Torch, Fall-Winter 1998 optimized

than just an eavesdropping license where they can just hear what is going on in the classroom. This is interactive; the teacher has a monitor in the back of the room where he can see each of the satellite locations, and the students, wherever they are in the world, can ask questions and participate in the conversation. This is pretty impressive stuff. I immediately began to think in terms of what we could do with that type of technology and equipment in the Bible training programs that Baptist Mid– Missions sponsors around the world. See, we are intent on training and preparing national leadership for growing and maturing national churches. So, I sat there, thinking in terms of what a step forward it would be for those 48 institutions around the world to have this kind of access. But, as I thought about that, my heart sank just a little bit because I realized how quick we are to assume that we have, or could soon have, everything we need apart from God. After seeing that demonstration of video equipment, I wrote to our mission family and said, "I am convinced that having so many technological developments available has to some degree lulled us into thinking we can now do most everything for ourselves." Consider this-how many families that you know live with a concern for their daily bread? After all, in our world astronauts routinely travel in outer space, computer-driven automated teller machines dole out our money, and almost any question can be answered by a short cruise on the Internet. Consequently, we have become tremendously self– dependent. We have learned to depend on our education to take us into the marketplace. We depend on the world's most highly-trained doctors working in the world's best-equipped facilities to meet our medical needs. We depend on bankers who are more than happy to finance the purchase of any dream machine we have convinced ourselves we deserve, and we are surrounded by counselors who can be depended on to address needs we didn't so much as know we had until they pointed them out to us. We rarely have to bother God for anything anymore! The truth is, one of the privileges we have as God's children is to demonstrate God's power. God is omnipotent; that is (continued on page 10) Torch 5