Sunday morning I experienced the power of technology in ministry when the ping of my cell phone woke me up. Twitter, FaceBook,and other social networking technologies have a surprising variety of uses, from exposing and fueling political crises, as we have witnessed in the Iranian election protests, to mindless chit-chat with friends. These technologies are also power tools for community and ministry to others.
For example, a friend emailed me recently to ask if I knew of a simple self-study on the book of Romans for his son who is in prison and newly turned to the Lord. Now there’s a tall order! A few words on Twitter (which traveled from there to FaceBook) and within minutes I had three solid recommendations to pass on to him.
Then there was that ping on Sunday morning. It was a text message—a tweet from Max Lucado. I have him and a couple of others I follow linked to my cell phone, so their Twitter messages come to me direct. Evidently, he was up early and sending encouragement to others. It was a timely word for me—a welcome first thought of the day.
May God calm your soul on this day.
May the Voice that soothed Galilee’s storm, still yours.
“It’s all right. I am here.” Mt. 14.27
Amen
Carolyn Custis James 
I wholeheartedly agree! I had been resistant to Twitter, thinking it was just about Ashton and Oprah. Diving in now and am really intrigued to see the diversity of ideas and thought leaders sharing their tweets. There's definitely a balance to strike in not getting too engrossed; however, as someone in communications, I figured how can I reach people if I'm not a part of the conversation?
Say, I hate to bother you with a technical question, but do you mind sharing your secret for how you choose what Tweets come to your cell phone? I've tried “TweetDeck” but can't yet seem to figure out how to do what you described with Max Lucado's tweets. Thanks for your comment on this topic and keep up the great work!
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You can set this up right on Twitter. Click on the red “following” on the upper right corner of your home page. A list of people you're following on Twitter will display. Next to each name is a tiny cellphone. Click on that to have their messages sent to your cell (or to stop it). It can get annoying but if you do this for someone who is using Twitter well, you can get some interesting ideas.
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