I am currently on the way back to Omaha from Chicago where we attended The Gospel Coalition Conference. It was a rich time of fellowship with believers from around the world in the gospel of Christ.
Think about it, several thousand people gathered together to encounter and be tutored in preaching Christ from the Old Testament. Very encouraging indeed.
But I have a rock in my shoe.
As I sat and listened to the sermons I was regularly distracted. In each session I sat near guys who felt that they needed to check their Facebook and Twitter as often as Sean Hannity says something negative about President Obama.
Seriously, do you need to know what is being said in your Facebook news feed every minute?
Do you have to check The Gospel Coalition hashtag every 11 seconds? You know, they are probably actually tweeting about what the preacher is saying!
For a movement that is ostensibly about the heralding of the good news many of these guys seem more consumed with whatever is ‘news.’
Too many of these Reformed guys looked more like gum-snapping teeny-boppers at a mall than Bible-saturated men of God at a gospel coalition conference.
I am not saying Facebook is any more evil than snapping gum. But something is awry when guys get together under the banner of Jesus and his Word only to seem preoccupied with neither–in favor of themselves.
If guys are doing this during some of the best preaching around then what are they doing during the rest of the week?
I am certainly not perfect and have my own attention issues. However, this was more in your face than anything I’ve seen at a previous conference. Thankfully it was not everyone or even a majority. It was still distracting. It was the technological equivalent to falling asleep. Which, would have been less distracting.