I’ve Never Understood Computers (Super Cool Person Of The Week!)

Jul 28, 2005

Our executive pastor, Jason Moorhead, has a baseball bat in his office for some reason. I have yet to figure out why; however, one thing I do know is that it is a good thing that the bat isn’t in my office. Why? Because if it were then my computer would no longer exist.

Be honest with me—if you own or use a computer of some sort—hasn’t there been a time or two when you wished for a bat…or a stick of dynamite…or a sledgehammer? It seems that these instruments know exactly how to make our lives miserable…and they seem to crash in the moments when we need them the most.

I know, I know—some geek out there is going to e-mail me and try to convince me that computers are our friends…don’t waste your time.

In all seriousness—I don’t really understand computers. I can’t talk the lingo that our “geek squad” at church can talk. I know how to turn mine on…check e-mail…and do a little surfing on the net—but when you begin talking about operating systems or how much RAM I have…you are WAY over my head. (I always thought a ram was a wild animal!)

I said all of that to say this—my super cool person of the week is a dude named Jared Barden.

I know most of you are scratching your head going, YEAH…uh…who exactly is Jared Barden? Is he the dude that lost all that weight at Subway? Sorry—wrong Jared!

Jared is our “computer guy” at New Spring. He handles the small problems around the office. (I have had a couple recently. Once my printer would not print…I called Jared…he came in, surveyed the situation…discovered my printer was not turned on—and after turning it on it began to operate just fine! Another time my internet would not work…and he discovered that my network cable wasn’t even plugged into the wall! I told you I was an idiot when it came to computers!)

Jared is one of those guys I love to see serve. He will probably never preach a sermon at New Spring…nor will he sing a song or do any type of dancing in really tight clothes. (OK, for those of you that do not go to New Spring—we do not dance…especially in tight clothes!)

The point is that Jared is not in the spotlight a lot…and he is totally content with that. He does not mind doing his deal behind the scenes so that the people who “lead the charge” can do so with a computer that works…and that is networked—whatever that means!

Jared also serves our media area on Saturday’s and Sunday’s as well. He often works countless hours making sure all of the things on stage that require wires are operating just right. I feel that our church is so blessed to have this guy working with us. He never complains about long hours…and whenever he faces an extremely challenging task he always has an awesome attitude and keeps his cool.

We recently purchased an in house server…and oh wow…I don’t think he’s stopped smiling yet. You should have seen him—he was like a kid at Christmas. Isn’t that awesome—God wired me to get excited over leadership and speaking, He wired Lee to get excited over leading worship, He designed Paul Marshall, our CFO, to get excited about money…and He wired Jared to get excited about computers, networking, servers…and other things that have wires! And just as He has wired all of us…He uses all of us to make things happen and to advance His kingdom!

Thanks Jared for not limiting ministry to preaching, teaching, and singing—God uses guys like you because He knew there were guys like me who would simply be in trouble without you!

Some of you are wondering, “Where did you find this guy?” Actually we found him a few years ago…he was a starving college student who volunteered some time in our youth department. After watching his work ethic we decided that we wanted to bring him on part time…and when he graduated, full time.

(By the way pastors and church leaders—the best hires are NOT usually at other churches—but within your church!)

So props to Jared for being so awesome at what he does. He is officially the perrynoble.com super cool person of the week!

Have a great weekend—don’t miss this Sunday! If you do then you can go to our church website to get the message…or I may even have it available here.

Don’t miss my post next week on my top 10 favorite blogs!!!