God has always used human means to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
While there is a network of Holy Spirit communications that moves faster than the speed of light, these have through history been subsumed by human means.
For instance in Acts 8, it was the Holy Spirit who was directing Philip to go from Samaria to the desert road. But how did he get there?
It was by the Roman transportation system, especially their amazing roads. Paul also was directed by the Holy Spirit to go from place to place; he got there by the Roman roads and shipping systems.
All through history there has been a combination of the divine and human in advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today, we have been given the astonishing communication system that is global and nearly instantaneous in the Internet. Is it really possible for the Internet to be used as the new Roman road for the advancement of the Gospel? Does the Holy Spirit really work in this new medium?
For those of us who are over 50 years old, for whom the Internet is not our first language we have many doubts! But for those in my children’s generation the answer is of course”Yes!” They are just as comfortable doing ministry over Facebook as we are with the telephone or letters.
In this picture, an astonishing thing is taking place:
Judy Cook (one of our Faculty members of the DI) was in Alaska and could not make the DFI meeting for the commissioning service for the new faculty. So she came in over the internet via Skype, where she would see and hear the group praying and we could see her.
Here Cindy, the Dean of the Faculty, is anointing Joe’s computer with oil, at the same time the Holy Spirit is falling upon Judy thousands of miles away! Looking on are Frank Drake and James Gray who are waiting to be anointed for their role on the DI Faculty.
This picture shows that YES! It is possible! Indeed it is necessary that we see the Internet not just as a means of communicating information but of actually doing ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit to grow the church of Jesus Christ and to advance the Kingdom of God.
But for us in my generation (I am 60!) we really need a younger person to come alongside of us and help us and the whole Church move into this new era of ministry and communications made possible by the new Roman road, the Internet.
This happened at our Dunamis Fellowship International meeting in 2012.
Part of this is based on a process called ATRALA which clearly names the steps of how a person moves from “awareness” of some product, and an idea or a ministry, into being a loyal advocate for that product, idea or ministry.
Ben brilliantly shows how the Holy Spirit may use the internet in today’s world, to bring people into engagement in the Kingdom of God. This is amazing! And this teaching fits perfectly with PRMI’s Trinitarian teaching and our teaching on the dynamic of cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
If you would like to review this teaching. Here is the entire summary lecture that Ben gave at the Dunamis Fellowship International Annual meeting in Black Mountain in January 2012.
This was an amazing lecture and was truly revelatory and transformational!
Walter Varvel of St. Giles Presbyterian Church in Richmond VA, said,
“This teaching is just what the church needs to take seriously in the task of witnessing to future generations.”
Another person over 50, who had scoffed at the idea that the internet could be an effective ministry tool came up to Joe and Ben and asked for forgiveness for being so blind to this great tool for advancing the Gospel that God is giving us in the through the Internet.
