Have Free Internet Teachings Made Traveling Teachers Obsolete?

No.

Getting the word out by any means possible is not a new thing.  Teaching ministries have used books, direct mail, movies, radio, television, internet videos, internet streaming, reel-to-reel tapes, 8-track tapes, CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, web pages, social media and the like to get the good news out.  Yet in every new generation, there are new teachers.  That HAS to the case, because all five ministry offices were given until we’re all perfect after Jesus comes back (Ephesians 4:11-16).

When it comes to online content, someone has to CREATE it.  So there will always be a need for teachers.  Now the question is, do we need the traditional traveling teachers who go from church to church, or are we more resource-efficient if we just let teachers teach over the internet?

A flesh-and-blood teacher should bring some important things to the table (not just the book table, either) when he visits a church.

First, a Spirit-anointed teacher should be able to bring forth the truths that an individual local church needs to hear.  Rather than leaving everyone to search the internet, he can bring forth a word in due season that will bless that particular church.  People can search for what they want to hear on the internet, but an in-person speaker can deliver what the Lord knows they NEED to hear, which may be different.

Second, a Spirit-anointed teacher can flow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The particular ones may differ by ministry, but EVERYONE is to flow in the Holy Spirit in one way or another.  It’s hard to flow that way over the internet.  I’m not saying certain gifts couldn’t ever flow – I was just part of a webinar two days before I wrote this where multiple minsters shared prophetic words for others.  My wife and I have seen various illnesses disappear, including stage 4 cancer, as we ministered over the telephone.  But those were also real-time propositions, not just the person on the other end accessing someone’s library of internet teaching.  In particular, I would never want you to substitute my book for live events with Spirit-filled ministers.  You need them!

Third, a Spirit-anointed teacher just has a certain aspect to his gifting that can make local pastors jealous if they’re not “teaching gifts” themselves – the “Aha Factor!”  A teaching gift can sometimes show up in a church and suddenly the people get excited because they “see” what they’ve never seen and “get” what they’ve never gotten.  The pastor may note in exasperation that he had been teaching on the same subject for the last six months and people didn’t seem to “get” it.  (I had a pastor say that to me as well as people who go to good churches where the Word is taught well.  But I know that I have a teaching gift from God.)

Fourth, a Spirit-anointed teacher can take and answer questions (if he dares).  It’s one thing to have to hunt for things online, but it’s nice to be able to ask someone in person a question that’s been bothering you for a long time and get an immediate answer.  Usually there are others present who wanted to ask the same question, but perhaps didn’t dare.

Fifth, adding on to the fourth point, a Spirit-anointed teacher will sometimes answer people’s questions before they ask them!  The Holy Spirit can show him what to say within his message that will answer those questions.  Then people will come up afterward (as they have with me) and say, “I wanted to ask thus-and-such, but you answered it before I could ask it!”

Sixth, teachers are one of the five ministry offices that will continue until Jesus returns.  If good internet teaching could get the entire job done, we could cease having teachers after one generation of teachers floods the internet with good material.

So no, I don’t think traveling teachers are obsolete.

And while I’m at it, I will also say that internet churches and multi-campus churches that simulcast messages have not made local pastors obsolete either!  I don’t see anything wrong with having a multi-campus church that runs the mother church’s simulcasts – as long as there is LOCAL pastoral help available.  Such churches have pros and cons – the people typically get really good messages at the expense of having a local person there who might even get to answer questions in a smaller setting.  Sunday mornings probably seem less personal.  However, if there is no LOCAL pastor there to take care of the sheep, it is really no better (in my opinion) than people just being “e-members” of a far-away church.  I can understand someone in a home wanting to be an e-member somewhere, but wouldn’t it be even better if that person could receive personal ministry from a local pastor?  I don’t care how good a pastor is – he can’t lay hands on you over the internet!  I know that God does work through gifts of the Spirit over media in some cases.  I’ve seen speakers with words of knowledge for people who were not in the physical service but who were watching over the internet.  Still, there is no replacement for a pastor who can counsel you confidentially in person.  (If you’re a single pastor, you should not counsel someone of the opposite sex alone, so you may need to do it by phone.  When you can’t see each other’s body language, it makes it harder, though.  The alternative is to have a third party present.)

I am grateful to live in a day where technology allows this book to be reproduced all over the world for free without waiting for printing presses, delivery trucks, and so on.  But technology, great as it is, will never replace a local flow of the Holy Spirit through physically present people.