Fast Forward

Survival of the connected. This is the future, according to Wikinomics, as it looks at how mass collaboration through Web-based tools is transforming the nature of creating products and services. From designing software to finding cures for diseases, authors Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams share stories of companies who have embraced the use of collaboration on a massive scale, including the sharing of proprietary information, in an effort to harness the collective genius – the skills, ingenuity and intelligence of participants across organizational boundaries – and are finding new growth and success. Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, and the Human Genome Project are promoted as examples of global self-organization leading to innovative outcomes.

Touted as a road map for doing business in the twenty-first century, Wikinomics is based on a $9 million research project led by author Don Tapscott, chief executive of New Paradigm, a think tank and strategy consulting firm. The four principles of the wikinomics path include openness – transparency and access both internally and externally to ideas and resources; peering – horizontal participation instead of top-down control; sharing – allowing greater access to intellectual property, products, bandwidth, and knowledge; and acting globally – engaging and cocreating across physical and geographical boundaries.

While I wouldn’t rush out to buy the book, and advise an adequate supply of caffeine to get through most of the techno language, there is some information that applies to campus ministry. Insights into the Net Generation (N-Gen), the first generation to grow up in the digital age, and their role as active participants in the Web rather than passive receivers of information, and their tendency to scrutinize and validate views and claims, be skeptical of authority and highly value individual rights to privacy and expression of their views should inform our approach to evangelism and discipleship. Interns and staff entering the scene are more likely to value highly collaborative and collegial work environments that allow for fun and flexibility in balancing work and life. (Tapscott’s book Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation and its website http://www.growingupdigital.com/ may be worth a look.)

One story that stood out is that of Geek Squad founder, Robert Stephens, who built an elaborate wiki to keep the rapidly growing number of agents informed and to gain insights for improvements and innovations. Puzzled by the lack of participation in the wiki, Stephens realized he had failed to notice ways in which the agents were already collaborating – talking shop, swapping tips, and building rapport through online multi-player video games. As Stephens concluded, first observe – notice how self-organization is already occurring, and then implement – use strategies that people are already engaged in. Why waste time and resources, he concluded, by trying to get people to do something they don’t want to? Are there areas where we think that “if we build it they will come” instead of capitalizing on ways collaboration is already occurring (i.e. Facebook)?

How can, or should, we engage students, staff and the community together in a collaborative process in light of our mission? With clear goals and guidelines, what would it look like to involve more people in developing strategies and tools for ministry? What are the benefits and challenges of expanding the pool of participants? With email becoming a time-consuming tool (according to the book, Fortune 1,000 employees spend four hours a day on their in-box on average), how can we use blogs, wikis or other web tools to increase the efficient use of time? Join in the discussion!

You can find out more about Wikinomics at their interactive website: www.wikinomics.com.

This from Scott Santee as he completes the iPod Evangelism field test:

One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.

The first Jesus is a historical myth of whom we know virtually nothing about, “a sketchy historical figure” who is less than consistent and full of contradictions. The second Jesus is a religious leader invented by the church to fulfill its agenda. The third Jesus, however, is a cosmic person embodying the highest level of enlightenment. It is this Jesus, a type of savior (but not the Savior), whose purpose on earth was to save the world by showing us the path to God-consciousness. At least according to Deepak Chopra.

Some might wonder why this book cannot be ignored. Despite remaining several weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, this New Age book is intellectually insulting, devoid of logical coherence and blatantly opposed to Christian orthodoxy in its attempt to reinvent Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Not surprising from the man deemed the “poet-prophet of alternative medicine” by TIME magazine (June 1999). Yet it would be naive to deny that the basic premises espoused in the book – that the New Testament writings cannot be trusted to provide a historically accurate picture of Christ and that the church has sought to create its own version of Jesus because a desire to fulfill its own agenda – are influencing this generation’s views of God, sin and salvation.

In his own words, Chopra summarizes the essence of his book – “I have written what I think the New Testament actually means.” Replacing the “timeworn” traditional perspective of Jesus constructed as a compromise by his followers because of his failure to bring about God’s rule on earth, Chopra plays an illogical game of pick and choose, selectively determining which words of the gospels are Christ’s and which are those written by the writers of the gospel in order to make sure that Christ fulfilled the prophecies regarding God’s chosen one in the Old Testament. Rejecting the reliability and authority of the New Testament scriptures, Chopra has no problem in accepting certain Gnostic teachings as true. He faults those who walked with Christ for putting words into Jesus’ mouth, yet somehow thousands of years removed from the historical events Chopra claims that he alone knows the real Jesus!

An Amazon review favoring the book describes it as an “imaginative reconstruction of the inner meaning of the gospels … it will disturb the minds of the orthodox, and delight the spirits of mystics and progressive Christians” (1). Indeed, Chopra equates being God with being awake and faith in God the same as faith in yourself, with “awareness,” not Christ, as the path to heaven or “God-consciousness.” In line with New Age beliefs of the divinity of man and global unity, Chopra teaches that with a higher God-consciousness, “’I’ and ‘God’ become one and the same.” Heaven and hell, Christ’s return and a coming judgment are espoused as concepts propagated by the church because sin continued to exist despite the promise of forgiveness by New Testament writers.

Raised in a family influenced by both Western medicine and traditional Hindu beliefs and practices, Chopra first came to the United States in 1970 for a medical internship eventually serving as chief of staff at a New England hospital. In the 80’s Chopra embraced the message of Transcendental Meditation and later the practice of ayurveda, a philosophy originating in India that focuses on the balance of mind, body and spirit for health.

Living in California, Chopra opened The Chopra Center with the mission of “bridging the technological miracles of the west with the wisdom of the east.” In addition to writing and speaking, he is a founding director of and President of the Alliance for a New Humanity. The Alliance is pursuing “the birthing of a critical mass of consciousness” in order to bring “forth a better world through a combination of personal and social transformation … arising out of a recognition that there is only one humanity, one continuum of being” (2).

In a partnership with Frito-Lay, a division of Pepsi, to develop a “wisdom-based” economy, Chopra is slated to begin “consciousness work” with all of its employees through his Soul of Leadership training. The goal is to train 49,000 people next year (3).

While the teachings espoused in The Third Jesus seem so out of the mainstream as to be absurd, there are elements gaining acceptance. In 2007, Barna research found that like Chopra, 46% of born-again Christians surveyed agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” And 26% of that group believed that Jesus committed sins while living on the earth (4). Only 3% of 19 to 26 year-olds who say they have made a commitment to Christ, according to the Barna Group, embrace a biblical worldview consisting of eight elements that includes the accuracy of the Bible, the supreme nature of God, the sinlessness of Christ’s life, the existence of absolute morals and that Christians are responsible to share their faith. It also found that those who embraced these eight components lived a radically different life of faith (5).

Chopra’s re-inventing of Jesus as a spiritual guru and his Babel-ish call for the “birthing of a critical mass of consciousness” and a new humanity that needs no savior are ideas edging into Western thought. Many EveryStudent.com emails I receive challenge the reliability of the Bible and Jesus as the only way to salvation. Spiritual transformation has been shown to be connected with what one believes. In an effort to deal with the negative perceptions of evangelical Christians we must not shy away from addressing the tough realities of sin and the holy demands of God. With humility and grace we must respond to objections to the gospel and intentionally build into our disciples a complete biblical worldview, helping them to see the Jesus written of by those who saw, heard and touched the Word of life.

1) Sam Keene, “Editorial Reviews,” 10 June 2008 <http://www.amazon.com/Third-Jesus-Christ-Cannot-Ignore/dp/0307338312>.

2) Chopra, Deepak, “New Humanity – Part 2,” 24 April 2006, Huffington Post, 10 June 2008 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/new-humanity-part-2_b_19720.html>.

3) Thomas, Eliza, Interview, Deepak Chopra, Feb 2008, 28 June 2008 <http://www.consciouschoice.com/2008/02/conversations0802.html>.

4) “Born Again Christians,” Barna Group, Vers. 3.0, 28 June 2008 <http://www.barna.org/search>.

5) David Kinnaman, and Gabe Lyons, unchristian (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007) 75.

300 Campus Crusade for Christ students (including 40 from Indiana University)in New Orleans as part of a Katrina Spring Break Relief Project worked for two days rebuilding a home and church as part of the season finale of ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover scheduled to air on May 18.

Check your local listing for time and station. As always, schedules are subject to change.

After the broadcast, the full episode along with out-takes and extras will be available at http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index?pn=index

YAWNS (Young And Wealthy, but Normal) are the new movers and shakers.  They drive hybrid cars, live below their means, shop at local stores, and pay off their credit cards every month.  These are the environmentally conscious young men and women who want to save the world and change the planet.

To learn more, read the USA Today article about YAWNS at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-05-04-growing-smaller_N.htm

Looking for a great outreach idea to kick off your fall? Summer Project? Maze Ministry is ready to book now. For booking information, visit www.whatisthemaze.comor contact Ryan Melson at 866.813.2676.

Maze Dallas Metro update Inside Maze Experience Fall Tour ’07-08

Maze Impact Photos and More | Best Maze Photo

Sex and The Soul, by Donna Freitas, explores and analyzes the hook up culture prevalent on the college campus.  To read Harvey Mansfield’s helpful review from the Wall Street Journal, go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120943338777251553.html

Tony Arnold sent us this…

At Marshall last Wednesday & Thursday (4/23-4/24/2008), the staff set up a Soularium event in the main plaza on campus.  They posted the photos on a tri-fold display.

Every year staff member Gerhard Esterhuizen cultivates a relationship with the student newspaper reporter who has the assignment beat for organizations like Crusade.  This year the reporter is of Middle Eastern descent (Muslim father).

Gerhard called the reporter the weekend before the event and did a phone interview with him.

The day before the event the school paper ran a feature about the “survey”. (Btw – they called it a survey, but Soularium is really a dialogue or conversation, not a survey. Oh well, we’ll keep working to clarify that.) It explained Soularium in positive terms with good quotes using language that would connect with non-believers.

Gerhard writes: the article… definitely fit into our promotional strategy of Chalking and putting up posters. You can’t explain Soularium on a poster or with chalking, but through (the) article you can really explain Soularium to the campus.

Soularium turned out well….. All day long people would come and look at the pictures and we would do the survey with them. Students on campus enjoyed it because it was really creative and valued their opinion. Our students found it real easy to get into spiritual conversations. Over two days we probably did around 50 surveys and were able to get into significant spiritual conversations with almost everyone.

Gerhard had at least 2 special opportunities using Soularium.   

One student he led through Knowing God Personally indicated he would pray that evening.  (I’ll let you know if I hear more from Gerhard.)

Another student had written very negative articles about Crusade 4 years ago.  He went through Soularium and “changed his perspective of Crusade and the ministry. It was a PR win.”

Here is the story:

http://media.www.marshallparthenon.com/media/storage/paper534/news/2008/04/22/News/Campus.Crusade.To.Conduct.Soularium.Survey-3339982.shtml

Tom Krattenmaker is a member of USA Today’s board of contributer’s.  His article “Is God Silenced on College Campuses?” appeared in the Opinion section of USA Today March 31st, 2008.  He looks into the view that God has been silenced on campus, and finds that this idea is probably not true.  His article contains a link to the UCLA study, “Spirituality in Higher Education: Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose.”

To read his USA Today article, go to:  http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/03/post-7.html

Frontline has produced a 7-part series entitled “Growing Up Online.”  Some of the topics include “Living Their Lives Essentially Online,” “A Revolution in Classrooms and Social Life,” and “Self Expression, Trying On New Identities.”  To explore these episodes, go to: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/view/main.html