It’s finally here! Internet Evangelism Day!

Churches and organizations across the world are celebrating the potential of the internet for outreach to the world.

Even if your church or ministry did not formally participate, or even if you knew nothing about Internet Evangelism Day until this moment, why not make it a point to pray especially for the Lord to guide you in how you might be used to bring the gospel to the world using the communication technology He has raised up to help us complete the Great Commission? Click here for a list of opportunities in which you can be involved!

For a registration fee of only $20.00, you can virtually attend the upcoming Internet Evangelism For The 21st Century conference!

The conference promises to be very interesting with multiple tracks available and several workshops led by some of the most well-known names in internet evangelism circles.

To register as a virtual attender, click here. I signed up a few moments ago, and I’m looking forward to the conference (the sessions will be archived for six months, so I will be able to watch them at my leisure!).

Thanks to Andrew Careaga for the heads-up on virtual registration.

Here is a list of resources I plan on distributing at the internet evangelism seminar I will be teaching in April and May. Does anyone have any suggestions for additions to the list?

Also, for the life of me, I can’t remember how I compiled this list. My apologies in advance to anyone from whom I borrowed this information!

Books
Allen, Roland. Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1966.

Graham, Billy. Christian Worker’s Handbook. Minneapolis: BGEA.

Baker, Jason D. Christian Cyberspace Companion: A Guide to the Internet and Christian Online Sources, 2d ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1995.

Careaga, Andrew. E-vangelism: Sharing the Gospel in Cyberspace. Lafayette: Vital Issues Press, 1999.

Carega, Andrew. eMinistry: Connecting with the Net Generation. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2001.

Hybels, Bill and Mark Mittelberg. Becoming a Contagious Christian (Participant’s Guide). Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Company, 1995.

Wilson, Walter P. The Internet Church: The Local Church Can’t Be Just Local Anymore. Nashville: Word Publishing, 2000.

Winter, Ralph and Steven Hawthorne. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1998 edition.

Downs, Tim. Finding Common Ground � How to Communicate with Those Outside the Christian Community While We Still Can. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1999.

Websites

The Web Evangelism Guide
http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/

Faith Online
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/126/report_display.asp

CyberFaith: How Americans Pursue Religion Online
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/53/report_display.asp

The Evangelism Toolbox
http://www.evangelismtoolbox.com

PowerToChange
http://www.powertochange.com

BibleGateway
http://bible.gospelcom.net/

A Letter To My Friends
http://www.lettertomyfriends.com

iamnext
http://www.iamnext.com

The Jesus Film Project
http://www.jesusfilm.org

Effective Web Ministry Notes
http://www.eministrynotes.com/

Equip Blog
http://www.forministry.com/equip/blog.dsp

The Internet Evangelism Coalition
http://bgc.gospelcom.net/iec/

e-vangelism
http://www.e-vangelism.com/

Cybermission.org
http://www.cybermissions.org/

Rusty Wright Articles
http://www.probe.org/rusty/rusty-clips.html

Internet Evangelism Day
http://www.internetevangelismday.com/

Outside The Box Ministry
http://www.outsidetheboxministry.com/

Heal Your Church Website
http://www.healyourchurchwebsite.com/

Strategic Digital Outreach
http://www.strategicdigitaloutreach.com

ChristianCruz
http://www.christiancruz.com

SantaCruzLife (coming soon!)
http://www.santacruzlife.com

DigiTracts
http://www.digitracts.com

Articles

Communicating Christ on the Internet
http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/1541/

The Role of Trust in Virtual Community Assimilation (in RTF format)
http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/docs/abstract.rtf

E-vangelism: Redefining Evangelical Identify in Online Global Culture
http://mkmccarthy.homestead.com/thesis.html

Cyberspace: A Valid and Effective Evangelistic Medium?
http://www.mleggett.uklinux.net/weq/html/results.htm

Here is my tentative outline for the fifth and final session of the internet evangelism seminar I will be teaching in April and May. Thanks in advance for any suggestions anyone might have - I really appreciate it!

V. Session #5: International Missions

A. Introduction of New Participants

B. Salvation Story #5 (preferably on international believer)

C. Discussion of last week’s homework: successes, challenges, questions, comments

D. Sharing The Gospel in Creative Access Nations
1. Instant Messaging
2. Cyber Caf�s

E. Evangelism Opportunity #5

F. Homework

Here is my tentative outline for the fourth session of the internet evangelism seminar I will be teaching in April and May. The outlines for this session and the final, fifth session (which I will post tomorrow) are less fleshed out, so your comments would be especially helpful!

IV. Session #4: Online Conversations

A. Introduction of New Participants

B. Salvation Story #4 (preferably a man)

C. Discussion of last week’s homework: successes, challenges, questions, comments

D. Chat Rooms, Message Boards, and Instant Messaging

E. Evangelism Opportunity #4

F. Homework

Here is the outline for the third session of the internet evangelism seminar I will be teaching in April and May. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated!

III. Session 3: Preparing For Effective Internet Evangelism

A. Introduction of New Participants

B. Salvation Story #3: Patricia

C. Discussion of last week’s homework: successes, challenges, questions, comments

D. Preparation For Effective Internet Evangelism
1. Personal relationship with Jesus
2. Prayer and dependence on God
3. Compassion
4. A written testimony
5. Become familiar with an online Bible (preferably in a modern translation)
6. Some background in apologetics is helpful, but not absolutely necessary (knowing how to respond to objections can be important)
7. Know the plan of salvation

E. Evangelism Opportunity #3: Advanced Steps
1. Develop a bridge website

F. Homework
1. Think about your passions. What would be a good bridge website topic for you?

In April and May, I will have the privilege of teaching a 5-week internet evangelism seminar in Santa Cruz County, California. I have a tentative outline prepared, and I thought it might be a good idea to post the outline and see if the readers of this website have any suggestions about content to cover (general concepts, links, statistics, etc.). I’m not certain as to exactly what I’m looking for, so feel free to make any suggestions which might occur to you.

Here’s the outline for the first session:

I. Session 1: Introduction To Internet Evangelism

A. Introduction of Facilitator

B. Introduction of Participants

C. The Historic Opportunity
1. The First-Century Opportunity
2. Today’s Opportunity
3. The Modern-Day “Agora”
4. Technological Innovations Throughout History � The Church Has Always Embraced Technology For Evangelistic Purposes

D. Salvation Story #1: Kristi Tuck

E. Evangelism Opportunity #1: Simple First Steps
1. Email signature
2. Online profiles
3. Business Cards
4. Tell others about good evangelistic websites
5. Evangelistic screensaver

F. Homework (choose one or more)
1. Write an email signature
2. Prepare an online profile
3. Find good evangelistic websites
4. Design a business card

The outlines for the second through fifth sessions will follow on subsequent days.

The “Internet Evangelism for the 21st Century” conference will be held at Liberty University April 1-2, 2005. This conference expects to draw
attendees from the 8,000 member residential student body as well as pastors and leaders from Central Virginia and beyond. LU’s state of the art wireless campus is an ideal venue for IE-21st Century. For more information visit http://ie-21stCentury.com and/or email Professor Daniel Henrich at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

A new international focus day will debut in April of 2005: “Internet Evangelism Day”. Churches and other Christian groups can integrate a web evangelism focus into their activities on or near April 24, thereby helping their members to understand more about the great potential for this new medium.

More information is available at www.InternetEvangelismDay.com.