:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

Peggy Kendall’s new book Reboot: Refreshing Your Faith in a High-Tech World arrived in my mail box at just the right time. I’ve been moving away from book reviews since I don’t have the time to do books justice in a full review. I’d rather share an informative interview than a shoddy review.

However, I have a few reflections to share about this important book before moving to my interview with communications professor and author Peggy Kendall.

During Lent I’ve taken to fasting from the internet Monday-Saturday after 6 pm. I generally try to stay off my computer all day on Sunday. With a few necessary exceptions, I’ve been able to stick with it, albeit with a bit of griping at times.

I’ve learned that many of Kendall’s major points are true. She nails it in this book. It’s not a rollicking good time like a Don Miller book, but the material is important and helpful. I fear overstating myself sometimes, but I honestly believe that any Christian who uses technology, such as a phone, TV, or computer, should read this book or borrow it from someone. Fork over the $14. It’s worth it.

So yeah, that’s pretty much everyone. Split the cost with your small group or Sunday school class. Ask your church secretary to buy a copy for your resource center. Steal your kid’s lunch money. Just buy the book, OK?

While Flickering Pixels just made me feel a bit depraved for using the internet, Kendall uses technology with the best of them. She confesses her failings with technology, and offers practical advice that most readers will find accessible. If her advice doesn’t seem practical, then you have a big problem.

I think Marcus Goodyear of the High Calling nailed the weakness of Flickering Pixels in his review on Amazon.com: “I was expecting to read about social media, blogs, twitter, social networks like Facebook, and other innovative approaches to information like open source and wikis. In the few instances where the book addresses any of these current technologies and our current struggles with them, it does so through anecdotes.” If you felt the same way about Flickering Pixels, then Kendall’s book is for you.

Readers won’t agree with every point of analysis. Some of the examples don’t exactly drive home the main points, and readers won’t necessarily take her up on every application point. However, these are small potatoes in a book that tackles with wisdom and grace a topic that many Christians would rather not discuss.

We don’t want to give up our technology because we’ve become dependent on it. However, our attachment to technology is just the kind of symptom that means we desperately need this book.

Our families, our work, our relationship with God, and our friendships are too important to let an uncritical acceptance of technology run rampant in our lives and dilute them. This is an accessible, down-to-earth book that will help you rethink the place of technology in your life, unplug for a bit, and reboot your relationship with God.

And after you buy Kendall’s book, here’s a personal challenge. Suspend Netflix or cancel cable for May through September and plant a simple garden in your back yard or join a community garden. Gardening is one of my favorite ways to unwind. If you want to take me up on this challenge, drop me a note at edcyzewski (at) gmail (dot) com, and I’ll share some suggestions for getting started.

Interview of Peggy Kendall

Below is my interview with Peggy. I realized that I left the house without her book so i can fill in the quotes I mention, but I think you’ll get the idea based on her responses.

You’ve published quite a bit on faith and technology. How have your views of technology changed over the years and in particular after writing this book?

I have always thought technology was very cool.  I have always loved using new gadgets and programs in ways that impress my family and peers.  I have to be honest, though, the more I do in this area, the more I see the challenges.   The biggest insights have come in considering how my use of technology, especially in the little choices I make every day, actually sabotage my journey to become a fully committed, fully passionate Christian. As a result, I have tried to be more intentional about spending unplugged time.  Whether going for walks outside or spending more time meditating, that quiet time seems to give me space to reconnect to my creator.

Many readers will see your book and think, “Yeah, I already read Flickering Pixels. Why should I bother with this book?” My impression is that your book is quite different from Flickering Pixels-different in some very positive ways. I’m curious how you would distinguish the two.

I really like Shane Hipp’s books on technology and faith.  I’d say our two books compliment each other.  While he tends to look at the impact of technology on a wider, more cultural and community level, I tend to look at it from more of an interpersonal level.  I try and find very specific, practical, everyday applications while his applications are more centered on the church and broader cultural issues.  We refer to many of the same theorists, but locate our discussions in two separate sub disciplines: he tends to center on Media Ecology and I tend to center on Computer Mediated Communication. The nice thing is,we need both.  We need to understand both the broader impact as well as our personal responsibility.

You mention on pg. 14 that you attend a megachurch with a preacher who sometimes communicates remotely through a video feed. What are the drawbacks on this use of technology for Christian community? In revealing my personal bias, I’m always tempted to skip on Sundays when a video screen preacher is chosen over a room of perfectly capable physical people. Is there an up side to the live feed approach?

Great question! I’ll be honest, I was very critical of the remote preacher thing for a long time. Then I actually went to a service at Eaglebrook Church. I was completely caught off guard.  The music (which is live) and the preaching were unexpectedly excellent.  For the first time in years, I found myself not critiquing the speaker, but really listening. God touched my heart. Sunday after Sunday, I felt motivated to worship and commit myself to being a Christ-follower in a way that was completely refreshing. The part that was most surprising was how this commitment to big and excellent was bringing in thousands of people who had never been to church before.

As I began to volunteer I became involved in the lives of people who were authentically open to the gospel. For the first time in my life, I was part of something that was making a clear difference in my community. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to be part of something big.

That being said, there are clearly theoretical drawbacks.  The preacher doesn’t see me, doesn’t really know me, and can’t respond to me.  There is certainly very little “relationship” between preacher and church attenders.  I have also found it very difficult to use my own gifts of leading and teaching in a large church where paid staff do most of the work that requires any kind of thinking. Concepts like Christian community, authenticity, and the body of Christ require extra work and some creative problem-solving. While there are plenty of people in the congregation who could preach or sing just as good as the paid staff, there seems to be a trade-off-one that I am unwilling to write off as simply being superficial and consumer-driven.

The trade off exists between everyone being intimately involved in the life of every person and program in the church and the megachurch approach to having just a few people perform in superior ways that invite thousands of people to examine the gospel for the first time.  Neither way is perfect, but I have been unexpectedly challenged by my megachurch experience.

Can you explain what you meant in the last paragraph on page 3?

I guess I am trying to provide some motivation to think about the costs of using technology.  It isn’t easy to do-it’s sort of like asking the fish to evaluate the water it swims in. Until you can get out and look at things from the outside, you won’t notice the murky color or stinky smell that creeps in gradually. To clearly see the impact of our choices we make everyday about how we use our technology, I think we need to take some time to step away and disconnect.

I love this quote from page 22 “When we feed…truly spectacular”. Can you explain the development of that idea or elaborate on it a bit?

I really feel like we settle way too often.  We settle for mediated relationships and artificial drama. While getting all excited or sad as we watch a movie or feeling really close to someone as we read their Facebook post is fun, it isn’t the same as the real thing. If we are searching for an exciting Christian life, it takes diving into reality head first; it takes real relationships, real opportunities, real challenges.  Reality is full of uncertainty and it is in uncertainty that we find ourselves clinging to God’s power and wisdom. That’s where excitement and clarity is focused.  That’s when we truly understand the immense and indefinable awesomeness of God.

What do you think of tweeting quotes or texting feedback during sermons? Are they essentially the same as taking notes? What are the drawbacks and advantages?

What I like about it is that someone is trying to creatively incorporate a current technology to help make sermons feel more relevant and interactive. That’s a good thing and could get listeners to be more proactive and see things from a new perspective. What I wonder about gets back to Marshall McLuhan’s old mantra “the medium is the message”.  If that is the case, the medium of tweeting and texting highlights short bits of information-taking big ideas and forcing them into sound bites.  I’m not sure the gospel works well in sound bites.  It may highlight quick, easy, and interactive at the expense of thoughtful, deep, and personal.

What are your suggestions for small groups or Sunday school classes on using your book for group study?

Honestly, technology is an easy topic to talk about.  I find people love sharing their thoughts about things like Facebook, t.v., e-mails, and text messaging.  The neat thing is that once you get into some of the technology issues in my book, it is an easy transition into much more fundamental and significant issues like our priorities, the need for solitude, the role of community and commitment in our lives, and how our view of God impacts our everyday choices. I provide some discussion-starter questions and exercises at the end of each chapter to give people an idea of where to start.  I also tried to provide scriptural examples for each of the main topics of each chapter.  It might be fun to begin with the discussion starters, then talk more deeply about what scripture has to say about some of the most important topics of our faith.

Thanks Peggy for a great book and excellent interview!