Twitter & The 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

This morning, with my morning coffee, I have been thinking about way I can use twitter as a huge resource in ministry with college students. Of course there are so many ways to use twitter, but this was I little bit different idea (though I don’t know that it is new).

With the popularity of twitter in today’s culture, twitter allows us in ministry (and people in general) to see the heartbeat of culture through the “trending topics” that appears on our twitter home page. This is a list of the top ten most popular topics at that moment. So, if we can see the top topics of right now, how can these be of benefit to me and anyone? …By using this list as a tool in the 6 DEGREES OF KEVIN BACON, of course!!!

The 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon is an idea that any topic can be connected within six relationships to Kevin Bacon. However, on our campus we have subbed out Kevin Bacon and practice at going from anything topic to the gospel within six relationships. An example of this would be using the word coffee (a favorite word of mine), the flow would go like this (you will see this could be made shorter):

Coffee…
Coffee is served in coffee shops,
Coffee shops are on many street corners in cities,
Many street corners also have churches on them,
Churches often have denominations,
Many denominations believe the core Christian message is the gospel of Jesus
What do you think about Jesus?

…while this is a little bit of a “cutting out a lot of small talk” process, it gets us to thinking about how anything can be directed at the gospel. So, as for twitter, what if we were to start looking at the trending topics and start preparing our mind for how to relate those things to the gospel? If those are the topics that are being tweeted about, then those are presumably the topics that will come up in our conversations with people. As I write this, the topics “Teen Choice Awards”, “Red Sox”, and “Hell’s Kitchen” are on the list. Could we find ways to connect the gospel to these?

If you really want to see power and the reality of why twitter topics, as well as other popular internet media, can be such a tool for us, check out the video below. It’s pretty good.

Some people I know laugh at the tech stuff that I am getting into and am trying to learn about. But more and more I am seeing that not only is this the way our culture is going, but that if we can harness these forms of media we will be able to see God’s Kingdom grow.

Motivation?…a question for evey situation!

So here is God calling me on something. In the last week, I have been talked to by two of my teammates on my affirmation of people, or lack there of. And then there is Tim Keller’s second morning talk at Campus Crusade’s CSU ’09, which God spoke some questions to me about.

This is not an easy blog to think through and write out, but I have the desire to write while things are still fresh in my mind, and heck, I am joyful to share that God is working and convicting. Amen to that…

The question: “what is my motivation?” is one that I am seeing I will need to continue to look at, work on, trust God with, etc. With my teammates, both asked the question “Why is it that, after someone says something, [I] am so quick to share another story or say something else that does not affirm what the person says?” It’s true, I know I do this, its something I have thought about and don’t care for. But, this has really made me think about, what is my motivation for anything that comes from my mouth? With family, friends, teammates, or how about people I share the gospel with (oh, now there is a big one!…and did Keller hit a heart string in his CSU talk).

Keller spoke from Luke 10, with the idea that this chapter describes our: mission, message, motivation, and method, as Christ followers. Jesus sends out the 72, then they come back. What is it that they say: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name” (verse 17, NASB). If you emphasize the word “us” Jesus response takes on new meaning (at least for me). Jesus says in verse 19-20 “Behold, I have given you authority…over all powers of the enemy…(19). Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (emphisis added). Pertaining to motivation, Keller talks about how we make it about US, and while this was in reference to sharing the gospel, I had to listen and apply it across the board in my life.

What is my motivation in saying: “Here is MY story…”, “This is what I think…”, “Guess what happened to ME…”, and so many others. Is my desire to look at me, or is the desire to care about people? This applies, I believe, because in the next part of Luke 10 Jesus talks about the Good Samaritan, and being a good neighbor. When someone shares their story with me. Am I being a good neighbor? If motivation is a driving force behind being a good neighbor, in that split-second between their story and my response (whatever it will be), I need to ask WHAT IS MY MOTIVATION HERE???

I know that I will have to work on this tons in the days, weeks, lifetime ahead. And I know there are some people that are already doing much better than I am at this. But, what if we asked about our motivation a little more? What if we thought about it, and decided (as Jesus tells us to), to rejoice that our “names are recorded in heaven, as opposed to responding about US?

***Thank you to those of you in my life who have been bold enough in my life to trust the Lord and lovingly discuss this with me.