In celebration of Internet Evangelism Month, this is the seventh in a 15-part blog project discussing the book, @stickyJesus: how to live out your faith online.
I don’t know if it really hit me right away. But as it started to sink in I realized that the game would never be the same after this.
I was in a remote village in Haiti, and I had just tweeted a few photos of our team meeting the people there. Within minutes of uploading those photos, I got an email from Facebook that someone had just commented on one of those status updates. It was a message for one of the people in the photos to put on some sunscreen because they were looking a little sunburned.
The message was from someone in our church who’s serving as a missionary in Morocco. We were bridging gaps of time and distance that no other mission team from our church had ever crossed before!
On this trip the supporters back home didn’t have to wait for us to return to hear the stories. And they didn’t have to pray blindly mere general blessings for the team. They were able to interact with the events as they unfolded, and were able to pray specific for things that started to unfold right before their eyes!
As I read chapter 7 of @stickyJesus, one statement stands out to me more than all the others:
With today’s technology, you can reach in minutes the physical ground that Paul and other game changers covered in years. Like Paul, each one of us can use God’s Word to teach, warn, motivate, and inject God’s perspective into popular culture.
It’s the realization that the message is the same as it always has been, but the tools that we have available to deliver it are some of the most powerful that our world has ever seen.
Sounds like an opportunity to me.
The book has a great list of how to be a game changer online, and I want to highlight a few of them here….
- “Pray for yourself. Ask God about the best way to share what He is showing you.” There are opportunities around us every moment of every day, we just need His wisdom to help us tell that story.
- “Be honest and transparent.” People connect more with our brokenness and imperfections than they do the false fronts that we often put up to impress them.
- “Build a strong sincere, online rapport with others.” It’s first about relationships, then the message.
- “If you can’t find the words to say yourself, find a wise pastor or writer who is sharing his or her perspective online.” Even as a pastor or writer, sometimes it’s best to let someone else articulate what’s on your heart.
- “Commit to learning new technologies and tools for online communication.” Have you ever tried to build a house without a hammer and a saw? Nuff said…
We’ve come a long way since the time that Paul had to pass letters on rolls of papyrus through the bars of his jail cell. But we have the same task that he had in delivering the message of the Gospel to the world. Now it’s up to us to use the tools that we have at our disposal to make it happen.
As a believer, you come from a long list of game changers. Now it’s your turn. Are you ready to change the game?
- How are you sharing your personal testimony online?
- What’s happening around you right now that you use to help you communicate the Message of the Gospel to others online?
- What’s happening in the world right now that you can respond to using a Biblical perspective that might help encourage and/or empower someone else?
@StickyJesus 6) Holy Spirit: The Power Source" href="https://www.ourchurch.com/blog/2011/05/16/stickyjesus-6-holy-spirit-the-power-source/" rel="bookmark">6) Holy Spirit: The Power Source <– @StickyJesus – The Group Blog Project" href="https://www.ourchurch.com/blog/2011/05/02/introducing-stickyjesus-group-blog-project/" rel="bookmark">@StickyJesus project –> @stickyJesus 8) Warning: Danger Zones" href="https://www.ourchurch.com/blog/2011/05/20/stickyjesus-8-warning-danger-zones/" rel="bookmark">8) Warning: Danger Zones
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