Online Church

Several years ago a young preacher told us that the next generation of believers would be doing church "online." I hated that idea then, and I still hate it today because I believe strongly in the relationships that "real" church provides. Last week a friend told me of a sermon to listen to called "Disappointed in Jesus," so I listened to that sermon; then I saw that the same minister had a series of five sermons on heaven, so I listen to those; then I saw a couple of other titles that intrigued me, so I listened to those. Don't get me wrong, they do not take the place of "real church" for me, and the relationships that I have with the people in my Sunday School class are vital to my well-being, but I really like having these sermons available to me when I'm having trouble sleeping or when I wake up way too early to start my day or when I'm sitting watching television and realize that the subject matter of the program is really inappropriate for a believer. That's happening more and more lately; I'm not sure if the programming is worse or if I'm getting more sensitive to the garbage that the networks are doling out. This week I've listened to nine sermons when I count the one I heard at church this morning. That's pretty neat especially because I was able to pick and choose the topics that interested me.
The website is gatewaypeople.com, and the minister's name is Brady Boyd. I think I'll start with the b's and just work my way through these folks first. I loved the five sermons on heaven because he would take a verse that reveals something about heaven and use that little nugget to teach a truth that gave peace to my heart. There are as many of my immediate family in heaven as there are here on earth, so heaven is of great interest to me. He did not read one scripture that I have not already read in those sermons, but he opened my mind with his take on what the scriptures tell us about heaven. I'm going to have to eat some words about how awful I thought online church would be. What I love most is that the internet can be used for such harmful, awful things, but Christians can claim it for God and advance His kingdom with Biblical, sound teaching. Pretty cool.