ubiquitous: adj. existing everywhere: present everywhere at once or appearing to be.

I received an email today describing a nifty little gadget that plays recordings of the Bible. It runs on batteries or solar power. I used to get excited about such things. I am a gadget junky. But these days I think gadgets are a dead-end. If someone has created some marvelous windup gadget that brings the Gospel to millions my response is, “I doubt it!”

I no longer believe in gadgets. Instead I want to explore ways to tap into what people are already using. I remember twenty years ago riding on a bus through Mexico in the middle of the night. I saw very poor huts and from many of them emanated a blue glow. Television! Those poor people were more interested in owning a TV than a nice house. And they used their own resourcefulness to make it happen.

Visit any village in Mozambique, one of the supposedly “poorest countries in the world” and you can ask someone where the closest place with cell phone coverage is. They will know. It may be standing on a termite mound. It may be on “that mountain over there.” But they know.

Show me the ubiquitous gadget and I’ll show you the right media for that area. It might be cell phones. Or TV. Or radio. But I seriously doubt that proprietary gadgets with a crank on the side are going to be able to achieve the mass market penetration that you’re hoping for. Whether you’re hoping to save the lost, or conquer AIDS, or sell your product.