Today is the first day of Lent, a 40 day season of the historical church year leading up to Easter, also metaphorically corresponding to the 40 days Jesus was tempted while fasting in the desert. Originally, Lent was a period of intense fasting and prayer that believers went through prior to being baptized at the Easter Vigil. It then became a period where believers abstained from eating meat and concentrated on prayer. Today many Orthodox and Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays (hence why there are so many “Fish Fry’s” on Fridays and fish specials during this time of year). Other evangelical traditions encourage people to give something up for Lent, in order to focus on scripture and prayer.

The most popular thing people are giving up for Lent this year is Facebook. And then of course there is the old joke, “I’m giving up giving something up for Lent.”

Me personally, I’m giving up for Lent. I’m going to stop trying to base my spirituality on my own performance. I’m going to try to stop relying on myself to obtain victory over sin in my life. I’m simply going to give up, and give it all over to Christ. And hopefully I make this a life-long change.

What are you giving up for Lent?

It’s been awhile since I’ve discussed some of the features of this website and ways you can connect with my wife and I. First things first, the feed.

The RSS feed of any site is the best way to stay continually updated about new content. The feed subscription options on this site are located in the left column directly underneath the logo. You can read a feed in a free RSS reader such as G-Reader or Bloglines, or you can subscribe by email.

Below that, you will notice that you can follow me on twitter, which is another way to stay updated on blog content and interact with me about blog posts and anything else. I will automatically follow anyone on twitter who follows me, so we’ll instantly be friends!

My wife and I also have Facebook accounts. Blog content is posted on Facebook as well. Become my friend on Facebook by clicking here. You can also become my wife’s friend by clicking here.

You also can share blog posts that you enjoy or wish to discuss using various social media sites such as the ones listed above, as well as services such as Digg, reddit, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc. At the bottom of every post are these buttons:

Notice that you can share any post on twitter using the ‘tweet this’ button. If you mouse over the bookmark button, you will see the following:

These are the services on which you can quickly and easily share my posts. Take advantage of these as you discuss these posts.

And of course, last but not least, you can comment on any post. This has already been taken advantage of by many readers, and we’ve had some great discussions!

I just wanted to remind or perhaps teach you about some of the ways you can connect @prayeramedic.com!

Two statistics jumped out at me that I repeatedly heard after the election:

2/3 of voters between the ages of 18-29 voted for Obama.

The internet surpassed television and print media as the news source this election for the first time in history (with 70% of voters saying media is biased and cannot be trusted).

While neither of these statistics may come as a surprise to most people, they really are quite profound. First it shows that the generation that has disappeared from church essentially decided this entire election, showing a clear battle of modernism vs. postmodernism (postmodernists won last night). Second it confirms that the credibility of the media has been lost, particularly amongst those in my generation. Very intriguing.

I think the church needs to wake up to these two statistics. You will not reach my generation with modernist thinking and the strong political involvement that characterizes many in the church these days. You will not sway my generation with well-designed tracts, commercials, bulletin boards, etc. My generation has all but stopped paying attention to any source but the internet. And most of us are well involved in Web 2.0 — it’s not enough just to post a static web site. We must have a way to connect and interact — it must be relational.

Barack Obama figured that out, and built an entire community online of supporters, mobilizing and equipping them with what they needed to promote his cause. McCain, still very set in his modernist approach, practically excluded the Web 2.0 community from his campaign. It doesn’t help that many of his followers are Web 2.0 illiterate. But many aren’t — I know several of them.

Wake up! It’s about time your church got a Twitter account, Facebook profile, self-hosted or free blog, and a dynamic web site linking all of these services together in a meaningful expression of who you are as members of the Body of Christ. This election sent some clear messages that should not be overlooked about the future of our faith – Christianity 2.0.

I gleaned the term “friendonomics” from Scott Brown in a Wired article he wrote about Facebook. In that article, he says,

Thanks to Facebook, I never lose touch with anyone. And that, my Friend, is a problem.

Hey, want to be my friend? It’s more than possible; it’s probable. Hell, we may already be friends—I haven’t checked my email in a few minutes. And once we are, we will be, as they say, 4-eva. A perusal of my Facebook Friend roster reveals that I, a medium-social individual of only middling lifetime popularity, have never lost a friend. They’re all there: elementary school friends, high school friends, college friends, work friends, friends of friends, friends of ex-girlfriends—the constellation of familiar faces crowds my Friendbox like medals on Mussolini’s chest. I’m Friend-rich—at least onscreen. I’ve never lost touch with anyone, it seems. What I’ve lost is the right to lose touch. This says less about my innate lovability, I think, than about the current inflated state of Friendonomics.

Yes, I know he said ‘hell’, so did Jesus — get over it. Aside from that, this raises a serious point. I’ve written about Facebook before, and I’ve even mentioned how you never lose touch with people using the service, but Brown really hit the nail on head when he said, “What I’ve lost is the right to lose touch.” He goes on to say:

“A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature,” Emerson wrote, not bothering to add, “and like most things natural, friendship is biodegradable.” We scrawl “Friends Forever” in yearbooks, but we quietly realize, with relief, that some bonds are meant to be shed, like snakeskin or a Showtime subscription. It’s nature’s way of allowing you to change, adapt, evolve, or devolve as you wish—and freeing you from the exhaustion of multifront friend maintenance. Fine, you can “Remove Friend,” but what kind of [person] actually does that? Deletion is scary—and, we’re told, unnecessary in the Petabyte Age. That’s what made good old-fashioned losing touch so wonderful—friendships, like long-forgotten photos and mixtapes, would distort and slowly whistle into oblivion, quite naturally, nothing personal. It was sweet and sad and, though you’d rarely admit it, necessary.

And maybe that’s the answer: A Facebook app we’ll call the Fade Utility. Untended Friends would gradually display a sepia cast on the picture, a blurring of the neglected profile—perhaps a coffee stain might appear on it or an unrelated phone number or grocery list. The individual’s status updates might fade and get smaller. The user may then choose to notice and reach out to the person in some meaningful way—no pokes! Or they might pretend not to notice. Without making a choice, they could simply let that person go. Would that really be so awful?

I thought this was a neat idea about a ‘Fade Utility’, but aside from that, why has “friendonomics” become such an issue? I think a lot of people in my generation and younger migrate from Myspace to Facebook once they get a few years into college, in order to do away with the past, but often the old friends find you there, too. Myspace is even trying to replicate Facebook lately, with the creation of “Apps”, “People You May Know”, and other Facebook-cloned programs.

I think this causes a huge stunt in maturity for many Web 2.0 kiddies. And it’s beginning to stunt the growth of Busters and Boomers who are new to the technology as well, as they get caught up in the friend-o-drama of “friendonomics”. In real life, you simply “fall out of touch” with people, but in Web 2.0, you have to intentionally delete them as a friend. That causes a major crisis of conscience for many, and so they stay connected to hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of people whom they never interact with on a regular basis, aside from social networking antics such as “getting poked” or being invited to take part in some ridiculous application or cause.

What does this mean for Christianity 2.0? I really don’t think is a whole lot different from how the faith looks now, actually. What do I mean? Well, you show up for church on Sunday mornings, and there’s a whole slew of people you only interact with in that setting. In many cases, neither party really opens up to the other in a real and meaningful way, and they may even be annoyed by each other. Still, they continue to say “peace of the Lord” to one another every Sunday with a smile, never making any real connection. Take this over to the Web 2.0 realm, where now they’ve become friends on Myspace (or Facebook). They look at each others’ family photos, comment on one another’s walls on holidays and on each others’ birthdays, and they may even be sure to include them in their “top friends.” But what constitutes a “top friend”? And why so cordial with no real connection?

I’m not exempting myself here, I do it all the time — but I’m sick of it. My wife and I have been very blunt and authentic with people lately, and it’s not very popular. But you sure learn who your friends are quick. How can we be more blunt and “real” using Web 2.0? What can the church do to ensure that Christianity 2.0 isn’t a game of Schrades, where we all play our respective roles?

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.” –William Shakespeare

Church folks typically hide their sins and trade more noticeable sins for ones that are easier to hide. I think one of Satan’s best tactical deceptions has been to get God’s people to associate most sins with shame, guilt and embarrassment — and thus not share them. The worst part is that Satan has gotten church people to view people who struggle with sin more negatively. Most people in church will readily confess that they are sinful, but few can point to specific sins they struggle with or have been delivered from. Without real sin, there is no real Savior! But if your sin is real, then your Savior must be also! The reason we struggle with “dead churches” is that we have lost our gratitude — because we do not truly see ourselves as being sinful.

The Bible says to “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). I don’t know about you, but I long for that healing, and the transparency and profound relationships that come through it.

So where do we go from here? I’d say being yourself, i.e. becoming authentic is a great start. And after you can do that, it’s time to do some friend-purging. . . .

An article in the Associated Press today made the point that young adults today seems to be the most influenced in regards to religion, politics, ideology, etc. while in college. The interesting point though was that it’s not professors who influence them the most, but their peers. The article begins by saying:

On issues such as abortion, gay marriage and religion, college students shift noticeably to the left from the time they arrive on campus through their junior year, new research shows.

The reason, according to UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, isn’t indoctrination by left-leaning faculty but rather the more powerful influence of fellow students. And at most colleges, left-leaning peer groups are more common than conservative ones. . . .

The percentage [of college students] who never attend religious services nearly doubled to 37.5 percent.

Hmm, makes you think, doesn’t it? Pirated music isn’t the only thing being transferred through peer-to-peer sharing. It looks like quite a few ideas are being shared that radically change people’s worldview during college.

Identity Formation
Part of this could be because college students are in a crucial identity formation stage where they are seeking input about who they are and what they really believe and value. Psychologist Erik Erikson proposed his stages of psychosocial development, and the two stages relevant to our discussion are adolescence and young adulthood. He proposes that in each stage we are presented with a conflict that is to be resolved, and satisfactory resolution of the conflict indicates whether or not we will progress and mature in a healthy way. The primary conflict of adolescence, from the teens into the early 20’s, is what Erikson calls “Identity vs. Role Confusion.” The main question in this stage is “Who am I?” The adolescent is very concerned with fitting in and being accepted. If the main influence from their peers is liberal agnosticism, what do you think they’ll believe? In the next stage of young adulthood, which Erikson defines as 20’s to 40 years, the primary conflict is “Intimacy vs. Isolation.” The young adult begins to ask, “Am I loved and wanted?” Don’t you think it is important for more mature adults to be instructing young adults from the Bible during this crucial stage in life?

The College Peer-to-Peer Idea Sharing Network: Facebook
I was sitting in a coffee shop in Naperville, IL yesterday waiting for my wife to finish an appointment. I began listening to the conversations of the people sitting around me, who happened to be mostly young adults close to my age. If I had a dollar for the number of times I heard the word “facebook,” I could have bought everybody in the place an overpriced cappuccino. For those of you who aren’t familiar, facebook is a social networking site that was initially available only to college students, which is what I was when I joined in 2004, shortly after its inception. Since 2006, anyone can join (for more information on facebook, see this Wikipedia article).

People who didn’t even have computers in front of them at the moment were talking about their recent interactions on facebook. Myspace was also mentioned a few times, but it is losing popularity among students entering their sophomore year of college who want to leave high school drama behind.

This is huge! While just five years ago you probably had to become a college student or at least live near a college campus in order to influence the lives of students, now anyone can jump onto facebook and begin forming meaningful relationships with them! With the aid of $5 webcam, cheap PC mic, and a free skype account, you can even chat “face to face” with students. Being a technological genius is not necessary, simply caring enough to try is all you need. I went through a period of extreme depression in college and dropped out at one point, and an older couple was instrumental in helping me get back on my feet. By the way, I consider them as adopted parents today, and I keep in touch with them on facebook! They have grandchildren, so don’t tell me you can’t learn how to do this.

But Why Would College Students Listen To Me?
Relevance is not a prerequisite, only a heart that cares. Remember what I wrote about identity formation at this stage in life? The three main things a young adult wants to know are: “Am I accepted?” “Am I significant?” “Am I secure, free to be myself?” Guess what? prayeramedic.com has already developed a tool to help you answer these questions scripturally. It’s called the Truth Sheets and they are available for free on this website! The Truth Sheets are fully customizable, so you can input someone’s name into them and print them out, or simply send the link to someone. P.S. the link is http://prayeramedic.com/truth-sheets/

And if you just aren’t sure where or how to get started on facebook, I’d love to help you. Click here to add me as a friend on facebook, then send me a message mentioning this blog and I’ll be happy to help you as much as I can! If I don’t recognize you I will probably send you a message asking you where I know you from prior to adding you as a friend anyways. Just mention this blog post and it’ll all be kosher.

Anyways, I hope this post helped you understand that you don’t need to be a Web 2.0 guru to become a mentor in the life of a young adult, you simply need to care. I also hope I convinced you to join facebook if you haven’t already, as it is a powerful tool that allows you to share ideas with a generation that desperately needs your Godly input.

• How might the anonymity of facebook make it easier for a young adult to open their heart to you? How could it make it more difficult?
• Do you feel as though Web 2.0 is a valuable tool for discipling the next generation?
• Does your fear of inadequacy inhibit you from stepping into the world of Web 2.0 or sharing your ideas with a young adult? Do the truth sheets apply to people of all ages and stages in life?