-An Internet Ministry Warning:

 My wife sent me this picture today. One must always remember to balance ministry and time on the internet with family or this could happen to you:

-The Digital Reformation: The Internet is Bringing a Paradigm Shift in Evangelism

The invention of the printing press brought with it revolutionary changes in communicating the Gospel and spreading Christianity around the World. It made it possible for Bibles to be mass produced and available to regular folks. Since then the Bible has been translated into thousands of different languages.

In fact some Bibles associations are forecasting that the New testament at least may be available in every language there is around the world within 10 years or so making it possible for the Gospel to potentially go to every nation. Incredible. 

-New Year: A Good Time to Evaluate Your Blog or Website

The new year is a good time to evaluate your blog or website. An excellent time to evaluate exactly what you are currently doing and how it measures up with your original vision. Or better yet, is the original vision that got you started blogging in the first place still valid or does it need to be adjusted or changed in any way?

One of the most effective ways to judge what you’re really doing is to take a hard look at how you’re really spending your time.

-After 15+ Years of Blogging: Here’s What I’ve learned

After over 15 years on the internet blogging and publishing religious websites I have learned a lot and I have observed many different trends and changes. I have also seen many good blogs and bloggers come and go.

Many started blogging in 2005 and 2006 because their friends did and it became the popular thing to do. It was a golden time when 1000’s of new blogs came into existence every hour of everyday. Some of my favorites and even some of the best blogs of that era no longer exist.

-Social Media: Cradle to the Grave- Ministry Implications?

According to AVG, the Internet security firm, nearly 92% of children in the U.S have some type of online presence by the time they reach just 2 years of age. The young children either show up in articles and pictures in their mothers social net page or they have their very own site.

We are seeing the rise of a new phenomenon with the lives of people receiving full documentation on the Internet from the time they are born and even before. 

-Court: A Right to Bully and be Mean Online

Here’s an interesting internet case. An 8th grade student was suspended from school for “cyber-bullying” and  humiliating another student online in a YouTube video. Her parents took the school to court and last month a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled that the school had gone too far. Students do have a 1st Amendment right to be nasty in cyberspace. Implications for internet ministry:

-Mobile Phone Revolution: Implications For Evangelism

 We have written about how the Internet is a new ‘Roman Road’ making it possible to reach the ‘unreachable’ all around the world. In the first century the roman roads made it possible for Christianity to spread quickly around the known world. Not only that but English is the dominant language (the new Greek) and many people around the world are becoming literate in it through its use on the Internet and in new media.

-Facebook Has Over a Billion Users: Implications for a Worldwide Harvest

Facebook has over a Billion users which includes nearly half of all those on the Internet worldwide.  According to a LA Times article Facebook execs are shooting for the rest:

"We’re not a company that is just trying to add more people," said Chris Cox, Facebook’s vice president of product. "What we are trying to do is build a service that everyone in the world can use."

-Audio Sermons and Podcasting: Differences?

 For a long time I didn’t really know the differences between audio sermons or audio teaching and podcasting. They seemed the same to me since the production tech is similar and both could be downloaded off of a website.

Lots of churches and ministries have ‘audio sermons’ and ‘audio studies’ but the best podcasting programs are really a different animal and more like a regular radio program in format. 

-Blogs: Evaluate Where You Spend Your Time?

In bouncing off several suggestions I found on other sites about blogging, I began to evaluate where I was spending most of my time—was it really in posting and communicating a desired message or in the usual blogging chores of updating, responding to comments, flushing spam, checking stats, reading and commenting on other blogs, and etc.

Pastors and ministers, who already have a busy schedule, must make the time they take on blogging and the Internet an 'effective' part of their over-all ministry.

-The Problem of Speaking 'Christianese'

In an article that read many years ago that no longer exists online; Paul D. Watson pointed out the problem of using Christian words and speech when trying to reach out to non-Christians:

“Christians speak a different cultural language than non-Christians.  Unfortunately this language isn’t necessarily spiritual by nature.  One of the hardest tasks of an evangelist (the New Testament term for Church Planter, but that is another post.) is deculturalizing the Gospel so that the lost can hear the Good News without all the white noise of Christian culture.”

I read a bunch of Christian blogs and Facebook postings everyday. Many will not appeal to ‘regular’ folk because they are written in ‘Christianese’—words, terms, and expressions that are commonly used in church and among fellow Christians. The fact is there are increasingly more folk out there that do not share or understand the common ‘churchy’ language than do.

-Teach a Bible Study? Set Up a Blog!

 I have posted previously on the 'whys' and reasons for setting up a Bible Study blog.Here are some more reasons for those teaching a Bible study.

Actually, I believe that anyone teaching a Bible study should seriously consider posting the notes or lessons on the Internet.

-Featured Ministry Site: XXXChurch.com

This is a ministry on the internet dedicated to combating the effects of pornography. The following is his main site: XXXChurch.com

Founded by Craig Gross in 2002, the site also features Donny Pauling who is a former porn producer who came to Christ and became part of the ministry. The site features information and access to internet blocking software, an Online recovery workshop, a 12-week program for those struggling with porn, and a ‘Prayer Wall’ with a message board for encouragement and dialog.

-Blogging Ministry: Setting Up A Prayer Line

Prayer Lines are some of the most popular sites on the internet. Millions of people are looking for help everyday and many turn to some kind of prayer line to register their requests.

Many churches already have prayer circles and phone lines in place to accommodate their members and friends who need prayer for various reasons. I believe that blogging platforms provide a unique tool for expanding what the church is already doing and by making it readily available to their members 24/7. Not only that, it could become an outreach ministry for the church by making the prayer line public on the World Wide Web.

-Evaluating The Effectiveness of Your Internet Ministry

Is Your Internet Ministry Effective? Have You Checked?

Here is my take on the subject:

There are many different ways to gauge whether your Internet ministry is effective or not. A lot depends on your goals, objectives, and reasons you put up a site in the first place.

-Outreach Ministry on the Internet

Here’s an interesting story about different kinds of Christian outreach and evangelism on the internet. Included is a interview of the writer of "Holy Mama" Blog.    

-Increasing Visibility and Traffic to Your Blog

There are a number of things that you can do to increase the visibility of your ministry blog and the number of different people actually visiting your site.  Are numbers all that important?  Ask a Pastor if he or she would rather have a growing church or a stagnant one.

A lot depends upon the goals and reasons you started the blog in the first place. 

-Re: Internet ‘Confessional’ Sites -A Potential for Ministry?

I had no idea that thousands of people every day were confessing their sins on the internet until I ran across it. Thousands apparently sense a lack and a need in their lives and are turning to the internet for answers and absolution?

-Why Ministry on the Internet and Blogging?

Soon nearly every family in America rich or poor will have a computer or access to one and/or a tablet or cell phone with access to the internet. Internationally, the internet is growing at a phenomenal rate. As a media for ministry the potential is really unlimited.

It is really amazing how many people can be reached and how many nations can be touched by a very simple ministry located on the World Wide Web.

-Youth Ministry: "Online Missions Trip"

 According to a MinistryToday article written in 2009:

“On Feb. 1 youth groups around the world will be going on a two-week missions trip—from the comfort of their homes.”

A new ministry called ‘Online Missions Trip’ is encouraging young people to evangelize via social networking Web sites like Facebook, MySpace, and World of Warcraft. Tim Schmoyer, pastor of student ministries at Evangelical Covenant Church of Alexandria in Alexandria, Minn. talks about the new online missions ministry for youth: