Can you imagine as a web developer how many questions I have had to answer on the technical side of things, even as I was only just beginning to think about an 86-year social media project?  How in the world is it going to last 86 years?  What happens when Twitter is gone?  Shortly after we launched, these are some of the same questions that everyone who has seen the project has begun asking, and so I wanted to address some of these concerns.  Before I get to that though, I would like to focus on something more important, the greater question: what is #TweetTheBible and why is it happening? Welcome to the Insiders’ Blog.

The idea came out of a seemingly random conversation about the kingdom, technology, and the early church.  Just imagine for a second if the early church as a community had social networking.  What if the Apostle Paul had a website or a Twitter account;  would he have used Twitter?  When he wanted to get News to churches far away, would he have sent them an e-mail?  The seed to start a project of this kind had actually been planted long before this particular conversation, but from that conversation came conviction and clarity regarding the what and the when.  I heard a quote once that states, “Technology is a bad master but a good servant.”  That notion impacted me in ways beyond what I could have imagined at the time.  Since then, I have been committed to use it for good, and I know there are others out there who live under the same conviction.  You see, technology can be used for good as it can be used for evil; the user is the difference.  Now, onto the topic at hand.

In 86 years, many things are expected to change, but there will still be technology and there will still be a Christian community.

If you follow #TweetTheBible, over time you will get to see some of the things we have planned and even get opportunities to let us know how we can grow together as a community, but in this blog, I want to answer what I believe are the 3 most pressing questions:

Why?  Don’t we have enough social media Bible initiatives out there?
That is a great question and if that was what I was using to determine whether to proceed with the idea, then I wouldn’t have started it at all.  Here’s what I can tell you: the truth of the matter is I got involved out of sheer conviction that this is I what I’m supposed to do and this is the time in which to do it.  I’m sure the day-to-day details appear a bit sketchy, but of this you can be sure: we are committed to seeing this campaign to its completion in fulfillment of its mission.

Why should people get involved?
We feel like this is a great opportunity to provide a few things: 1) A medium to inspire and empower people to connect and re-connect with the Scriptures. 2) A means for gathering the global Christian community around the Scriptures, connecting us to each other as well. 3) A platform for the Christian community to have a voice outside of our community on real issues happening in the world, calling attention to the fact that God’s Word is not only relevant, but “living and active.”  May our words, actions, and interactions consistently reveal who the person of Jesus the Christ is.

How do you plan on sustaining for 86 years?
86 years is a long time from now and even to say any of us has a solid idea of how everything will play out would be frivolous, but we do have some contingency plans we are working on right now that will facilitate such an undertaking.  Our main focus is to put all of our effort into making the most of each day and planning for the immediate future.  We plan to stick to it as long as we live and then to pass it on to another generation to finish (if Christ has not returned by then).  God has blessed us with a glimmer of hope, and we are confident that He will bring the mission to its proper completion as we press on decidedly toward the finish line.  ”Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Being as #ttb is only in its infancy, we have a lot to learn and develop.  We have no shortage of ideas, and ideally, they will all work.  As of yet, some are not ready to be implemented and may not be for some time, and some we are fine-tuning with the hopes of releasing them in 2012.  One thing we can all attest to is that we can neither control life itself nor see into the future, so the only thing we are fully committed to is doing our best to fully utilize every medium around social media to help connect and re-connect people to the Bible.  As individuals who are heavily influenced by the truths in the Bible and striving to live in accordance with them, we are doing nothing more than letting our faith impact our use of social media by expressing it to those who share it or want to know more about the Bible and its views on the times in which we live.  We invite you to join our community and grow with us; we all have a lot to learn from the Scriptures and each other.

Anthony J. and the #ttb Team

#ttb, answers, future plans, questions