Pl@net Internet

Recently I watched a 1994 Today Show segment. Morning anchors Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric were confused as to what the internet was all about. They had an on-air disagreement about what the @ symbol means. One said it meant about; the other said at. At one point, Couric asked, What is internet? An off-air staff member gave them some idea what it was and said it is growing in importance. That was 17 years ago. Today people in the most remote places of the earth know about the internet. Its importance is realized in the seats of power as witnessed by the Egyptian governments effort to shut down the internet during its political uprising. Today everyone knows what the internet is. Everyone knows it is extremely powerful.

What does this have to do with kids? Everything! Today every boy and girl lives in a world that has the internet. Theyve never known a time without it. An amazing amount of information is just a keystroke away. Children today are citizens of an internet society. They were born into it. They are natives. Many adults can feel like aliens and strangers in a new land. We can sympathize with Bryant Gumble and Katie Couric as they were investigating a strange new planet called Internet.

The point is that we need to understand how to minister to kids who are internet-savvy. In a sense we are missionaries to an internet culture. We need to harness the opportunities that the internet offers and make the most of it. Fo ...