Outreach 2.0 ...
with Bill Seaver
It's All Geek to You
Geeks are everywhere. Being a geek used to be a bad thing. It was something you wanted to avoid. It meant you were smart and probably liked science or technology or sci-fi or gadgets. Today's geeks aren't so different in their interests, but they probably look a lot different than you picture them. They blend in a lot more these days. In fact, they're more likely to look like graphic designers or indie rockers than the pocket-protector-wearing-tape-on-the-glasses-sniffle-and-wipe-his-nose-on-his-sleeve kind of guy you may imagine. Geeks aren't all guys either. There are plenty of girl geeks too. Not geekettes or lady geeks. Just geeks who are girls. So why all this geek speak?
There are Christian geeks and your church likely has several. You may find them running the sound board, website, lights or television cameras at the church. More than likely you're already using them inside the church but have you ever thought about using them outside the church? What if you could use your church's geeks as community ambassadors and know they would be welcomed with open arms into the homes of complete strangers throughout your community? Would you be interested?
Here's something to consider: National electronic store chains have entire squads of geeks hired to meet the technical needs of their communities. These store employees do house calls to fix computers. People pay to have these geeks for hire come into their home and resolve their computer issues. What if your geeks provided the same service for free as a ministry of the church?
It's not often that a community will invite people from a church into their homes, but turn your geeks loose and you may find people will welcome them for some free technical help. Your geeks may resolve a pesky computer virus issue, a problem the printer, or maybe discover someone forget to plug the monitor in. Whatever the case, with all the in-home computers across the country, this is an opportunity for churches to meet a very real need for the community. No, you're not ending world hunger or converting the masses with this outreach strategy, but you may be helping that grandfather who doesn't have anyone else to call or the single mother who just wants her email to work, or the college student a million miles from home without the money to pay a geek for hire. These people need technical help and they probably need spiritual help too. Your geeks can provide assistance with both.
As long as there are computers there will be computer problems. Unleash the geeks in your church to reach out to your community and meet people at another point of need.
Bill Seaver is the president of MicroExplosion Media where he consults businesses and ministries in the development and implementation of new media strategies. For questions or article topic requests contact Bill at Bill@microexplosion.com.
-Outreach magazine, "Web Exclusives," March/April 2008
©2008 Outreach Publishing. All rights Reserved. Usage and reprint permissions.
