ReadWriteWeb featured Flat World Knowledge on their blog today. “Flat World Knowledge started out with a revolutionary idea, which was to start creating and publishing college textbooks that were absolutely free online.” This business model has been launched with $8 million from venture capitalists. What I find more exciting than free college texts books, is that Flat World is integrating social reading tools into their system.

Someone need to hop onto this model quick!!

Last week I took a few students from Castle Hills Christian Church, where I work as youth & young adult minister, on what we called the “Spring Break College Tour,” visiting Christian Colleges and Universities here in Texas. I had never stepped on the campus of Abeline Christian University or really even interacted with ACU until this trip. Right away, I was impressed, especially by their Mobile Learning Initiative.

ACU Mobile Learning from ACU Videos on Vimeo.

At first, giving iPhones to incoming freshmen seemed a little gimmicky, but the longer I listened, the more I liked it. ACU truly seeking to integrate cutting edge mobile technology into the college experience. They have 22 ACU exclusive apps, everything from mobile quiz taking and downloadable class lectures, to a map of campus. As a result of the Mobile Learning Initiative, Alcatel-Lucent selected ACU as one of the first recipients of the Dynamic Enterprise Award.

I am not saying that ACU has achieved perfection in the arena of Christian Education (let alone ministry training). What I am saying is that they are doing something well. Most churches and Christian educational institutions are so far behind on technology. And, for so many people (especially 18 to 20 somethings, like those typically found enrolled in college) mobile technology is (like say the iPhone) integrated into their everyday lives. I believe many educational institutions are now realizing that the traditional models and methods of education won’t cut it any longer. Unfortunately, many of these institutions are caught in the “deer in headlights” type position. If this isn’t soon remedied, they will get run over. Students are becoming less and less tolerant of outdated education.

What ACU is doing, may not be enough though. Their model is still mostly limited to the come here and experience model. At some point, I believe, students will begin asking, if I can view all of my class lectures and take all of my quizzes on my newly acquired iPhone, can you explain to me why I have to pay you $30,000 a year and come to you? Is it all together possible that the future classroom will exist wherever you happen to be?

The iPhone has become a huge open-source market. Apple has given away development tools, and is encouraging developers to distribute their apps. This is an open door for Christian educators, churches, and ministry mentors to take the iPhone technology and run with it. They sky is the limit.

Along similar lines, I think the Kindle 2 is a completely untapped resource for [Christian/ministry] education. Completely portable. Under $400. Over 245,000 book are already available for download (and you can send a harassing e-mail request to the publisher of books not available). There are 2 features that I believe make the Kindle prime for educational use. One, you can highlight text, make notes and e-mail them. Can you say book report? Two, you can e-mail Word or PDF documents to the Kindle, like say class syllabus, notes, or assignments.

It doesn’t exists yet, but the ability to read socially via the Kindle doesn’t seem far off. If someone at Amazon saw potential for Kindle as an educational tool, I’m sure a software update would come quickly.

Discussions about educational technology do not answer larger questions of educational philosophy, but I believe they must be at the forefront of any discussion regarding changing how we train people for ministry. Technological advances fuel the future. We cannot be married to technology, but we also cannot let our inability to be innovative (technologically) handicap us. Unlike many of our predecessors, we must unshackle ourselves and utilize the cutting edge.

“I’m wondering why we insist on sending guys who want to be preachers and church planters off to Bible college and seminary for four years (or more). Would it not be more beneficial for a guy to be mentored and coached by the staff of his local church? He could learn the ins and outs of ministry on the field instead of in the abstract theories of the classroom. And he wouldn’t amass a huge amount of college debt that will take him at least a decade to pay off… and the chances are high that he’ll be out of “professional ministry” a few years before he gets his education paid for.”

It seems to have drawn out some helpful conversation and has got me thinking. If there were no limits, traditions, or built in assumptions, what would be the best way to train people to do ministry? I will try to wrap words around my initial thoughts in a few posts over the next week or so. In the mean time, show Aaron some love.

This caused me to experiment with something recently. I began following @prayingpsalms. @prayingpsalms tweets a verse from a Psalm every hour. I’ve been following for a few weeks and here are my thoughts.

1-I like the regularity. I have started taking the time out to stop, read and pray every hour. I have always gotten a lot out of praying through the Bible. This is a consistent way for me experience this.

2-I enjoy the spiritual distraction. Let me explain. My days tend to get busy. A lot of things are vying for my attention. These tweets catch my attention and give me an excuse to take a break and do something kind of spiritual for a few seconds.

3-They can be redundant. I’m not sure if they recycle the Psalms or if they just tend to sounds alike, but there seems to be a lot of repetition.

4-This is only a small glimpse of what tech-spirituality could be.

Here’s my job for you. Let your brains go crazy. What does the future hold for spirituality?