The effort encouraged participants to unplug from social media, the Internet and all technologies. And to spend time taking note of the needs of others.

A profound question

Before going further, it should be pointed out that I didn’t participate in the fast, but wholeheartedly embraced it’s spirit.

I agree with Anne Jackson, author and speaker, from Nashville, Tennessee, who addressed the practice of digital fasting in her thoughtful essay, “Why I Kissed Facebook Goodbye.”

“I don’t believe everyone should quit using Facebook, or be afraid of it if one hasn’t started,” she said. “We just need to be aware of the ways any form of media can interrupt our time with God or those closest to us.”

Jackson concluded her essay with an ultimate question, for the social media world as for every other world:

Is how I’m spending my time bringing glory to God?

With technology transforming the world, and seemingly every aspect of our lives, this is a profound question for our day.

I became actively engaged with radio broadcasting in my teens. Media and technology are now second nature to me. I’ve had to learn that anything we pursue (no matter how good it seems) can become an idol if not managed with the strength of God’s grace.

The National Facebook Fast reminded me of that. I was grateful.

New world of relationships

The fast also reminded me of people with spiritual needs right outside my door.

I’m speaking of people in the online world that are using the Internet to look for meaning in life. Yesterday, during the 24-hour period the fast was taking place:

TWO MILLION people. All over the world. Roamed the Internet. Looking for God.

Through the tools developed by the online evangelism ministry Global Media Outreach (GMO), these people are brought to the ‘electronic front door’ of anyone with a computer.

Real people, online, waiting for someone to open their internet portal to notice them.

Online ministry relationships

I wasn’t able to physically go to the other side of the world to care for their needs. Didn’t have to. All I had to do was open my door (log on) and greet the five people waiting, seeking hope.

Here is a selection of what was on their hearts:

“I want to know about being a Christian.” L., Myanmar

“How would I make friends who are really committed to Christ?” D., Ghana

“I just prayed to receive Christ into my life for the first time. Thanks.” L., United Kingdom

“Please, can you give me a Bible?” S., Ghana

“There has been times when I wanted to falter but God has always kept me. I praise Him and honor Him for helping me each and every day. He is faithful. Thank you for the encouragement. Be blessed.” T., Alabama (USA)

The fast put a spotlight on this grand privilege God has given the Church to tell the people in Cyberspace about the love of Jesus. To answer their spiritual questions. Pray for their specific needs.

Thank you

I feel Woodlands Church and Pastor Kerry Shook, who have stellar technology and online ministry platforms, deserve high recognition and praise for spearheading the National Facebook Fast.

They’ve reminded me that all people in the world matter to God. And we can bring Him glory by focusing on them, face-to-face primarily, and at other times in ministry online.

Question: What did you think of the National Facebook Fast? Are you engaged in online missions? How? Is it something you or your church would get involved with?

The article was a call for every believer to consider helping respond to the astounding number of people searching for God online, 80 to 90 percent outside the U.S.

Through the power of Internet technology, search-engine optimization techniques, and chiefly, the working of the Holy Spirit, online spiritual seekers are flocking to the ‘electronic’ front door of the church in unprecedented numbers.

25 reasons to help you consider getting involved in online missions

1. Two million people are going online every day to seek help with spiritual issues like loneliness, addictions, suicide, abuse, divorce, hopelessness. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” (Matthew 9:37)

2. God has created a network to reach these searching hearts that are saying, “Please tell me about Jesus.” The Apostle Paul said, “By all possible means (the Internet) I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22)

3. Technology has made it possible to travel anywhere in the world without ever leaving home, even to the 64 countries, or about one-third of all nations, with “high or very high restrictions on religion.” (2009 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life) “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)

4. You have a love for the lost and have always wanted to become more active in personal evangelism.

5. You don’t have to leave your job, take a vacation, go to seminary or raise thousands of dollars to share the Bible, pray, or conduct personal ministry with real people.

6. Any Christian using the Internet can do it — students, teachers, stay at home moms, pastors, business executives, farmers, doctors, soldiers.

7. Training is not difficult and can be done online from home on your own schedule.

8. You don’t have to know who is open to the gospel. Discipleship websites such as LookToJesus and iChristianLife.com and mobile sites share the basics of Christian growth, in multiple languages and then these new believers and seekers come to you ready to take the next step or with questions.

9. The ministry is personal and can go “very deep,” as evidenced by these actual questions and requests received by an online worker:

• “How can I know that God loves us?” M., Philippines
• “My wife was just diagnosed with incurable cancer and has 6 months to live. Please pray for us.” V., Indiana (USA)
• “I need Jesus so desperately. Indian hemp has taken over my life and I don’t know what to do. I believe it is only God that can rescue me from this bondage. I hope to hear some advice from you.” E., Nigeria
• “I’ve done many horrible things that I truly regret. How can I live without remembering them? Please help me. God bless you.” C., Kenya

10. You don’t have to be quick on your feet or be an expert in evangelism. You will have access to outstanding resources to help you respond like The Evangelism Toolbox, 226,018 Bible Questions Answered! and Search the Bible.

11. You will guide new believers into doing online Bible studies individually or encourage them to join a weekly online small group Bible study, and when possible, get them connected to other Christians and the church.

12. You will have the privilege of praying for those who are struggling and others who haven’t yet learned how to pray.

13. In your lifetime you would never be able to physically impact the amount of people you can reach online. (From Amanda Sims, LifeChurch.tv)

14. You will join a community of workers doing online ministry from all over the U.S. and world…exchange online evangelism techniques, share stories of God at work and pray for one another.

15. You will be encouraged by personal testimonies from fellow online workers:

“I’m enjoying being able to serve the Lord in this way. He has blessed me by giving me this and other ministries which I can do despite my erratic, chronic health issues. I am thankful that I usually have part of each day when I can sit at the computer.” Helen

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to be an online missionary. Some of us from our church are praying that we and others can be instrumental in generating much enthusiasm, participation and support, not only at our church but all over our city, the U.S. and even other countries.” Judy

“We see bits and pieces of struggles that people are going through and then think, “Wow this is who God is entrusting to me.” It has really helped me to see a bigger picture in life and do more in other ministries also.” Fred

“I really feel so blessed to have this tool every day. What could I do that’s more important than this? And I do it while eating raspberries in the comfort of my kitchen while a load of laundry is drying. Amazing, so amazing.” Margaret

16. It’s a way to balance out recreational uses of technology with redemptive ones.

17. It’s safe! No one sees your e-mail address and no one can send you spam. It only takes a few minutes a day to respond to an email inquiry.

18. It’s one of the most cost effective evangelism approaches ever developed, enabling you to help churches that have been forced to reduce giving to missions and missionaries due to the current economic crisis. (See the Barna Group report.)

19. You will deepen your own understanding of foundational truths and strengthen your confidence for talking to others about your faith.

20. The world is increasingly online and you believe the future of ministry must include some form of digital missions to stay relevant.

21. You could be the catalyst for getting an online missions program started in your church.

22. Your pulse quickens at the idea of partnering with media ministries using cutting-edge technology to share the gospel worldwide through video, text, and mobile phones, in multiple languages.

23. It concerns you to know that if Christians aren’t online to answer the questions of spiritual seekers and to tell them about Jesus, they are vulnerable to false teachings and other destructive forces.

24. The digital “Roman road” has been built and will soon connect everyone on earth, making it conceivable that you are in the generation that will complete the Great Commission.

25. The first ten individuals to contact Global Media Outreach at (281) 255-4878 to learn more about implementing an online missions program at your church will receive a free copy of NetCasters: Using the Internet to Make Fishers of Men by Craig von Buseck (B&H Publishing Group). A simple “thank you” for taking a serious look at one of the most exciting global outreach opportunities your church will consider this year. Just send me an email once someone from your church has spoken to a representative.

The Great Commission leaves no one out

The Matthew 28 mandate, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” doesn’t leave anyone out.

All nations must certainly include the nations and people that can be reached online.

If you are a kingdom minded person and can see yourself going online, receiving e-mail and the Holy Spirit of God sending you someone He is already at work in for you to personally minister to, then you have the best reason of all to consider becoming an online missionary.

On May 4, 2010, I became an online missionary with Global Media Outreach. In that short amount of time, it has been my privilege to personally connect with 100 new believers and seekers from 32 countries, 11 identified as “sensitive countries.” I had the awesome and humbling opportunity to answer the questions and requests noted in Reason 9.

Internet evangelism doesn’t replace other methods of sharing the gospel and isn’t for everyone. But, let me assure you of four things as you pray and consider online missions. (1) If you have a heart for the Lord and use the Internet, you can be an online missionary. (2) You will touch real lives. (3) The Spirit will help you respond. (4) God will bless you.

Question: What reason(s) would motivate you or your church to incorporate web evangelism into fulfilling the Great Commission and Great Commandment.

In his article titled God Likes Big Numbers, World magazine founder Joel Belz said, “God doesn’t need big numbers to bring about His purpose, but without numbers you can’t appreciate what (He) is doing.” I like that.

To illustrate what God is doing around the world through online missions and technology, I’m experimenting with a new feature called, “The Online Missions Big Number of the Week.”

For a while now, we’ve been covering developments in the use of digital technology for carrying out nearly all aspects of church ministry. Some ministries invest primarily in website technology, but not a whole lot more. Some, like the 12,000 member Northland Church of Orlando, FL, are on the cutting-edge in how they integrate the Web and New Media into ministry.

In March, Northland debuted the first Facebook application that allows members to watch a live service and chat with other viewers. A pastor is on hand to do Q&A.

Bringing church to the people

Northlander’s have a vision to bring the church to where the people are, rather than waiting for the people to come to church.

In addition to the Facebook app, Northland’s online outreach initiatives include:

• Live, two-way video connections to broadcast services to other satellite locations
• Interactive webcasting
• An iPhone app
• Internet evangelism

Northland has 250 online missionaries doing Internet evangelism through its partnership with Global Media Outreach (GMO). The 250 members are divided into 8 communities – 7 English language, 1 Spanish – with 30 members in each group. Several Swedish and Portuguese speaking members participate with GMO communities outside Northland that are doing online missions in those languages.

In 2009, the church’s 250 missionaries responded to more than 91,000 seekers that indicated making a decision for Christ, a recommitment, or had a spiritual question.

That’s huge, but there’s more.

Simple church

Many online seekers that come to Christ through the Northland-GMO partnership are  not involved with a local church or community of believers. Many are in countries that don’t even allow traditional churches to exist.

Northland’s vision for solving that dilemma is to bring at least two different families together for worship, anywhere in the world, to form a “simple church.”

Dr. Joel C. Hunter, Northland’s senior pastor and one of GMO’s online missionaries, believes resourcing people to be the church where they are is the ultimate missions experience. These simple churches (or house churches) can then multiply and make other churches.

The cost of starting a simple church is considerably less than traditional church planting approaches.

Northland and GMO provide free training and ministry resources translated into the native languages. Worship takes place in homes or online. Along with GMO’s network of church partners, Northland has church communities on the ground in Cairo, Kiev and Capetown.

According to Dr. Dan Lacich, who oversees the GMO simple church strategy, “The goal is to give the top 15 language groups access to everything they need for starting a house church.”

Pastor Hunter predicts that the earth can be covered with the gospel in our lifetime.

Everyone will be able to hear the Gospel and not only have an invitation to know Jesus Christ but, should He tarry, have the support that they need to grow in Christ and impact their communities for Him.” Dr. Joel Hunter

People that started out as simple seekers, responding to a simple presentation of the gospel on a website, are being given the tools and support to form a simple church. They can conduct evangelical worship in their own language.

God is using 250 online missionaries, working out of one local church in Orlando, as the first link in a process to reach people with the gospel, to help grow them in knowledge of the word and to start churches, literally anywhere in the world.

250, the online missions big number of the week.

Since its inception in 2004, Global Media Outreach (GMO), the media arm of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCCI) has seen the number of people visiting its 102 websites grow to 67 million in 2009. God has been tripling the size of the ministry every year.

By early 2009, it was apparent to ministry leaders that enlisting online missionaries and supporters, one at a time, wasn’t an effective way to keep up with what God was doing.

Leverage and legacy

About this time, a former Campus Crusade VP, who had served with CCCI founder Dr. Bill Bright, invited Ed Thomas to attend a conference in Dallas to learn more about GMO. A longtime resident of Houston, TX and business entrepreneur, Thomas went along … even though he wasn’t really interested in adding anything more to his already full plate.

Shortly after the conference Thomas says, “God found a way to put sideboards on my plate.”

Now working as an “entrepreneur for God,” Thomas used two filters to determine if he should get involved with GMO.

The first filter, leverage, represents maximum utilization of resources for the kingdom. The second filter, legacy, represents maximum return from those resources.

Thomas says, “I had never seen anything like the leverage and legacy that GMO was experiencing. I knew that God was putting it on my heart that I needed to be involved.”

When Thomas first crossed paths with GMO, 125,000 people a day were visiting its websites. 20,000 of that number were making decisions for Christ. About 4,000 of those were asking for follow-up.

“Those numbers, occurring day in and day out, made the tool the best I had seen since the ‘JESUS’ film,” marveled Thomas.

A tool for the local church

Thomas quickly concluded that GMO wasn’t just another ministry that God was raising up for Campus Crusade.

I am certain that GMO is a tool to be used for the local church.

At the end of May 2009, meetings were scheduled with pastors and business people in Houston to tell the GMO story. GMO Founder and Chairman Walt Wilson joined Thomas to talk about all that God was doing through online evangelism.

“We had nearly a hundred leaders fill out comment cards when we were done,” Thomas explains, “and 100% of those in attendance wanted to be involved in some way. I had never seen that level of immediate commitment before. That was a large confirmation by God.”

To get a taste of the vision that inspired the leaders,
visit GMO Always Ready, Involving Your Church.

The ball was rolling now. Thomas asked God to bring the people forward needed to operate GMO Houston on a daily basis.

One of the attendees at the early meetings was Cindy Brannon, a former executive with Compaq Computers who had been involved in building a large team there.

Brannon felt like God had called her to volunteer a couple days a week. “Little did I know it was going to be full-time,” she says. “God committed me really quickly.”

Cutting-edge evangelism for churches

Brannon reports that churches are already adapting the tool to their ministry programs in creative ways.

One church is using it in their church school. Another church is literally using it as part of their discipleship training, having the tool as one of the steps people go through to learn how to share their faith. Their first step is to become an online missionary.

“I’ve never seen a paradigm like this,” Thomas exclaims. “We’ve all been trained in the Evangelism Explosion, The Four Spiritual Laws, The Roman Road or whatever evangelism track is preferred. We’ve always knocked on other people’s doors to see if we could tell them about Jesus.”

Thomas says church leaders need to understand that seekers are literally knocking on the door of churches wanting to be told about God. “This has never happened before in the history of the Church.”

A pastor in his 70’s involved with a church heavily engaged in evangelism said, “This is the cutting-edge of evangelism. This tool is God’s gift to the body of Christ.”

In the last year, God has increased the number of church partnerships and online missionaries allowing GMO to triple the number of people visiting its 102 websites to over 300,000 daily. Between 40-50,000 decisions for Christ are being made every day.

“That is a brand new paradigm,” says Thomas, “and God has given the local church a tool for completing the Great Commission.”

1.7 million left in the water

Google data indicates that two million people are searching the Internet every day looking for answers to spiritual questions.

To Thomas, missions leader and business man, that means 1.7 million people searching for God are being left in the water. The impact of that number ”burned a hole into my heart,” he said.

Thomas and a growing group of Christians are asking God to raise up churches all over the world to help close the gap.

The two million is not a stagnant number though. It’s growing.

See “Connecting Everyone on Earth by 2015.”

The church program will only be developed as God brings people and resources. Currently, GMO has representatives on the ground planting seeds for City Teams in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Southern California.

“What we learn in Houston and other select startup cities, we hope to spread across the world eventually,” Brannon said.

Priority for church involvement

Prayer is an integral part of GMO’s work with churches.

God has put it on the heart of Colin Millar, a prayer strategist in Houston, to be the CPO – Chief Prayer Officer – of GMO. Millar is developing a prayer strategy for Houston and the ministry nationally.

GMO’s number one priority for church involvement is to encourage churches to start a prayer action team. To pray on a regular basis about using the tool. GMO knows every church won’t use the tool. God has to put it on the senior pastor or missions pastor’s heart.

“We have to start talking with God about how He’s going to get churches involved,” Millar believes.

When asked what has created the most momentum for the church strategy, Brannon doesn’t hesitate, “Honestly, prayer!”

“We have to be in the throne room on a regular basis asking God to overcome obstacles through His power,” Thomas says with the firm conviction of an entrepreneur for God.

Contact GMO to learn more about implementing an online missions program in your church or ministry – call 408-358-3470, or sign up for an online demonstration.

This post originally ran as part of the Christian Web Trends Guest Blogger Carnival, “20 Ways to Share Your Faith Online,” in support of Internet Evangelism Day.

This and other takeaways from an online seminar looking at the impact of the Internet on missions and ministry.

In a way, the GMO seminar felt like a virtual session of the Ministry Internet and Technology Summit, occurring at the same time in San Diego.

Over 200 packed into the room online for the GMO workshop.

Eight takeaways

1. One-third of countries closed to missionaries (Pew Research)

“(The rulers, elders and teachers of the law) called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” — Acts 4:18

Of the world’s 15,958 Major People Groups, 6,415 (numbering 1.8 billion persons) are considered unreached. (Joshua Project)

Fulfilling the Great Commission in these countries may be forbidden but it is not impossible.

We have to change our way of thinking about outreach and communication in a post Christian age. Traditional methods must be transformed. –Michelle Diedrich, GMO Communications Director

2. The Internet is the new mission field

1.8 Billion people, 26% of the world’s population, is on the Internet. (Internet Usage Statistics, December 2009)

67% have a cell phone. (Mobile Marketing Watch, February 2010)

According to the 2010 Kaiser Report, the average youth in the U.S. consumes 10:45 hours of media each day. If they’re not asleep or in school, they’re using Facebook or texting. They’re going online in a variety of ways, getting information from their friends, consuming media.

Apple sold more than 300,000 iPads on the first day. More than one million apps have already been downloaded. In 2009, China passed the U.S. as the largest user of mobile broadband.

More people use the Internet than go to church. Over 2 million people conduct spiritual searches through the Internet each day.

“This is not a passing fad,” Diedrich confirmed.

3. Internet evangelism is a ministry option not a technology option

Diedrich pointed out, “The church is now in bits as well as atoms. The network is the market.”

Churches around the country are taking notice and introducing their members to online evangelism.

Pastor Rob Jackson, Forestville Baptist Church (Greenville, SC) uses GMO’s Always Ready program as a safe way to introduce online evangelism to his church. Jackson even integrates his congregations online missions activity into worship services. Online missionaries are giving testimonies about the people they are connecting with and ministering to all over the world.

In this video Pastor Jackson talks about his church’s online mission program. Churches of all sizes are developing online missions strategies that are deliberately evangelistic.

4. Online evangelism is easier than you think

“You don’t need to be seminary trained to share the gospel online,” according to Amy Gross, a Christian blogger (Mom’s Toolbox) and online missionary with GMO. “It opens your eyes to the needs of the world, without ever having to leave home. With GMO, I can go on a short term mission trip every day – in my pajamas!”

Diedrich’s personal experience has been similar. “I had no idea how easy it would be to share the gospel with people. It has really enabled me to do what we’re supposed to do. Sharing online has definitely made it easier to talk face to face with people about my faith.”

Online missionaries come from every background and range in age from 21-90.

What’s been the biggest surprise of being an online missionary? Gross said, “I have time to pray over questions asked and can get resources from GMO to help me reply.”

It’s a place where missionaries must be.

5. Online evangelism changes lives

“Can you really have a personal relationship with someone online?” is the question Diedrich says she gets asked the most.

To find out if online evangelism really changes lives, GMO conducted a survey of 8,500 people, six months after having made a decision for Christ online.

The results:

a. Are you certain of your salvation? 87% Are Assured
b. Has your thinking/view/life experience changed? 72% Worldview
c. Do you read the Bible daily? 44% Bible
d. Do you attend church regularly? 63% Worship
e. Do you set aside time to pray daily? 58% Pray
f. Are you sharing your faith with others? 57% Share

Can you really have a personal relationship with someone online? “Absolutely you can!” Diedrich exclaimed.

GMO has recognized the need for connecting new believers to local Christian movements and has created the church partner program to strengthen its local church network.

6. Additional key benefits from online evangelism

A challenge for churches is how to encourage, train and equip people to talk about Jesus with others.

In a study, GMO online missionaries said gaining “More confidence to talk about my faith face-to-face” was the number one benefit of online evangelism. Survey participants also said that being an online missionary “Increases my vision for world missions” by 50%.”

7. Christians aren’t the only religious group online

Other religious groups are flooding the Internet with information and making an effort to dominate search engines.

According to Pew Research, “There is every indication that the Internet is a major source of religious information where people of many cultures and languages collect their spiritual facts and opinions in private.”

Many of these individuals are at risk of adopting a potpourri of religious ideas.

If Christians aren’t there to help people find Jesus,” Diedrich asked with concern, “what will they find? We want to make sure people know the real Jesus and how to have a relationship with Him.”

8. Why Internet ministry as opposed to other great works

God can do anything through anyone using any tool.

For Global Media Outreach, its online missionaries and ministry partners, the vision is clear, as Diedrich shared. “We are the first generation – ever – to hold in our hands the technology to give every person on earth multiple chances to accept Jesus Christ.

We don’t want to miss our opportunity!”

The complete webinar online (it’s about an hour in length)

http://webinars.globalmediaoutreach.com

Additional reports on the webinar can be found in this ChristianPost.com article, and in Paul Steinbrueck’s blog post The Internet’s Effect on Online Missions – Available Online.