WEB EVANGELISM BULLETIN
. . . learning from each other
W-E-B Issue 176 ~ December 2009
Monthly ISSN 471-0323
News this time...
USING TWITTER FOR OUTREACH
VIDEO SHORTS TO USE IN EVANGELISM
RANSOM RELEASE
THE WORLD WE LIVE IN
CHRISTMAS STUFF
MAGAZINES
MOBILE PHONE MINISTRY
COMMUNICATING WELL
PARALLELS IN MOVIES
TIPS
TAILEND
"You don't always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it, too" - Anne Lamott
USING TWITTER FOR OUTREACH
Here is a valuable strategy being used by Paul Watson of 'Reaching the Online Generation'. Doubtless as marketers start to use similar strategies, it may lose its effectiveness. But meantime, it means that you can easily connect with people within almost any topic you wish. This can include people who are tweeting about a personal life problem, enabling you to contact them and sensitively offer help.
Because you can also filter tweets by postal code origin, a church can locate hurting
people in its area! Paul explains it here:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/1101
VIDEO SHORTS TO USE IN EVANGELISM
The thought-provoking short films from the Global Short Film Network are designed as
question-asking conversation-starters. They are extremely well-produced and available very
cheaply as outreach tools. Videos can be downloaded to mobile devices and will soon be
available for website embedding. Until 10 Jan, they are offering a free download of video
short 'Vinyl':
http://www.globalshortfilmnetwork.com/films
RANSOM RELEASE
Representing a new effort to reach the next generation, an innovative Christian web
resource, Ransom aims to introduce young people to Jesus Christ. A project of the Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), Ransom features compelling music videos and
interviews with Christian artists, athletes and other personalities, all designed to
connect with youth and young adults and present the life-changing message of the
Gospel:
http://www.web-evangelism.com/offsitelink?b09dec-ransom
THE WORLD WE LIVE IN
POSSIBLE CHINA WEB RESTRICTIONS - China has issued new Internet regulations, including
what appears to be an effort to create a list approved websites that could potentially
place much of the Internet off-limits to Chinese readers:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BL19620091222?type=technologyNews
SCAMS - Help yourself, friends and family to never fall for email scams:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1227&tag=nl.e101
http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/lessons-from-twitter-spam/
PASTORS WANTING TO WHAT! WHO KNEW? "For most pastors, it's a secret they've never
shared with their colleagues, their churches, and sometimes even their spouses. I know I
can count on one hand the people I've shared it with," writes Brian Jones:
http://www.brianjones.com/2009/12/your-pastors-dirty-little-secret/
SENIOR CITIZENS spend a surprising amount of time online, and this is an outreach
opportunity, says eMinister blog:
http://eministerblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/ministering-to-seniors-online-facebook.html
STRING THEORY AND HEAVEN - author Dinesh D'Souza says new scientific thinking bolsters
the case for life after death:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/december/19.38.html
PROSPERITY gospel teachings 'distort' Bible, says Lausanne group:
http://www.web-evangelism.com/offsitelink?b09dec-lausanne
PERSECUTION. Two-thirds of global population live in religiously restrictive
countries:
http://www.web-evangelism.com/offsitelink?b09dec-restricted
THEOLOGY - if you're interested in the heavy stuff, you might like 'Parchment and Pen'
blog:
http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/
CHRISTMAS STUFF
Over the Christmas break, it might be fun to put your family names, or other words,
though an anagram maker such as:
http://wordsmith.org/anagram/
Christmas music MP3 from Noel Richards:
http://www.web-evangelism.com/offsitelink?b09dec-christmasmusic
Bethlehem shepherds were not just ordinary shepherds, now were their sheep were not
ordinary sheep:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/1174
MAGAZINES
COLLIDE MAGAZINE - till the end of the year, you can get two subscriptions for the
price of one, and also get a free sample of this excellent magazine. The site also offers
free resource articles and a blog:
https://secure.collidemagazine.com/subscription/subscribe.php
Support Christian magazines! When they are gone, they are gone. The strategic Rev! Magazine is sadly ceasing, hit by the recession.
SHARING CONTENT - Our free articles are available to magazine editors and bloggers:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/free-articles.php
For instance, Online Christian Magazine launched on 19 December, with several of our
articles:
htp://www.OnlineChristianMagazine.com/
You can also insert our blog headlines into your own site with an easy short insert
code:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/blog
MOBILE PHONE MINISTRY
Mobile access to the Web is the only access many in Africa can hope for, due to the
lack of fixed lines:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/22/mobilephones-internet
http://www.e-gear.com/blog/the-mobile-phone-is-pc-africa-the-movie-301288
Mobile penetration in Africa is greater than electricity penetration:
http://www.web-evangelism.com/offsitelink?b09dec-mobile
Mobile ministry is the future. We need to be ahead of the curve:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/mobile-outreach.php
COMMUNICATING WELL
'WE LEPERS' is a moving illustration of incarnation:
http://www.provocativechurch.com/2009/12/we-lepers.html
SKIMMERS VERSUS READERS. Many people do not read entire webpages, they skim very
quickly for keywords. Learn how to write for skimmers:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/design/usborne-skimmers-scanners.htm
PEOPLE CATEGORIES - It is always vital to understand the attitudes and motivations of
those around us. Mel and Steve's blog looks at five categories of people, as explained in
a book by Frank Luntz. Doubtless these categories are broadly similar in most western
countries:
http://www.ldrteam.com/blog/american-people-categories/
WHAT WE DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT EVANGELISM - being where people are:
http://inamirrordimly.com/2009/12/10/what-we-dont-want-to-know-about-evangelism/
CHURCH AND DIGITAL. Over the next five years, thousands of churches will consider
developing innovative technology initiatives:
http://www.churchcentral.com/blog/A-Hot-Trend-In-Church-Consulting
BEWARE THE POLITENESS TRAP. In many Asian cultures, it is impolite to say 'no'. "This
difficulty of saying 'no' can be a real problem when sharing the Gospel with an Asian.
This is even worse when a respected foreigner is sharing the Gospel," says 'A Big Mission
blog'. In an evangelistic meeting too, people may indicate a positive response to 'an
appeal' purely out of respect for the preacher.
http://www.abigmission.com/asian-politeness-and-evangelism.html
THE LOUDER TRAP - if everything is loud, nothing is loud:
http://tonymorganlive.com/2009/12/07/louder/
DO IT THEMSELVES - "Should we let people join up the dots themselves," asks Eugene
Peterson:
http://www.bedeviant.com/black-white-ambiguous
AVOID CHRISTIANESE - our new guide is available for reprint:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/christianese
DIGIMISSION DAY - the one-day London conference organized by UK's Evangelical Alliance
and Facing the Challenge is available in MP3 (except, sadly, Shane Hipps video-link
contribution, which worked well at the time, but did not record). The sessions are short,
clear and thought-provoking:
http://www.facingthechallenge.org/digimission.php
To listen to a different 30-minute interview with Hipps, go to his NeueMinistry
recording:
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.neueministry.com/podcast/Neue_ShaneHipps.mp3
FOR HINDUS - downloadable resources from SouthasianNow available in English, Bengali,
French and Hindi Languages, these free print-ready tracts are designed for tri-fold use to
print at your church or home computer. The tract is designed to share the good news with
Hindus. The 'Vedic Bridge' and 'Truth that Triumphs' are contextual tracts ready to for
free download and print in PDF format:
http://www.go2southasia.org/resource/evangelism/
STARTING FROM SCRATCH IN A WIRED WORLD. What if your organization or your client has
done nothing? What if they've just watched the last fourteen years go by? No real website,
no social media, no permission assets. What if now they're ready and they ask your advice?
And, by the way, they have no real cash to spend...
http://www.visualstorynetwork.com/forum/topics/seth-godins-top-ten-starting
COLLEGE MAGAZINE FEATURES DIGITAL MISSION - UK's Redcliffe College Encounters Magazine
focuses on Technology and Mission in their December issue. There are six main articles and
the opportunity to discuss issues raised:
http://www.redcliffe.org/encounters
PARALLELS IN MOVIES
AVATAR MOVIE HITS THE WORLD. James Cameron's new sci-fi/fantasy movie AVATAR promises
to be a blockbuster in every sense. It's also a major opportunity for us to point to
embedded spiritual parallels in the story:
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/blog/archives/1127
MESSAGES IN GLEE. Andrew Careaga is a name familiar to many from the early days of the
Web - his books on web evangelism must have started many into their different ministries.
Happily, he is still sharing insights with us - here are his thoughts on redemptive
analogies in GLEE:
http://highered.prblogs.org/2009/12/10/gleegospel/
TIPS
- non-techies look away now
RUN FOUR MONITORS from one Macbook:
http://daggle.com/macbook-pro-multimonitor-4-monitors-at-once-1577
A NEW DIRECTORY - I thought general directories were dead. When did you last look at
Dmoz? And the far better Zeal.com succumbed several years ago. But now there's a new
directory: MasterMoz. To add your site, and maybe get a bit more page ranking from the
major search engines, visit:
http://mastermoz.com/
JAVASCRIPT - redirect a user to a page in their own language:
http://javascript.internet.com/user-details/language.html
CANONICAL - Setting canonical pages for Apache:
http://www.webreference.com/programming/Apache-Canonical/
HOW TO CHOOSE effective website photos and images Part 2:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/design/niehaus-choosing-images2.htm
TAILEND ô¿ô
A woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children.
After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable, and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids.
She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year.
Overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don't forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.
Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car dragging her two kids and all the bags of stuff in with her.
When the doors closed she couldn't take it anymore and stated, "Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot."
From the back of the car, everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, "Don't worry, we already crucified Him."
The rest of the trip down the elevator was pretty quiet.
[Source: www.mikeysFunnies.com/ ]
Contact us
