Church as we know it is changing, that’s a fact… for many that has been a simmering thought for years and for others it’s a brand new awakening.
George Barna documents in his research and publication “Revolution” How and why a new brand of devout Revolutionaries are abandoning the local church building, while attempting to become the Church Christ commissioned it to be.
One of the areas that’s shifting very quickly is the landscape of preaching. There are so many ways to communicate very effectively today and the church can flourish if it takes a 
fresh look. I believe this marks a new era of what I call “The Cyber Pulpit.”
Think with me for a few seconds. When I was paid to be a Christian… (Pastor) 🙂 , I would spend a good deal of time studying to deliver a Biblical based message that I hoped would be significant enough to rattle someone in a significant way as to change how they live.
Now we served a small congregation of roughly 120 people, (BTW the average sized church in North America is somewhere between one and two hundred) And for the most part one third of most congregations are missing on any given Sunday morning.
So why the stats? Because if you simply think about bang for your buck as a paid preacher Facebook is a far better pulpit than the one in your church building.
O ya, that brings up the other point. If your church rents a building where they have to set up and tear down, then the money and energy spent there is also factored into the inefficiency of the podium gymnastics…. And even if you own the space, there’s still the investment of maintenance and electricity bills.
Now before you chuck me under the bus… I can feel the tire treads:). I believe and value the preaching/teaching of the Bible. I simply bring this all up to make the point… we often keep doing the same old 
without asking questions and exploring new methods of effectiveness.
For example… When I ponder Gods word and something potentially impacting comes to mind I post it on Facebook. This God inspired word now travels thousands of miles into hundreds and sometimes thousands of homes, buses, businesses, schools, etc… and impacts people right where they live. Simple, low cost, highly effective.
I’ve prepared and preached hundreds of sermons, and I loved the study and most of the deliveries, but really … Let’s be honest we can be more effective with what we have. Jesus would of been great on twitter “Love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength / Love your neighbor as yourself …. The Jesus Twitter version of the law …
We here at Eastgate believe that there’s great power in diversity among the body of Christians and we support all expressions of fulfilling the mandate of gathering Gods people. It’s our conviction that sharing life and faith both in person and online without having an obligation to a building or pulpit is an exploration of a new fresh wave of revolutionaries.
We can be reaching out to thousands each day if we learn how to turn Biblical truth into daily phrases that have equal anointing and fruit when placed in a ripe environment. So here’s an action point… While
reading or pondering a part of the Bible attempt to write a summary of 140 characters or less without directly quoting.
For Example: Greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world… The potential in us far outweighs the adversity around us… or … Love your neighbor as yourself … Loving others begins with loving our self…Don’t forget to take care of you! (I do this as a regular spiritual activation in my life, where I ask God to bring a scripture to mind and help me transcribe it into language that will relate to someone who follows me on Social Media… I have many times gotten responses back saying that this kind of post was what helped someone make a healthy lifestyle decision or got their minds back on the right track.)
There are potentially thousands of ideas to communicate the hope and freedom God gives us, go ahead give it a try!
Warmly, Chris Wiens