So Pokemon GO happened...
Wow! I have never seen such an outburst of communal gaming in my life. I am honestly shocked at the amazing popularity of Niantic's new Pokemon GO app. In fact, according to Forbes Tech, as of the timing of this post, "Pokemon GO was installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States... Not only that, but on average users are spending twice the amount of time engaged with Pokemon GO than they are on apps like Snapchat." Talk about viral!
But to be honest, I have always felt like I was on the outside of the Pokemon crowd looking in. My wife recently started playing, and now goes on Pokemon GO walks with her students (deserving the youth leader of the year award). Even when I was younger, I played with my baseball cards while a lot of my school friends played with their Pokemon cards.
But something struck me today as I watched my wife leave for one of her Pokemon GO walks; I think there is a progression in the Pokemon experience that the Church can learn from. It all began on some cards. And people would sit around playing with the cards, simulating in their minds what it would look like if they were in a real Pokemon battle. And then, Pokemon came out with movies and shows about the original card game. But it wasn't until Pokemon GO that people actually got out into the world and got in the game, so to speak. Pokemon GO has inspired a huge following because players are now players in a real-time experience, where every move they make matters.
Like I said, I think the Church, the collection of the people who follow Jesus, can learn from this progression. Too often, we sit in our nice buildings and talk about what it would look like if we could actually experience what others have written about. And we have even progressed to making movies and skits and shows about others who have experienced what the Bible talks about. But for the vast majority of us, we have yet to get off our seats and get in the game.
Yet, this isn't because it's not possible yet. In fact, this kind of life is ready and available for all of us...and the servers never crash. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." Every single one of us can experience the most thrilling version of God's activity possible, one where God works through us. We don't have to simply settle for reading about God moving in and through someone else, we can experience it for ourselves.
However, even though making disciples happens while we are going, it doesn't happen on accident. Making disciples in an intentional process. It doesn't happen unless we plan on making disciples; we have to make a decision ahead of time to make disciples and grow disciples. Otherwise, it never happens...kind of like catching Pokemons in Pokemon GO.
So let's make a decision together today. Let's Pokemon GO... and make disciples!
Wow! I have never seen such an outburst of communal gaming in my life. I am honestly shocked at the amazing popularity of Niantic's new Pokemon GO app. In fact, according to Forbes Tech, as of the timing of this post, "Pokemon GO was installed on 5.6% of all Android devices in the United States... Not only that, but on average users are spending twice the amount of time engaged with Pokemon GO than they are on apps like Snapchat." Talk about viral!
But to be honest, I have always felt like I was on the outside of the Pokemon crowd looking in. My wife recently started playing, and now goes on Pokemon GO walks with her students (deserving the youth leader of the year award). Even when I was younger, I played with my baseball cards while a lot of my school friends played with their Pokemon cards.But something struck me today as I watched my wife leave for one of her Pokemon GO walks; I think there is a progression in the Pokemon experience that the Church can learn from. It all began on some cards. And people would sit around playing with the cards, simulating in their minds what it would look like if they were in a real Pokemon battle. And then, Pokemon came out with movies and shows about the original card game. But it wasn't until Pokemon GO that people actually got out into the world and got in the game, so to speak. Pokemon GO has inspired a huge following because players are now players in a real-time experience, where every move they make matters.
Like I said, I think the Church, the collection of the people who follow Jesus, can learn from this progression. Too often, we sit in our nice buildings and talk about what it would look like if we could actually experience what others have written about. And we have even progressed to making movies and skits and shows about others who have experienced what the Bible talks about. But for the vast majority of us, we have yet to get off our seats and get in the game.
Yet, this isn't because it's not possible yet. In fact, this kind of life is ready and available for all of us...and the servers never crash. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." Every single one of us can experience the most thrilling version of God's activity possible, one where God works through us. We don't have to simply settle for reading about God moving in and through someone else, we can experience it for ourselves.However, even though making disciples happens while we are going, it doesn't happen on accident. Making disciples in an intentional process. It doesn't happen unless we plan on making disciples; we have to make a decision ahead of time to make disciples and grow disciples. Otherwise, it never happens...kind of like catching Pokemons in Pokemon GO.
So let's make a decision together today. Let's Pokemon GO... and make disciples!
