My son asked me to sign up, so I did. I enjoyed his updates, knowing where he was and what he was doing throughout the day.
On my second day of Twitter, I began receiving notices that others were following me. Following me! Wow! This was heady – believing that others were interested in what I was doing at any given moment of the day. It did not take long for me to realize that those following me were hoping I would return the favor. But the day I discovered the CEO of a major Christian publisher was following me, I began thinking about the whole concept behind twittering. I went to this CEO’s twitter site and was amazed to see that he was following over 9000 Twitters! Really! But his 9000 paled in comparison to the Twitter I found following 425,000 people!
Clearly no one is really “following” 9000 Twitters per day (or week for that matter). So what was this really about? When I posted a twitter questioning the validity (ability) to follow several thousand people, within seconds I had a direct message (from the inner courts of Twitter itself!) pointing me to a blog extolling the merits of tens of thousands of followers. It would raise my online profile, maybe help me promote my business (read “make lots of money”).
Now don’t get me wrong. Twitter has some fine applications. Here are a few that immediately come to mind:
- Quick, efficient communication for far-flung members of a company
Family members can stay in touch
News junkies can get breaking headlines
Sports fans can track the favorite teams, athletes
You can continue the list ….
However, in my admittedly limited exposure, it seems that the vast majority of Twitterers are merely providing inane updates on their daily thoughts and activities. For example, one person I followed is a Christian leader who posts 5-8 twitters a day: “I’m getting up, looking forward to a great day at church”; “I’m running behind, racing (over the speed limit) to the airport”; “Boarding the plane, traffic ticket in hand”; “Need an attitude change before I preach tomorrow”; and the posts go on (and on, and on, and on). Once he even “treated” followers to an hourly update of his family vacation. Did I (or anyone) really need a twitter-by-twitter account of his day?
I quit Twitter because it served no useful purpose in my life. Striving to increase my followership, taking time to catalog my day in 140 character increments, or being continually interrupted in my work to read someone else’s 140 character diary was creating a growing moral issue for me. The many fine Christians who pray for, and financially support the ministry for which I am responsible have every right to believe that I am not frittering (twittering?) away my day.
When I realize how much extra-curricular activity occupies the lives of so many of us in Christian ministry – online discussion groups, reading & writing blogs, facebook, Twitter – I have to wonder just how much ministry is actually taking place. It is not, of course, for me to judge others, and there is nothing wrong with any of the above online tools and resources. But there is one to whom we must all give account for the manner in which we used our time on this planet.
I quit Twitter because I discovered that the only “payback” was a sense of increased self-importance that comes with believing that there are people out there (maybe thousands!!) who want to know that, at this very moment, I am ….
- Clearing off my desk
Writing this blog
Leaving for lunch with Richard
Driving to Home Depot to pick up deck material
Wishing I was on the golf course
Feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work undone at the end of the day
Finishing up my sermon for this coming Sunday
Maybe we need to step back from our busyness, from our intoxicated self-importance. Maybe it’s a good time to seek God’s face, asking his forgiveness for what Joseph Stowell once called the “perilous pursuit of significance.” Maybe it is time to simply do the work God called us to do in the place where He called us to do it.
Rather than pursue the fleeting attention of the world around us, maybe we ought to rejoice again in the thought that we know God, or rather that He knows us.
So, you stopped Twitter because you felt you weren’t being a good steward of the time/money for your ministry. You are also openly sarcastic toward the ministry leader that that got a speeding ticket on his way to preach. Yet, you then state that you are using your carefully-minded ministry money to buy deck material and play golf (or at least wising you were, which presumes you do play) – two “essentials” for ministry these days. How much of that “ministry” money could have been used to feed orphans and widows, or purchase Bibles to be distributed for evangelism in a foreign country?
Don’t spew your self-righteous judgmental babble in public, and act like you are doing the Kingdom favors by not using social tools like Twitter when all the while you are obviously as self-centered as the rest of the world. You obviously had no qualms about using ministry time and money by taking the (at least) several minutes to write this blog post, but you are hostile towards those that spend literally seconds updating their Twitter status?
You need to do some major self-examination before firing off posts like this. It doesn’t help ministry, it detracts from it.
Thank you, Nathan, for reading and responding to my post. For whatever reason, it clearly elicited an emotional response from you.
From your email address (prophet@2Samuel12.com), and from the content of 2 Samuel 12, I sense that you see yourself as something of a prophet. If so, you might want to read and reflect a bit more carefully before before spewing your own brand of “self-righteous judgmental babble” publicly.
You draw a few conclusions that, unless you have personal knowledge of my daily activities (or direct revelation from God), you could not know to be so.
1. You assume that the example “…at this very moment I am…” was what I was actually doing/thinking. Even a cursory reading would note that I could not be doing all of those things as I wrote the blog. It was merely illustrative of the all-too-often drivel that is twittered.
2. You assume that I wrote the blog post on ministry time. For the record, my WiseReader site is a personal blog site, paid for and maintained with personal time & money. If you want to know what I do online with “ministry” resources, take a look at http://www.newcovenantforum.org.
3. Though I’ve already noted that the examples given of typical twitter posts were not actual activities, you apparently think I’ve used “ministry money” to buy deck material and play golf. Talk about a judgmental attitude!
4. To wish to be doing something does not inevitably lead to the conclusion that one does do something. For example, I’ve always wished I was driving a NASCAR Sprint Cup car, though I’m quite certain I’ll never do it.
5. Perhaps your final “observation” is the most serious of all: “…when all the while you are obviously as self-centered as the rest of the world.” What a massive, broad-brushed judgment you make about me, and the rest of the world for that matter. To reach that conclusion based upon one blog post demonstrates one of a few possibilities: (1) You have incredible divinely-given insight into human nature; (2) You are impulsive, reactionary and quarrlesome; or, (3) You struggle with these issues yourself and so “strike out” at those you deem to have the same issues. Since I do not know you, I will leave the conclusion to you.
Those five observations aside, you seem to have missed the entire point of the post. I acknowledged that Twitter has very fine uses. My point, based on the content of Twitters I’ve read, was simply that much (most?) of the posting done has little intrinsic value, and that we could more profitably use the time we invest in Twittering. Yes, the update takes a few seconds (maybe), but to keep them coming requires thinking about it, and stopping what I’m doing to write it.
However, as important as the time investment is, the deeper issue is in “why” we do these things. I stand by my final paragraph. I’ve been in vocational Christian ministry since 1970 (all of my adult life), and I am all too aware of the propensity to strive for “significance”. I know it is true in my own life, and I suspect you would acknowledge the same for yourself (e.g. your quest to present yourself as a “prophet”).
Since you have chosen to present yourself (by your email) as a prophet in the spirit of Nathan (2 Samuel 12), you might want to look in the mirror and ask yourself if indeed “You are the man!” (2Sa 12:7).
All this said, I wish you every blessing in Messiah.
Hi David,
I find a major advantage of using Twitter is that I can relate how my walk with God has produced phenomenal growth in my faith in His faithfulness through Christ. God has blessed my wife and me over the past few years with needs met that are too incredible to be coincidental. God is truly amazing! Take a look at my Twitter @mywalkwithgod
Regards
George
Thank you for taking time to read my blog post, George.
You are right in noting that Twitter can be used for good, and I trust your use of the technology will be effective in pointing individuals to the truth found in Jesus Christ alone.
As you know I quit Twittering too!
Right around the same time that I noticed you gone, I started to receive ‘followers’ that were out Phishing me for ‘online’ sex mates, etc. These type of ‘followers’ I certainly didn’t need or appreciate.
At that point, I started to rethink my own activity on Twitter and discovered that it was a complete waste of time, except for the fact that I discovered you were there and I think we had some subsequent thought provoking communication by email (Why Does God Allow Pain & Suffering in this World?).
I even found Demi Moore (and her husband) to be complete bores and frankly, I found that disappointing because I really enjoyed a couple of her movies and thought a little more insight into her character would be interesting.
I am not a ‘prophet’ and yes, I still go to visit friends on Facebook once in awhile but I do understand your message.
Thanks,
Thanks for your comments, Roy.
While I didn’t get the kind of feedback you were getting – and that kind of interaction would have sent me packing also! – I did realize that Twitter didn’t really have any useful purpose for me.
The technology available to us these days is really mind-boggling. And I am thankful for the good it has brought into our lives, but like everything else in this broken world, good things have a downside also.
So we – you and I – will use these tools for good. And that’s a good thing, eh?