copyright © 2009, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
[1] Graham Mabury, “On air with Graham Mabury” in The Advocate (June 2009 edition), p. 4. http://www.theadvocate.tv/ Graham Mabury presents his program on Perth’s 6PR (882AM) every weeknight from 8:00 pm to midnight. He has also been pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church for many years.
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