Dwight A. Moody
Yes, I know some of you deplore Facebook and all its social media siblings. And yes, I know you think some of us spend too much time posting, scrolling, and sharing. But yesterday, when my planned party celebrating 70 years on planet earth was cancelled, I was glad for my Facebook family—more than 500 of you taking the time to greet an old man entering his eighth decade of life.
You and I are part of the two and one half billion people who log onto Facebook every month. And some days, one billion of us gather in that great public square to read, watch, greet, joke, protest, and share with the world our best thoughts, sounds and images.
Where would we be during these pandemic days without it?
As a minister who misses going to church, I have appreciated all my colleagues who have taken their preaching, teaching, and pastoral care to the near circles of cyber space—especially the Young Preachers scattered around the country, the ones I came to know and love during my years with the Academy of Preachers.
Kara Hildebrandt AoP10, pastor of the Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church near Detroit, does a daily devotional, sitting on the carpet-covered platform wearing jeans and holding a Bible. Marco Tinor AoP’13 broadcasts Sunday Worship live on Facebook from the St. Paul Baptist Church in Pittsburgh.
This past Sunday, Jeremy Shannon AoP’10 preached a sermon in view of a call before an empty sanctuary at the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Georgia. Scott Woods AoP’14 is pastor of St. Michael and St. Mary Roman Catholic Churches in northern Ohio, and I see him every morning sitting in his office speaking to his congregation (and to me).
I stumbled upon Joseph Howard, AoP’12 of Atlanta, moderating a late-night, online impromptu praise and prayer session a few days ago; I joined right in and delighted in his shout-out to me. Dan Rudy AoP’10 shares a hymn every day (and on Sunday, a sermon) from the sanctuary of the Ninth Street Church of the Brethren in Richmond, Virginia.
A week or more ago, I sat astounded as Mary Alice Birdwhistell AoP’10 conducted a pastoral care session from her computer sitting in her home in Waco, Texas. As the posts poured in from around the country, she said, “I do not have this much contact with my people in our sanctuary on Sunday morning.”
From Sioux City, Iowa, Lucas Rice AoP’10 of the St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church takes to Facebook late at night to share his six-minute mediations.
Erica Evans Whitaker AoP’14 styles herself a “charismatic contemplative—picture Lucille Ball in a monastery” but looks every bit the traditional pastor when she dons her black robe with purple stole and streams live from the vestibule of Buechel Park Baptist Church in Louisville as she does her ministerial thing during the Great Shutdown of 2020.
Keith Turner AoP’12, pastor of Riverside United Methodist Church in Muncie, Indiana, discovered “how to create virtual backgrounds on Zoom” and confessed his conversion with these words: “My life is forever changed for the better”. Who knew? And from another UMC church, this one is Houston, Texas, Megan Byers AoP’14 joins with her pastoral colleagues to broadcast “a time of contemplative engagement with Scripture” called Lectio Divina.
“WANT TO WORSHIP DURING THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK?” asks the Facebook page of the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Pleasantville New Jersey, which then invites the curious to a YouTube channel for InBreak Worship featuring pastor Willie Francois AoP’10. His Morehouse brother Reginald Wayne Sharpe Jr AoP’10 normally preaches to hundreds in the sanctuary of Friendship Church in Chicago—but now thousands, through social media.
Finally, Cher Winkley AoP’11, executive pastor of the Holy Tabernacle in Dallas, Texas, is promoting “Read Through the Bible in a Year”, selling her own brand of apparel, and begging people to “stay behind the bloody doorpost” (a mashup of Passover imagery and Pandemic emergency)—all on Facebook!
There are literally hundreds who met one another at a Festival of Young Preachers, now exercising their gifts and callings in ways they never imagined (and were certainly never trained for). I will wager a one-month Social Security check that most will never go back to the only-in-the-sanctuary days—they have reached people, polished skills, and discovered means they never dreamed of.
The pandemic is pushing preachers, young and old, into a brave new world of gospel work (and I, for one, am glad).
April 2020
