Podcasting is Wesleyan!

Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church, has this great post. It is an excerpt from an article he wrote. It makes the connection between field preaching in the Wesleyan revival and podcasting day. I think Mark's background is that he is AG (Assembly of God). It is great to see someone apppreciate Mr. Wesley!! Below is part of the post. Read the whole thing here.

Carpe Digital
I have a growing conviction: the Church should be in the business of redeeming technology and using it to serve God's purposes.

Isn't that what Johann Gutenberg did? He redeemed the printing press and used it to get more Bibles into more hands. Why not redeem the iPod and turn it into a high-tech tool for e-vangelism or digital discipleship? The message is sacred, but the medium isn't. The church needs to use any and every medium at its disposal to share the gospel with as many people as possible. It's a stewardship issue. We're far too analogical in our approach to ministry. We've got to carpe digital.

Who said preachers have to preach from behind a pulpit and parishioners have to listen while seated on wooden pews?

In 1728, John Wesley was ordained into the Anglican priesthood. It was assumed that preaching would take place behind a pulpit inside the four walls of a church sanctuary. The hierarchy within the Church of England considered preaching outdoors a violation of canon law. John Wesley broke the law and broke the mold.

Wesley wasn't trying to be different for difference sake. His unorthodox methodology of "field preaching" and "circuit riding" led to disenfranchisement and death threats. Wesley even admitted in 1772: "To this day, field preaching is a cross to me." So why did Wesley take his preaching offsite? In his own words: "I look upon the world as my parish."

Maybe we've quarantined the gospel within the four walls of church buildings long enough?Wesley preached his first outdoor sermon on April 2, 1739. Over the next fifty years, Wesley preached more than 40,000 sermons; traveled 250,000 miles on horseback; and saw 150,000 people convert to Christ.

What does that have to do with podcasting?Podcasting is field preaching. Podcasting is circuit riding at the speed of light. Without having to saddle up, digital technology enables any preacher to travel 250,000 miles and preach 40,000 sermons with the click of a mouse!I'll be the first person to say that podcasting is a poor substitute for church. But it's a great supplement.Here's a sobering fact for those of us who are part of the preaching clan: 95% of what we say is forgotten within three days! But retention rates are more than doubled if we hear or read something twice. That's why I email a written version of my weekend messages to several thousand subscribers. That weekly evotional enables NCCers to read what they've heard. It's a double dose of every message. Podcasting has the same effect. We encourage double dipping at NCC!