PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

January 17, 2024

THE DAILY

Wednesday, February 2^nd, I like millions of other Hoosiers found myself pretty much confined to the house.  In brief spurts I would venture forth to make sure the birds had something to eat and begin work on clearing the snow off of my driveway so I could take advantage of the sun which periodically appeared.

As I was sitting in front of the television, taking a break, Fox News reported live on the launch of “The Daily,” a sort of high tech newspaper that one can receive on their Apple ipad.  The launch was introduced by Rupert Murdock, the head of the group which created “The Daily” in conjunction with Apple.

It was somewhat ironical that on a day that it was very likely that many newspapers would not be able to deliver their papers because of the blizzard that was raging across our country, “The Daily” should be a way to distribute news that did not need paper, printing presses, or trucks.  While the verdict is still out on how successful “The Daily” will be, it does suggest how many of us will be receiving our news in the future.

In making his introduction Murdock reminded his audience that the primary mission of his corporation was to distribute new, not publish hard copy newspapers.  “The Daily” was a result of persons asking how the corporation could best fulfill their mission in our changing times.  They did not ask how they could make their present way of doing things more profitable.

In the early days of the Christian faith, the leadership was faced with a similar dilemma.  Was their mission to maintain the institutions of the Jewish faith or to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ?  Were they in the business of maintaining established practices, tradition, and customs or be on the cutting edge of what God was doing in His world in their time?

Today, churches still find themselves faced with the same choice.  Are they in the business of maintaining the institutional Christian religion or are they looking for ways, give the current culture, of presenting the Gospel and finding avenues for its expression?

Newspapers across this country are going through difficult times.  They are struggling just to keep their heads above water.  Rather than focusing on their mission to distribute news, they tend to focus on how to pay the bills and maintain long standing ways of delivering their product.

While it might be unrealistic at the present time for local, hometown newspapers to become like “The Daily, its creation does raise the bar of possible ways of distributing local news to the folks. The old ways of doing business would seem doomed.  Never-the-less, someone will come up with a new and viable way of reporting what is happening locally given modern technology.  New innovations may make it possible for every town to have their own virtual newspaper.

It would seem unlikely that I will be writing this column twenty years from now.  However, I would suspect someone will be producing one like it.  They will not be limited by the restrictions of the print media, having all of the tools of new technology to tell the story.

(This article was originally published February 6, 2011.  Comments may be sent to davidh1550#2embarqmail.com.)