The Next Big Thing
Approximately 30 years ago, during the dot-com bubble, Silicon Valley was abuzz with new technological and entrepreneurial ideas that took advantage of the internet. The first big thing introduced in 1994 was the web search engine. The first real text-based search engine was not Google as we so widely affiliate with today, but WebCrawler. By allowing users to use a text-based search for any website domain, it established the standard for search that exists even today. After the introduction of WebCrawler, search engines started to appear all over the place. Some of these included, InfoSeek, Magellan, AltaVista, and AskJeeves.
The late 90’s was the climax of the dot-com bubble. And the next big thing introduced into the technological world was blogging. Open Diary was launched in 1998, the first ever to introduce commenting on blog posts. This immediately became a sensation. LiveJournal launched a year later, and Friendster, along with Xanga arrived on the scene a couple years later. Entrepreneurs recognized the rave that swept over the world in posting, sharing, and being connected together via the world wide web.
In 2001, the next big thing in the tech industry became portable digital handheld music devices. Yes, previously mp3 players had existed. But for the first time ever, Apple introduced an mp3 player that had a pleasant user-interface, with the capacity to store “1,000 songs in your pocket” -previously unheard of. These devices were widely successful, and soon, the rest of Silicon Valley followed suit. Within the next 5-7 years, multiple companies developing mp3 players, such as the Microsoft Zune, Sandisk Sansa, Creative Zen, Cowon, and Archos. Strangely, they all seemed to resemble the iPod in one form or the other.
Amazon in 2007 introduced the Kindle, which was the first e-reader made right. It was easy to use, light, and portable. Within 2 years, rival Barnes & Noble came out with the Nook, and this is not to mention the other e-readers made later by Sony, iRiver, and Apple. This innovation put the print industry in severe jeopardy.
In the same year, another technological revolution had occurred with the introduction of the Apple iPhone. This next big thing could probably be classified as the single most revolutionary handheld device ever to be made. The OS was phenomenal, and the phone still offered a seamless music download experience with iTunes. But more than the phone, and even more than the user interface, was probably the introduction of apps, not only to consumers but to developers. What the iPhone did was to single-handedly incorporate almost every single portable application in the world , onto a phone. Its hardware, such as the accelerometer, allowed for the development of applications never before previously seen on a phone. Without apps, the iPhone is just a phone and a music player. With apps, the iPhone becomes a GPS, a social networking tool, a portable gaming device, a surveillance device, you name it. The possibilities are limitless. All the world’s technologies, stored on one device, the iPhone. Of course, apps existed before, such as on the Blackberry, but somehow they weren’t “cool.” Apple found a way to make them appeal more to a wide variety of consumers.
Because this new product was so phenomenal, the major companies began to scramble in developing their own mobile operating systems. Microsoft with their Windows Mobile, Palm with their Palm OS, Google with their open-source Android, and even RIM realized that the old user interface on their Blackberrys just wasn’t going to cut it for the consumer market, even despite its military-grade email security. On the hardware end, companies such as Palm, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia, all tried to develop the iPhone killer, and for a while to no avail.
Whenever the next big thing is introduced, we see very distinctly that there are two different parties: the one that innovated, and the rest who re-invented. There are only two. One introduces something that shakes the world. The rest ride on this innovation.
If we examine the same time period through the lens of Adventism, we see that in 2002, the big thing was the start of an unashamedly Biblical young people movement called the General Youth Conference, now known as the Generation of Youth for Christ. For the first time, in a long time, this was a meeting that brought conservative, Biblical speakers and teachers together to one place to guide serious young people. In the midst of all the liberalism and watered-down doctrines that crept into the church, a group of young people finally took a defiant and bold stance that true Adventism was the Bible, and the Bible only.
In a span of five years, GYC grew to almost 5000 attendees yearly. It became the movement of all movements in the modern era.
The problem is, that today many smaller movements have sprung up at a rapid pace that is hard for even GYC to keep up with. And all these smaller movements, want to be the next GYC. You have AYC, Acts for Christ, SEYC, WYC, GYC Atlantic, or GYC Espanol. A GYC for every graphical region known to man: North, South, East, West, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, SouthNorth, EastWest, NorthEastSouthWest, WestSouthEastNorth, you name it. Conservative speakers, 3-5 days including the weekend, seminars, workshops, ministry booths, and of course, Sabbath afternoon outreach. Presidents, Vice-Presidents, or Executive Secretaries, and the Board of Directors. There are replicas of the original GYC all over the world.
But when is the next big thing? Within the confines of what is Biblical, and what is Christ’s method, where is the thinking, the struggling, the praying, the planning that leads to the next big thing? Where is the creativity and the innovation in saving souls and preaching the gospel? Has the Adventist movement simply been relegated to planning a 3-5 day conference with great messages, and high-profile speakers?
Spirit of Prophecy tells us that there will be a revival of primitive godliness not witnessed since apostolic times. Jesus tells us that he who believes in Him, will do even greater works. The Bible tells us that in these last days, the Three Angels Message is preached with a loud cry. If there was ever a time for the next big thing to happen, that time is now. So the question is, will you lead the next big thing, or will you simply ride the wave like everyone else?