We don’t need you.

I think there is a trend in the local church today. I see it in books and I hear it in conversations.

People are burned out. People are fed up. People are angry and upset. People feel let down by the church, and they’re leaving it to start new, better, hipper churches. And they’re telling us it is all our fault. Our fault for being too political. For having childrens plays they feel are just for the socialites. For having porn problems. For wanting more people to come to church. For having nice carpet or bigger buildings to house and serve more people.

We write books, we write blogs about how unaccepting and intolerant the church is. We piss and moan because the people in the church are ruining it.

We talk about or desire to reach the broken, sinful people outside of church. We talk about how much we love crackheads and prostitutes, but we write the meanest slander about the rich and the ministerily employed. We talk about loving people as they are, as Jesus did. But we refuse to love our churches and the humans inside them.

We love to criticize everybody for being too loud or too quiet, too “showy” and arrogant. We judge everyone in the church based on the actions we disagree with, but we still expect those same people to just see our “good intentions.” We mask our slander and our gossip and our cruelty under a “desire for change.” We disguise our prideful unwillingness to let the church help us in our struggles under a sea if blame and attacks on why it is all the chuches fault when we get hurt and refuse healing.

We love Joe because he’s a recovering addict. We hate Bob because he’s worked hard to give his family a nicer living condition. We think Don is cool because he writes books on why the church is a failure and the true Christians should abandon her. We hate Tim because he’s pastor of a large congregation and doing the best he can. We blame the church for being intolerant but we can’t tolerate the beautiful broken people who make the church what it is. We’ve decided we’re better off alone and the local church is damned.

Well, I’m tired of it.

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Techno-scovered.

Wonderful recent discoveries:

• NatsuLion/NatsuLion for iPhone. While it may not be the most advanced twitter client, I love NatsuLion for its simplicity. Get your feeds, post, and reply. It filters through your responses and direct replies automatically and highlights the replies in red which is WONDERFUL, and the iPhone version has a very cool full-screen option for reading your feeds. While not perfect, the beauty of software is software updates, and NatsuLion is free! Goodbye annoying “location services” spazz-outs from Twinkle!
   
• BrightKite. BrightKite is location-based social networking the way it should be. Fast, easy, free, and cool. The “wall” feature, which allows you to create a full-screen, live-updating feed based on location, radius, OR keyword makes this a powerful networking and feedback app as well. Turn on the wall, punch in your church’s/business’s/favorite band’s name, and instantly see what BrightKiters around you are saying about the things you care about. Or just type in your address and see what’s happening. BrightKite is still in private beta, but getting an invite is as easy as signing up and waiting about a week or just asking me. Best part: BrightKite updates (which automatically post with your approximate location,) feed into your twitter feed if you so wish, and come with some nice privacy features to keep the crazies from tracking you down.
•  iPhone 3G. Sure, this thing has been out forever. Sure, it’s more expensive than some BlackBerry or Nokia offerings. Yes, you have to deal with the supposed “Apple tax,” (my foot.) But this device has changed my life. I know only use my computer for recording and writing abnormally long blog posts, meaning I’m freer, faster, and able to be more places at once. I get my emails. I give and get on-the-fly calender and contact updates. I can publish the surprisingly-clear pictures straight to the web with my MobileMe account. I have rollover minutes. I have 3G, WiFi, Edge, and GPS capabilities. And it’s the only device I’ve ever owned that gets better every week thanks to software updates and the unprecedented App Store. The to-do apps and free iTunes remote almost make this device worth it, but the ever-growing list of top-notch apps and abilities make this the best $200 I’ve ever spent. Not to mention the fact that it’s a touch screen iPod to boot. 

 

So what cool gadgets, applications, or networks am I missing out on?

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