{"id":444,"date":"2011-05-10T05:03:29","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T09:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=444"},"modified":"2011-05-07T12:52:21","modified_gmt":"2011-05-07T16:52:21","slug":"exploring-a-brave-new-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html","title":{"rendered":"Exploring a Brave New World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The date is March 11, 2011. \u00a0As I sit around the dining room table with my family who is visiting their ailing father, I\u2019m hurriedly writing my daily blog. \u00a0My granddaughter is playing an on-line video game. \u00a0My daughter, Carol Howard Merritt, \u00a0is quickly editing the forward she wrote for a friend\u2019s book to email it to his publisher. \u00a0My son-in-law is reading a theology book on-line. \u00a0While my husband sleeps, we are all commenting with each other about the Tsunami that may be invading Hawaii. \u00a0All of us are fiercely following the real-time action on Twitter because my son lives on Oahu\u2019s north shore\u00a0about two blocks from the ocean.<\/p>\n

My daughter asked me to proofread the forward she was writing for Landon Whitsitt\u2019s new book,\u00a0Open Source Church.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Landon Whitsitt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After reading the forward, I was reminded how much our lives have changed because of recent changes in technology. \u00a0Aren\u2019t we all a bit skeptical of this brave new world when it comes to our places of worship?<\/p>\n

Sure we power point our illustrations on screens attached to the walls of our ministry. \u00a0Computers have become irreplaceable for most tasks for which we once used our IBM typewriters. Email has replaced the more expensive, slower and less convenient \u00a0US Postal Service. \u00a0We only recently became comfortable with our computers when the Internet burst into our work area. \u00a0But like the phone of older generations, we don\u2019t trust or want to depend on this in most aspect of our Christian life. \u00a0(The word \u201cphony\u201d came from an innate mistrust of the telephone.)<\/p>\n

Whitsitt\u2019s soon-to-be-released book will help all of us to overcome our concerns about this new techno world. \u00a0Yep, you may have to wade through some complicated verbiage because Whitsitt actually understands what is happening in cyber-space. \u00a0He might think that he\u2019s making all this simplistic for us while he is only confusing our minds. \u00a0However, I\u2019ve learned that if we wade through the technical detritus, \u00a0we will learn new and exciting things about how to effectively use this new way of \u00a0ministry. \u00a0Whitsitt\u2019s book promises to be able to help each of us learn new things to be able to make our ministries even more effective.<\/p>\n

Is there a book you have read that has made you more comfortable using technology in your life as a Christian?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The date is March 11, 2011. \u00a0As I sit around the dining room table with my family who is visiting their ailing father, I\u2019m hurriedly writing my daily blog. \u00a0My granddaughter is playing an on-line video game. \u00a0My daughter, Carol Howard Merritt, \u00a0is quickly editing the forward she wrote for a friend\u2019s book to email…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,40,10,12],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,699,691,694,90,689,91,692,700],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-faith","category-inspirational","category-religion","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-inspirational","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-landon-whitsitt","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-open-source-church","tag-religion","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nExploring a Brave New World - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exploring a Brave New World - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The date is March 11, 2011. \u00a0As I sit around the dining room table with my family who is visiting their ailing father, I\u2019m hurriedly writing my daily blog. \u00a0My granddaughter is playing an on-line video game. \u00a0My daughter, Carol Howard Merritt, \u00a0is quickly editing the forward she wrote for a friend\u2019s book to email…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-10T09:03:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-07T16:52:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/05\/Learning-to-use-the-computer.-by-sammie6191.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exploring a Brave New World - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exploring a Brave New World - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"The date is March 11, 2011. \u00a0As I sit around the dining room table with my family who is visiting their ailing father, I\u2019m hurriedly writing my daily blog. \u00a0My granddaughter is playing an on-line video game. \u00a0My daughter, Carol Howard Merritt, \u00a0is quickly editing the forward she wrote for a friend\u2019s book to email…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-05-10T09:03:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-05-07T16:52:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/05\/Learning-to-use-the-computer.-by-sammie6191.jpeg"}],"author":"Linda G. Howard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html","name":"Exploring a Brave New World - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/05\/Learning-to-use-the-computer.-by-sammie6191.jpeg","datePublished":"2011-05-10T09:03:29+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-07T16:52:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/05\/Learning-to-use-the-computer.-by-sammie6191.jpeg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/05\/Learning-to-use-the-computer.-by-sammie6191.jpeg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/exploring-a-brave-new-world.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exploring a Brave New World"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/","name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Linda Howard","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739","name":"Linda G. Howard","description":"Linda G. Howard is the best-selling and award-winning author of four books, including MOTHERS ARE PEOPLE, TOO and THE SECRET LIFE OF A HOUSEWIFE. Currently, she serves as area director of The Special Gathering, a ministry within the mentally challenged community. Additionally, she is the co-publisher and editor of CONNECTING POINT, the ministry newsletter. Her husband is a retired aerospace technologist who worked for NASA. They have three children and four grandchildren.","sameAs":["http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/author\/lhoward"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}