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At What Cost: Free E-mail and Free Web Sites
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| I had been thinking about writing this article for a long time but
just never could seem to get motivated. Then the motivation came in the form of the
heading of an email from an IMB missionary. Here is the heading: ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ----------------------- Yes I know it was an advertisement, but the timing really hit me. You see this came right after a number of missionaries had been let go for refusing to sign a document that was going to assure the rest of us that those remaining were sound doctrinally. Now comes an email from one of the certified "sound" missionaries telling me that if I wanted "answers to life's important questions" I could get them by going to a certain website for a "Free Psychic Reading". I have a feeling there is something wrong here. Clearly I am blowing this all out of proportion, but I think it illustrates what happens when we allow other, non-Christian sources to put their choice of advertisements on our emails. In fairness to both the missionary and the International Mission Board neither had any way of knowing what advertisement was going to appear on the email. A computer attached that advertisement to a certain number of emails that were sent through Yahoo's service. There was no malicious intent on Yahoo's part either, so please don't write them to complain. What has been said of email applies just as thoroughly to web site hosting. If the company hosting your website is able to add advertising when your website is displayed you have turned over to them control of what your Baptist Collegiate group is identified with. I have been very surprised a number of times this past year at some of the advertisements appearing on Baptist collegiate websites. I know budgets are tight and you want to be the best steward of the funds entrusted to your group, but is telling the world that Psychic Readings are the answer to Life's questions really where Baptists want to be? I think the cost of free ad-supported email and free ad-supported web hosting is too high The solution to this situation is easy if we recognize the real source of the problem. The problem comes when we want to have someone else pay the cost of our conveniences. It costs money to provide email and web services. These costs are normally handled in one of two ways. Either we pay the costs through subscriptions or the provider covers his costs through selling advertising and does not charge us for the service we receive. Either way, it costs us. The first way is obvious, it costs cash. The second is not so obvious and can be more insidious: It costs us control over what messages are being connected with our good name. There are at least two workable solutions. The first is for employing agencies (mission boards, state conventions, local associations, etc.) to pay the cost of non-ad-sponsored email and web hosting. This recognizes that electronic communications have become an integral part of present day communication with students. If these groups insist on remaining in the 1990's then--unfortunately--the local campus minister will need to ask the family budget or the BSU budget to make a sacrifice to protect the image of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry [and the denominational employee will likewise need to sacrifice to protect that agency] from being associated with Psychic readings or whatever will come next. Given some of the advertisements I have seen recently on TV and received through email, it is not hard to imagine the future. Think about it and ACT! Dick Houston edited by Neil Heath
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