Good Stewards of Internet Evangelism Tools
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. 1 Corinthians 4:1
Warning: The verses I have quoted above specifically refer to us being good stewards of grace and the mysteries of God (the gospel). I’m going to ask you to think about them in terms of being good stewards of tools we use to declare the gospel. I’m not sure immediately whether that’s a legitimate use of the verses. I think it is, but I wanted to offer this disclaimer.
On Thursday of last week, my Windows machine crashed, and I’ve been getting blue screens of death ever since whenever I try to restart.
Safe mode is the only thing that will work and if I do that, I don’t get an internet connection. Fortunately, I have a Mac which, although I typically only use it to make sure sites look good in Macintosh-specific browsers, has served me well the past few days. My Windows system has a RAID configuration which mirrors the contents of the main hard drive to a second, hidden hard drive (I’m definitely not an authority on this, so don’t expect me to use the right terminology all the time!). In addition, after the crash, I was able to copy most of my files (except those in use by Windows) to an external hard drive that I quickly went out and bought.
This experience, which frankly has been extremely frustrating (largely because of the manufacturer’s seeming inability to help), has made me think about the importance of guarding against data loss. How can I be a good steward of the tools God has provided for me to use in internet evangelism? I suspect that is a vital, but often ignored, aspect of what we do as internet evangelists.
The majority of sites that I maintain on a regular basis are now using the Expression Engine content management system which allows me to maintain those sites from any computer. What a joy it was today (after feeling powerless in many ways) to be able to make a change for a client in a matter of moments, all because I didn’t have to access an html file on a hard drive, revise it, and then upload it with an FTP program.
I can ultimately feel safe about my data because it is backed up in two spots. My next step, I think, is to find a way to back up the My Documents directory to DVD. The DVD burner on my Windows system is not accessible in safe mode, but I have a laptop, and I think I can connect my new external hard drive and a relatively new external DVD burner which I bought for a different purpose and then back up the My Documents directory to DVDs. I also need to set up some regular, automatic backups of my data to the external hard drive and perhaps some regular, manual backups of the My Documents directory to DVDs (so that the data is always as up-to-date as possible).
The biggest hole in my data backup system is honestly the numerous software applications I use. I keep my installation CDs (unfortunately, many of them are currently in our garage after a major remodel this year, but at least they are retrievable). I also keep installation executables of all software I download from the web. Unfortunately, although I have always told myself that I need to keep a record of serial numbers, I have not done a good job of that. I went through as many applications as I could yesterday on the Windows system (in trying to repair Windows XP, I was actually able to boot to Windows — not in safe mode!) and write down as many serial numbers as I could find. But some applications don’t have the serial numbers listed on the “About ....” menu item. So it remains to be seen how easy it will be to reinstall all my applications. Today, I downloaded a small text file database called TextMe Notes Organizer which will allow me to keep serial numbers and other notes for software applications on the thumb drive I have taken to carrying with me virtually anywhere I go (I’m also keeping a task list and a calendar on the thumb drive).
Brian Bailey has a related post on his blog, the contents of which have been floating around in my mind for months now. Wish I had paid more attention when I first read it. :(
Data backup on multiple media. Anti-virus software. Spyware killers. Keeping installation CDs and executables. Content management systems. What else can we do to safeguard our data and be good stewards of the tools that we use to declare the manifold grace and mysteries of God?
I am very keen to hear the comments of others.
I believe that the internet provides today's church with a historic opportunity .... to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love in ways which could only have been imagined in times past. The objective of this website is to explore the various ways in which today's technology can be used to spread the gospel around the world.
