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Cartoon of  a boy and pastor. The pastor says, “€œSo you think I should base an entire sermon series on the game, ‘€˜Angry Birds?’”

When I thought of this idea, I thought how technology has changed the church. If you walk into most churches today, you’ll at least see a projector on the wall. They have replaced hymn books with Powerpoint and lyrics projected on a wall. I see it as a good thing. The way we process information and interact with speakers is changing. Powerpoint, and similar programs, have made it possible for us visual people to see a sermon as well as hear it. My pastor can weave a story like no other, but visuals still can do what words can’t. You can tell me about Red Square in Moscow, but I won’t have a clue what it looks like until you show me a picture of St. Basil’s Cathedral.

There’s a whole industry devoted to this stuff:

• http://www.usingpowerpointinchurch.com/
• http://cmtechguide.wordpress.com/

That was the most obvious way technology has changed things. Then I wondered how social media has changed things. Does your church have a Facebook fan page? How about a Twitter account? And what’s all this stuff about Google+ ? It’s one of the many ways that have changed the way we communicate, whether person to person or church to the congregation. Instead of a postcard or mailer, do you text your latest event? I thought of how I get information from my church now. Sometimes, I’ll get a note in the mail along with an announcement on Facebook. I find that the more ways I’m approached with a subject, the better I’ll remember it. How many ways do you reach out to people? There are so many articles just about those topics:

• http://collinharbour.com/2010/03/social-media-strategy-for-churches/
• http://samluce.com/2011/07/why-everyone-should-use-google/
• http://www.childrensministryonline.com/fresh-ideas/how-much-is-social-media-integrated-in-your-ministry/

Social media led me to Angry Birds. It seems like such a silly game. Who would have thought a game where you use a slingshot to fire birds at pigs would be a sensation? Oh, the many facets that would make a sermon topic sing! Well, maybe not. You could perhaps do one Sunday on anger, then another Sunday on inertia. After that, perhaps you could do a topic on treating pigs the way you want to be treated, or birds before swine. Hey! Maybe you COULD make a whole sermon series out of Angry Birds!

I drew this for the Church of God newsletter. You can find a copy of the newsletter here: http://www.chog.org/chognews/CHOGnews-aug11.htm