Integrity Online

I did it. I broke down. I joined the myspace revolution.

Why? Because we probably have about 150 of our students at Wooddale on the sight. Myspace can be a dark place. I'm blown away as I read the things that our students put on the internet for anyone to read. At our Student Ministries staff meeting on Monday we decided that all of the pastoral and program staff would enter the myspace world by April 5.

I can see why myspace world is so addicting to students. In the span of about 12 hours I've had 53 people add me as "friends." Talk about affirmation! I found an old friend from college that I haven't talked with in 15 years and got caught up on his life. It's pretty cool. But, parts of myspace reek of inauthenticity. And the desire to continually go back and check your page to see who has added you as a friend, or who has left a comment, or who said something about your picture is a genuine trip down ego lane.

My wife and I talked before I entered myspace land, and agreed that there was something else that I'd better finally do too. If I was going to spend time in myspace world, I'd better have a better system of online accountability. So, today I signed up for Integrity Online. It's a free program offered by www.xxxchurch.com. Now, while I'm searching online, Integrity Online is discretely recording every web site I visit. If there is any chance that a web site has objectionable content, that site is recorded in the computer's program. Then about every two weeks, my wife will receive an e-mail. That e-mail tells her any potentially objectionable sites that my computer has gone to. Talk about accountability. I'm pretty excited. And, unlike many other similar programs, this program is free.

There is no excuse for men who want to live a life above reproach to not install this software on our computers. I hope you'll give it a try.