I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I spent part of my lunch hour yesterday reading updates from a Wall Street Journal reporter who was live-blogging the Apple press conference.

I’m not even an Apple fan. I actually prefer using a PC—and my smartphone is an Android.

Still, there’s something fascinating about Apple and its rabid fan base.

All sorts of rumors were circulating this week about the possible release of the iPhone 5—turns out it’s only going to be the 4S—and the possibility of number three mobile carrier Sprint getting an exclusive on the new phone (they’re not, apparently.) Even so, Sprint will finally be offering the coveted device, and Apple will likely gain millions of customers from their fold.

When it comes to technology, I’m definitely not a Luddite, but I’m not an early adopter either. I like to stay ahead of the curve—but not to the point that I’m obsessing over the latest gadgets. For me, it’s all about efficiency. If I can get more work done and make my life easier, then new technology is worth the investment. Otherwise, it’s only a toy and I probably don’t need it yet. (When is my phone upgrade coming up again?)

With more and more people buying smartphones, Christians have the opportunity to communicate God’s word to more people now than ever before. Churches can broadcast their services, Bible studies, sermons, or whatever else they want to share with their members and potential visitors.

The big temptation for churches is using technology for the sake of the technology itself—to be in the “club” with the “cutting-edge” churches. But as images get sharper, sounds get richer, and video gets more “high-def”, mediocre content will start to seem even worse than it really is.

Put another way, the days of posting half-baked sermons and poorly edited worship services are coming to a close.

Not that your church does that. But plenty do.

Practically everyone has a smartphone now, so that means everyone has their own bullhorn. It also means there’s a lot of noise out there. Content has to reach a certain level of quality to get noticed, and even that’s not a guarantee. The cream rises to the top.

Will all the people rushing to get the latest iPhone think that what your church has to say is worth using up part of the bandwidth on their metered data plan?

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