I have a strategy – a vision – an internet inventory – an opportunity to bless many

The Wardrobe, the Web, and the Doors We Open

What C. S. Lewis Might Teach Us About Domain Names, AI, and Christian Mission

An Article by Fr. Richard Dalton

Creator of JesusQuestion.com and LookUpDetroit.com

I have always loved the wardrobe in C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

At first glance, there is nothing particularly remarkable about it.

It is just a wardrobe.

Open the door and you expect coats. Perhaps an old fur coat or two. Certainly nothing that is going to change your life.

But Lucy Pevensie steps inside.

She pushes through the coats.

And then something remarkable happens.

The back of the wardrobe isn’t there.

There are trees.

Snow.

A lamppost.

And an entirely different world.

Narnia.

I sometimes wonder what C. S. Lewis would have thought about the Internet.

I suspect parts of it would have horrified him. But I also think he might have understood something about it immediately:

The Internet is filled with wardrobes.

We call them domain names.

A Few Words—and a Door Opens

Think about how strange a domain name really is.

You type a few words into your phone or computer.

You touch the screen.

And a door opens.

Behind that little collection of letters can be an entire world.

There may be photographs, music, teaching, news, video, friendships, ideas, arguments, beauty, ugliness, truth, deception, worship—or temptation.

All because you opened a door.

That makes domain names much more interesting to me than merely being Internet addresses.

They are doors with names on them.

And every day people all over the world walk through them.

Not Every Wardrobe Leads to Narnia

Of course, this is where the analogy becomes more serious.

Not every door on the Internet leads somewhere good.

Some lead to knowledge.

Some lead to laughter.

Some lead to friendship and community.

Some lead to Scripture and the Gospel.

Others lead to anger, pornography, gambling, hatred, manipulation, endless distraction, envy, deception and despair.

Scripture understood the importance of choosing paths long before anyone imagined a smartphone.

Proverbs tells us:

“Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.”
— Proverbs 4:26

Jesus spoke about gates and roads:

“Enter ye in at the strait gate…”
— Matthew 7:13

The Bible is filled with choices about which road we take, which gate we enter and which voice we follow.

Today we might add another question:

Which link do we click?

The Lamp-Post in the Snow

One of the unforgettable images of Narnia is that lamp-post standing strangely in the snowy forest.

I love that image.

Because Christians are supposed to be putting lights in dark places too.

Jesus said:

“Ye are the light of the world.”
— Matthew 5:14

That raises an important question for Christians living in the Internet age:

Where are we putting the lamps?

For generations, Christians have communicated through church buildings, pulpits, books, newspapers, radio and television. All of those can still be useful.

But today much of humanity carries another doorway in a pocket.

A phone.

A person sitting alone in Detroit, Dubai, London, Lagos or Jerusalem can type a few words and suddenly enter a world someone else has created.

That represents an extraordinary missionary opportunity.

And perhaps that helps me explain something about my own ministry that I have not always been able to explain very well.

A Ministry That Became Harder to Explain

For many years my ministry was fairly easy to describe.

I was involved in planting churches, pastoring congregations, preaching, teaching and caring for people.

People understood those things.

What I have been doing in more recent years has been much harder to explain.

One expression of it has been LookUpDetroit.com.

I have wanted to create a place that blesses the community with good news, good stories and useful information.

We live in an age when so much of our media is driven by advertising, ratings, clicks and the need to keep consumers consuming. Newspapers, radio and broadcasting have changed enormously during my lifetime.

I began wondering whether there could be another kind of local public square—one designed primarily to serve and bless a community.

That has been part of the vision behind LookUpDetroit.com.

Another expression has been JesusQuestion.com.

I developed it years ago with a simple hope: that Christians from many denominations and traditions might have a witnessing tool they could carry in their hands and share with another person.

Not simply a tract transferred to a screen, but a place where someone could explore Jesus Christ with greater depth through Scripture, words, beautiful pictures and art.

I wanted a Christian to be able to say, in effect:

“Here. Take a look at Jesus.”

I have not been a particularly good promoter of either vision.

But the vision has never left me.

Why So Many Domain Names?

That brings me to something people have occasionally questioned.

Why have I acquired so many .com domain names?

I understand the question.

From the outside, it can look like a rather strange collection of Internet names.

But I don’t primarily see names.

I see doors.

Or, borrowing from C. S. Lewis, perhaps I see wardrobes.

I see possible entrances into worlds that have not yet been built.

Some are cities.

Some are subjects.

Some are questions.

Some concern Scripture, ministry or the Christian life.

Some may never become anything at all. Others may eventually become doors through which thousands of people walk.

The truth is that I have often had more vision than technical ability.

I have lacked the time, technical knowledge, organizational ability and sometimes simply the sustained attention necessary to build everything I could see in my vison.

That has been frustrating.

I could see the doors, but I didn’t always know how to build what belonged behind them.

And Then the Tools Changed

Something remarkable has happened during the years I have been carrying this vision.

The tools changed.

The smartphone put the Internet into billions of hands.

Social media made it possible for an individual message to travel around the world.

Websites became easier to build.

A single article can now be passed from phone to phone, person to person, city to city and nation to nation.

And now artificial intelligence has arrived.

AI is giving an individual like me abilities in research, writing, editing, design, organization and communication that would once have required an entire staff.

I certainly do not understand all of it.

I don’t think anybody fully understands where it is going.

And AI itself is another wardrobe.

What lies behind that door can be used for extraordinary good or extraordinary harm.

Christians therefore need discernment. Scripture tells us:

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21

That strikes me as pretty good advice for the age of artificial intelligence.

I intend to use these new tools because they expand my ability and creativity far beyond what I could have accomplished five, ten or twenty years ago.

But the tool is not the mission.

The tool serves the mission.

I Have Been Collecting Front Doors

I Was Never Supposed to Build It All

There is something else I am increasingly comfortable admitting.

I will not personally build everything I can imagine.

I was never supposed to.

There is a great temptation when God gives us an idea to assume He has also assigned us every part of its fulfillment.

Scripture gives us a healthier picture:

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.”
— 1 Corinthians 3:6

One person plants.

Another waters.

God gives the increase.

Perhaps some of these domain names are seeds.

Perhaps some are doors.

Perhaps some are simply pieces of property being held until the right person, church, ministry or organization sees what could be built there.

Stewardship does not necessarily mean doing everything yourself.

Sometimes stewardship means recognizing what God has placed in your hands, developing what you can, and inviting others to help with what you cannot.

The Internet Needs Better Wardrobes

The Internet isn’t going away.

Artificial intelligence will make the digital world larger, stranger and more immersive. There will be millions more doors—some beautiful, some deceptive, some dangerous and some capable of changing a life.

Christians should not spend our energy merely complaining about the doors other people are building.

We should build better ones.

We should create digital spaces where truth is not manipulated, people are not exploited and attention is not treated merely as a commodity.

We should build places where Scripture is handled faithfully, questions are welcomed, neighbors are treated with dignity and lonely people encounter genuine community.

C. S. Lewis gave us a wardrobe that opened into Narnia.

We live in an age when almost anyone can build a little digital door of his or her own.

That is an extraordinary privilege.

But it is also a stewardship before God.

So before we create the next website, buy the next domain, generate the next piece of content or share the next link, perhaps we should ask:

If someone opens this door, what kind of world will they find on the other side?

Will they find confusion or clarity?

Cynicism or hope?

Noise or wisdom?

Manipulation or truth?

A sales pitch—or a faithful witness?

And most importantly:

Will they find a trustworthy space that points beyond itself to Jesus Christ?

The digital world is full of doors.

Christians, let us build the ones people can enter without fear—doors marked by truth, shaped by love and illuminated by the light of Christ.

Lucy opened what appeared to be an ordinary wooden wardrobe.

She had no idea how large the world was on the other side.

As I look at these new tools, these websites, these domain names and these still-unopened doors, I have to admit:

Neither do I.

Fr. Richard Dalton
Creator of JesusQuestion.com and LookUpDetroit.com FatherDalton@gmail.com

A Hundred Ships

A Vision I Have Carried—Sometimes Through Stormy Seas

By Rev. Richard Dalton

Creator of JesusQuestion.com and LookUpDetroit.com

For many years, I have carried a vision that has sometimes been difficult to explain.

At times, I have carried it rather alone.

There have been seasons when I could see something in the distance that I couldn’t adequately describe to other people. And there have certainly been times when the waters were rough enough that I wondered whether I had any business being out there at all.

But the picture is becoming clearer.

I see a harbor filled with ships.

Not one enormous ship.

A hundred smaller ones.

Perhaps someday even more.

Each has a name painted clearly on its side.

And in the world in which we now live, that name ends in:

.com

The Internet Is a Mission Field

I have believed for a long time that the Internet is not merely a technology.

It is a place where people gather.

It is where they ask questions.

Where they search for answers.

Where they learn.

Where they argue.

Where they laugh.

Where they grieve.

Where they shop.

Where they discover their communities.

And increasingly, it is where they form their understanding of the world.

If that is where people are, then surely those of us who want to serve people should be there too.

That realization has led me, over many years, to acquire domain names.

But I never imagined that I would use these domains on my own. From the beginning, I saw them as part of a larger vision that would require a team—a crew of people with different gifts, experiences, passions, and callings.

Some are about cities.

Some are about subjects.

Some are about questions.

Some are about the Church.

Some are simply about things I believe could make someone’s life a little better.

From the outside, it could look like a collection of Internet addresses.

I don’t see it that way anymore.

I see ships.

And I have always imagined them sailing with a Vision Pro team—a crew capable of helping bring each one to life.

Every Ship Needs Cargo

A ship exists to carry something somewhere.

That is how I increasingly think about these domains.

I don’t want to launch empty websites simply because I happen to own good names.

I want each one to carry something worthwhile.

One might carry stories of people doing good things in Detroit.

Another might help someone who has questions about Jesus.

Another could help people understand their community.

Another might carry music.

Another history.

Another practical information.

Another encouragement for a grieving family.

Another resources for someone approaching the end of life.

Another might help people rediscover the Bible.

Different ships.

Different destinations.

Different cargo.

Different members of the crew bringing their own skills and perspectives.

But hopefully the same underlying purpose:

Arrive carrying a blessing.

But I Cannot Captain a Hundred Ships

This may be one of the most important things I have finally understood.

For a visionary, there can be a temptation to believe that seeing something means you are supposed to do all of it.

I have never believed I could use these domains on my own.

I have always understood that a vision of this size would require a team—a crew.

I may be able to name a ship.

I may help determine its destination.

I may help put the first cargo aboard.

But I cannot captain a hundred ships.

And I certainly cannot provide all the expertise, energy, creativity, and care required to crew them.

So perhaps the next stage of this vision isn’t primarily about acquiring more domains or building more websites.

It is about building the crews that can bring these ships to life.

Somewhere there may be a person who has spent twenty years caring about a subject represented by one of these names.

There may be a pastor.

A retired teacher.

A journalist.

A young entrepreneur.

A musician.

A historian.

A nonprofit leader.

A mother.

A grandfather.

A YouTube creator.

A small business owner.

Someone who already knows those waters far better than I ever will.

Perhaps I have helped identify the ship.

Perhaps I have helped point toward its destination.

But they may have the calling, gifts, and experience to become part of its crew.

Sometimes the Sea Has Been Rough

I don’t want to describe this vision as though it has been one long pleasant voyage.

It hasn’t.

There have been storms.

There have been disappointments.

There have been ideas that seemed wonderful to me and went nowhere.

There have been things I thought other people would immediately understand that apparently made perfect sense only inside my own head.

There have been technological changes so rapid that yesterday’s brilliant idea can seem obsolete tomorrow morning.

And there have been the ordinary storms of life.

Age.

Family responsibilities.

Health.

Limited time.

Limited resources.

And the realization that none of us knows how much sailing time remains.

There have been moments when I have felt like a man in a rather small boat looking at a very large sea.

But I have never believed that I was supposed to cross that sea alone.

The vision has always depended on people joining together—on a team, a crew, and a shared commitment to serve others well.

That is not necessarily a bad place to be.

Because Christians have seen that picture before.

Jesus Is in the Ship

The disciples knew something about storms.

They knew what it was like to be in a boat when the waves were coming over the sides.

They knew what it was like to wonder whether the vessel was going to survive.

And remarkably, Jesus was there.

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” they cried.

Jesus stood and spoke to the wind and the sea:

“Peace! Be still!”

And the wind ceased.

I don’t believe following Jesus means that every ship sails through calm water.

Scripture certainly doesn’t teach that.

Paul was shipwrecked.

The disciples encountered storms.

The early Church repeatedly sailed into dangerous territory.

But there is an enormous difference between facing the storm alone and discovering that Jesus is in the ship.

That may be the most important part of this entire vision.

I don’t merely want 100 websites.

I don’t merely want 100 successful Internet properties.

I don’t even merely want 100 good causes.

I want Jesus welcomed aboard.

Not every ship needs to be a preaching website.

A site serving a city can honor Christ by telling the truth.

A site helping families can honor Christ by serving them well.

A site celebrating music can honor Christ through beauty.

A site helping someone through grief can demonstrate compassion.

A site connecting neighbors can help rebuild community.

A site answering questions about Jesus can simply and clearly point directly to Him.