It is a blessing for me to have the opportunity to use my technical skills in the service of the King. Huh? That may sound odd to you at first blush but it is a fact. In my service to and through IMB, I have a dual role. Some of you may not have been aware of that little nugget of information. I do not generally write about this side of who I am because I would prefer to focus on street level ministry. Yet, I do get a good deal of satisfaction, spiritually speaking, from helping my organization and local colleagues with technical needs.
The Internet is indeed a digital super highway which can be used for good or bad. The choice is ours. This powerful force gives me access to places and things that I would not have otherwise… things like company servers and remote sites and even colleagues personal computers who are sitting thousands of miles away from my little apartment in CZ. Let me give you an idea of what just one month can bring to me on the digital front:
- The opportunity to help a colleague who is in Romania to correct an issue on their personal laptop. While we are Skyping with each other and I am fixing the issue, we share a bit about our ministry endeavors and other facts of life.
- I have the privilege of helping a colleague in Virginia to fix an issue which is interrupting the use of a major company site that serves all of our new personnel. This site is sort of like my baby because I did most of the redesign and set up personally while I was in my initial training a few years back.
- I was able to help a local colleague correct a connectivity issue which was blocking them from using their laptop on their wireless Internet connection at home.
- I also had the opportunity to consult with two colleagues via email about the process that we use to engage churches back home and plug them into our world as volunteer missionaries. Those same opportunities to work alongside of IMB personnel were instrumental in getting me to this stage of my life, by the way.
- I was able to help another local colleague remove a nasty little piece of Malware from his laptop which was blocking him from using it effectively. This also gave us time to simply share a little of our lives together and talk about ministry.
- I also do work on a major project which is still “in the wings” but hopefully one day will serve all of our personnel in Europe to their benefit and the benefit of others through it’s training resources.
There were other technical things which I did during this time frame that were ministry oriented but there is no need to tally up everything. So, here is the question… do you think these things are just the work of a computer geek… or are they the honest expressions of ministry? Are they both? I cannot answer for how others may view this situation but for me, this type of work could be either, or, or both. I suppose the answer lies within the motivation of the heart of the individual performing the service. Make sense? In my life, I enjoy being able to give back to my organization and my colleagues through the skills that God has blessed me with. Some of those skills are technical. I also really really enjoy being in “hands on” situations where I have the opportunity to see, hear, taste and experience the process of ministry. In this way I am blessed. I do have this opportunity and I thank the Lord for it. Well, I think that is enough rambling about this subject for a while. I hope you will also use all of your gifts and talents for the cause of Christ. Take care… God bless.
