So, how did you get involved with psychics and mediums?

“It all started when I was invited to watch Francis Chan streaming live on Ustream. Once I got to the website and explored a bit, there was a chance to video chat live with a psychic medium about a personal crisis I was facing. She really brought me hope and healing.”

A story like that is not probable, is it?

We hope not, but it may require Christian communicators to take certain precautions or even change entire strategies when dealing with free streaming live services.

Ustream, Livestream and Justin.tv are streaming services that allow anyone to create shows that can be broadcast live  and archived. They have removed barriers to entry into online TV.

This has been good news for the Church.

The upside

Traditional broadcast outlets are no longer essential to getting a message out to wider audiences. A free account allows the user to create a channel and start broadcasting.

Delivering content to a large global audience, or very small group is quick and easy. All you need to broadcast is an Internet connection with appropriate bandwidth and a webcam.

A viewer can select the content she wishes to view. Interactive functionality like chat and social media integration enables her to engage with the speakers and community in real-time.

But, free live streaming comes with tradeoffs.

The downside

The Web is the great equalizer. The false is available as readily as the truth on these platforms. Ustream makes no distinctions.

After spending several hours browsing the site, clearly, the pagan, magical and occult communities have seized the advantage on the network.

Ustream is organized by categories. Each is a network of channels and shows.

The “Spirituality” category is a hotbed for all sorts of clairvoyants, psychics, astrologers, tarot-card readers, numerologists, feng shui experts and other oracles with their own channels.

There are seven subcategory networks, offering programming from Hindus, Buddhists, Islamic sects, cults who operate in the name of Jesus, as well as atheists and agnostics, secularists, and materialists.

There is just one Christian network and none of it’s channels are featured.

This grand bazaar of non-Christian and pseudo religious live video expression presents a conundrum and opportunity for Christian communicators.

The pluralistic conundrum

A Ustream “Spirituality” viewer is more apt to see and interact with a psychic or witch than they are a trusted evangelical leader.

Given that picture, is Ustream a safe place to visit for true unbelievers and pilgrims searching for spiritual meaning?

Personally, I would not invite an unchurched person to visit the “Spirituality” network just to watch a Christian event. There are plenty of protected environments where she can be directed to hear the Word, without her being bombarded or tempted by radically harmful ideology and thoughts.

The evangelism opportunity

When a person stops believing in God she doesn’t believe in nothing; she believes in anything. G.K. Chesterton

These platforms are an ideal place for the Church to experiment with Internet video evangelism. Assuming, as it appears to be in Ustream’s case, the “editorial” fix is not already in, shoving Christian content to the margins.

Still, someone needs to give it a try. An Elijah, challenging pluralism on Mount Carmel. A Paul, standing before the idolatry of Athens. Internet evangelists making sure that Christianity is not presented to the seeker in our opening story as just another option on the worldview buffet.

There are other streaming live options too. A few in the Church will build their own proprietary streaming broadcast platforms. Others will partner with an existing Christian Internet broadcast platform on a fee basis. Some will work with a network of channels that provides free streaming for Christian publishers and free viewing for users on the Web and mobile devices.

Satan will hate all of this.

Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For the Day will not come until the final Rebellion takes place and the Wicked One appears. He will even go in and sit down in God’s Temple and claim to be God. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5

All the more reason to just do it.

Question: How do we do intentional ministry in these secular, pluralistic online platforms?