Me with my new Timex Sinclair 1000, circa 1982-83.

I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to see the evolution (so far) of the personal computer and the Internet in my lifetime. I remember fondly my first computer, the Timex Sinclair 1000. It too was very simple. It was a small black key pad that hooked up to any garden variety black and white television set. I had no idea what I was doing, but I could play Pong and that was good enough. As you can see in the photo, I was a simple kid with simple tastes.

I am a preacher’s kid. As such, my DNA make up consists of a deep understanding of both church polity and its ethnography. So what do you do when you’re a preacher’s kid with a love of technology and Web design? You go to work for the Church of course.

My work has allowed me the opportunity to be an active participant in the still very new Web ministry movement. In the early-1990s, we were all simply playing with this new toy called the Internet. I don’t recall seeing any rule books back then. You could experiment because not too many people were watching. Over time the audience has grown, the core rules have been established and expectations are high not only for big business but for churches as well.

No matter what your Christian affiliation, we are charged by God to do what we can with the resources we have been provided to lift Him up and make disciples. We are all storytellers. Where we differ is in how we tell the story. The thread that runs throughout the discipline of Web as ministry is that each of us shares our gifts, contributing to the whole. So if you’ve never turned on a computer or visited a website, you too have a role to play in Web ministry.