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Dale, I would caution you to be focused and specific in what you attempt to do.

Good point. But exactly what is the danger in the "caution" you refer to? As I "observe" and attempt to describe the ingredients of my "Context of ministry", I am faced with an audience which is much less able than we to see all the specialization that is possible within the field of computer communications. I am afraid I try to "specialize" too much sometimes. My central concern in this work is that it is taking a long time to be recognized as one who could provide a valuble service.

I feel that I must start talking about all the possibilities; I have specific ideas to explore within segments of my overall concern to see the church utilize the tools. I guess my program is one of moving and enabling the church to recognize, move to assimilate, and put it into effect. I mentioned three areas where this needs to be done: Local (thru BBS communication), nationally (through accessible databases and community-enabling communication systems such as Ecunet), and, stretching across both of these vantage points, Education (using the national structure to make available particular specialized courses of study to a widely dispersed geographical student body, and making it more accessible to localities by getting the info about the class offerings to a wide audience (via BBS networks such as Fido, Usenet, etc.)

At this juncture in the journey toward "waking" more of the church to the wide range of possibilities here, I think these concepts may well represent a much more focused mission than what we in this discussion might perceive. What you did with your question was to make me think more about this dimension of what I attempt to do (Which is---- to be perfectly focused----- to be an "interpreter" and an ambassador for Computer Mediated Communiations within the church. And I will do this by 1)working on the local BBS idea---and finding the people, hardware, software, and content for it, 2) Working on the seminary and ecumenical level to promote investment in utilizing the electronic tools and resources at our disposal (thru the net, new hardware and software abilities, and thru the people power of communicating our concerns, needs, and questions across a wide and diverse audience) and 3) Through working constantly with both the previous efforts at getting the resources usable and accessible to the most people (otherwise they aren't really good "resources" after all.

I just broke it down differently there, but the latter three still contain the main elements of the former three: Local, National, and Education. Education has two dimensions. Theological education and computer literacy education. With us, the two take place simultaneously, as it will with the others who are or will be beginning to use these new mediums for doing theological education. Both locally and nationally, we will need things to help us "log on", and be productive when we get on. My "Compuserve For the Church" meeting has been aimed at exploring these things as they concern a national/international structure like Ecunet. I would envision a local board providing offline readers, interactive interfaces, etc. and downloadable helps for other "surfing" on other systems.

Theological education can be a conduit to get this information, provide the databases, and teach us how to use them. Perhaps in the future, there will be less need for the "teach us how to use them" part, since it will become more a part of the standard education of every person to learn to use computer tools just as they have been teaching use of the tools of the pre-computer era. It really pains me to hear of a church in Atlanta (of the Southern Baptist variety) having their own Internet node, and yet keeping it all to themselves and thereby shutting themselves off from the wealth of potential resources available from the larger body (their main ideological problem is that they don't need us, and that diversity is dangerous to their spiritual health.) We can pray for their eyes to be opened in this sense, and move on and find the backing we can so that we can "provide" a "server" which truly serves all. Another response to your original "caution", is that what I have uploaded in note #1 is only a sharing of some notes I jotted down as I sat "brainstorming" late one night (or early one morning). But thank you for raising it. I wonder if what I have offered by way of response here has in any way eased that concern in your mind? What about you others? I like this way of constructing my paper. It's a perfect example of what David was talking about when he pointed out the revolutionary aspect of the word processor, and how it transforms the process.

In working out a response to your response to my response , I pulled out a piece of paper and drew out a diagram with "CMC as a tool for community" at the center in a circle. Along the outside of this circle, I placed related areas: Theological education, Information and resources, Local(BBS's) and National Online services (eg. Ecunet), and the people. CMC serves as a hub through which all these elements come together.

( I wish I were better at the drawing programs I have so I could just attach the graphic file. I'll see what I can do about using a simple line drawing done in my drawing program, and upload it as a .bmp file that any Windows user could view.) As I did this, my idea of a newsletter, both an online version (ie. "New Technology Review Online" on Ecunet, and a print version (that can be "test marketed" ) can be my project. This would still reach out into a lot of areas, but would would have a clear, concise "mission" attached: To "market" Computer Mediated Commuications (CMC) to the church structures in order to begin to move toward building our place in the "Information Infrastructure" My main concern is that I not only achieve the goals of this program for its students, but to help to "create" a job market for myself and those of similar passions and skills. I sense that I need a rather broad stroke in what I deal with in order to avoid a narrower focus that would be unintelligible to those outside the worldof information-technology- literate. I expect that some of this vast area I cover will naturally be weighted in certain areas that I begin to emphasize as I discover the amount of resources for each---- and the amount of "response" I get from the varieties of church leaders in a particular area of research. And I think the magazine, just as other successful publications, will naturally turn more efforts toward the elements which seem to eleicit the highest levels of interest. The print version will more accurately reflect the "demands" of the less computer-literate audience, and the online version, the more experienced in online acitivity. Thanks again for the clarification questions. This probing is helpful.