Dana Byers is President of Blue Door Ministries, the only organization in the world that exists to resource pastors in non-English speaking countries to launch online ministries.

I met Dana at Ben Arment’s Dream Year Weekend Retreat in Nashville. In a recent conversation, Dana shared some of the stories behind her dream.

During Dream Year weekend, Ben said that without frustration, you’d never recognize your dream, let alone have the passion to pursue it. How did frustration shape your dream?

In 2007, my husband Chris and I were in Guatemala City adopting our youngest child. There had been some difficulties with the adoption that week.

We were going to LifeChurch.tv back home in Oklahoma City at the time, and Chris suggested that we attend Church Online in our hotel room.

What happened during the one hour of Church Online didn’t change the circumstances, but it changed my perspective on that week.

What happened?

I was shocked at how powerfully I experienced God by sitting on my laptop, attending church. Hearing a powerful message. Chatting with people. Worshipping God through the music. It really blessed me.

When the experience ended, I remember standing on the hotel balcony looking out over Guatemala City, thinking how much I loved not only Guatemala but many countries. I thought about my passion for missions and international evangelism.

I remember wishing that Church Online had been available in Spanish, right then. I knew the friends we had met during the adoption didn’t know Christ personally. I would have been able to invite them to come and watch the message with us. They could have heard the gospel in their local language. Wouldn’t that have been great, I thought?

A couple of years later I realized God had planted a seed on that balcony in Guatemala for my life’s work.

Not long after that, God led you and Chris to leave your jobs, sell everything, and move to London with your two young children.

We knew we were obeying, but didn’t quite know what God was going to do there. Eventually, we helped launch LifeChurch.tv in the GMT time zone. We trained teams in Australia, South Africa and other European cities. And the idea for Blue Door took shape.

What does a church partnership with Blue Door look like?

First, we go through an interview process with a church that is interested in online evangelism. Once we form a partnership, we provide them with a package of equipment, everything they need to put together the content that would go into their online experience. We also provide training and a network for sharing knowledge.

How much does it cost a church?

Our goal is to make Church Online free to churches. Sometimes it’s scary to enter the online arena when it’s new. If they really feel called to it, we want to take away some of the cost barriers.

Once they launch, we work with them on a ministry and business plan for the first year so that they can see growth and expansion and find creative ways to connect with people who are attending. And either plug them into a local church or get them more involved in their local online experiences.

It only takes thirty-eight hundred dollars to get one of these churches going. For less than twelve thousand dollars we can launch three churches in three different languages just with the help of volunteers. It’s incredible. We’re trying to raise thirty-thousand dollars by May to cover our plans for the year.

The cost of the equipment is covered by donors who have a heart for using technology to share the gospel. We all volunteer our time.

Do you have churches partners operating now?

Yes, Kosciol Online in Poland. And we’re preparing to launch in Slovakia, Bolivia and Guatemala with local pastors.

The power of God working through Church Online is very personal for you, isn’t it?

When we were traveling throughout Europe as a family, speaking to pastors and churches about using technology for ministry, we weren’t connected to a local church. So this was a perfect opportunity for us to dive into online ministry and the community that was available to us there. We used the free resources to teach our children at home.

Both of our children committed their lives to Christ during this time.

Are you experiencing any challenges or needs you would like us to pray about?

I want Church Online available in every language to connect with people who are far from God, who are unwilling or unable to go to church. Dana Byers

So many times when we’re having experiences, doing training or having an event, without fail, you can almost expect the enemy to try and stop it.

Also, there are some great organizations doing online ministry but no one is doing what Blue Door Ministries is doing yet. So we come up against the struggle of forging a new path.

And right now, we are looking for a camera person who can go train our pastors in how to use the equipment. We want to help them minister with excellence.

I’m grateful for the struggle. It constantly reminds me to return to the Word every day to say, ‘God, how are we going to do this? How can you work through us to use the Internet to lead people into your Church and a relationship with Christ?’

Blue Door Ministries is already a great source of inspiration and blessing to many. Friends, would you please take a moment to pray for Dana and Chris and everyone associated this great kingdom endeavor? Thank you.

“I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me.” Psalm 118:13