Dr. Jay Herndon is the Secretary-Treasurer for the Northern California and Nevada district of our denomination (the Assemblies of God). He is also an old, old friend from elementary school, Little League baseball, junior high, and college!

Jay recently sent an email to a mailing list for the ministers of our district and mentioned an intriguing use of text messaging the denomination is planning on using:

I’ve talked to our District Youth Director about using text response in a slightly different way: When there is an appeal for a call to ministry at Youth Convention and other youth events the kids flood the altars, and there are so many that it is impossible to get their name and address. I’m concerned that we haven’t been able to follow up with these kids. And so I have asked him if we can set up a text number, and ask the kids to text us their name and email. We are not using this to avoid the altar call, but to get the information that we need in a way they are accustomed to give it.

Interesting! What other innovative uses for text messaging are being used by the church today? Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments to this article.

I was reading this article on Think Christian last week, and was particularly struck by the comments, especially Jason Wells’ reference to 2 John 12. I often talk about the need for face-to-face community and about how internet evangelism still needs the foundation of a physical gathering in a local area. But I had never considered the relevance of 2 John 12 to the discussion (probably because it would largely seem like an obscure verse without much relevance to anything — shame on me for thinking like that!).

Here’s what 2 John 12 says:

Having many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, that your joy may be made full.

The clear implication is that there is something incomplete about communication only through paper and ink — face-to-face communication is necessary for our joy to be made full.

The Greek word which is translated “be made full” in this verse means “to bring something to completion, to finish something already begun.” The verse suggests that face-to-face communication is necessary for believers’ joy to be brought to completion.

If writing letters with paper and ink could not make the believers’ joy full or complete in John’s day, can email make our joy full or complete? Can discussion forums make our joy full or complete? Can online video chat make our joy full or complete? Is there something incomplete about digital communication?

Churches, ministries, and missionaries should all be aware of solid search engine optimization principles and implement them faithfully on their websites. Here is a great resource to help you do just that:

Mihai’s SEO Cheat Sheet

from Mihai Gheza.

Tony Whittaker of the Web Evangelism Guide and Internet Evangelism Day has written a brilliant parable called A Tale of Two Golf Clubs. See if you can figure out what the meaning of the parable is!

By the way, this year’s Internet Evangelism Day is scheduled for April 27. That’s only 78 days away. Have you started to prepare?

This is the fifteenth session in our multi-part series on internet evangelism.

In this session, we discuss the next part of 1 Peter 3:15 — “always (be) ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you,” emphasizing the need for internet evangelists to have a good knowledge of the truth.

I’m going to take a bit of a hiatus in the video series after this session and try to come back to it early next year.

Here is the fourteenth session in our multi-part series on internet evangelism.

In this session, we begin to look at how the internet evangelist can prepare himself or herself for the task to which God has called them.

Here is the thirteenth session in our multi-part series on internet evangelism.

In this session, we flesh out some examples of how the principles we’ve been discussing could be relevant to internet evangelism.

This is the twelfth session in our multi-part series on internet evangelism.

In this session, we talk about some of the implications of the principles we’ve been discussing, specifically as they relate to internet evangelism.

Here is the eleventh session in our multi-part series on internet evangelism.

After studying five different passages of Scripture (John 17:20-23, Luke 10:1-9, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Thessalonians 1-2, and 1 John 4:12-14) and finding that each supports our contention that an authentic demonstration of Christian community is the foundation of all effective outreach, we expand on that principle a bit and talk about a concept known as oikos evangelism and about how people typically come to Christ.

Here is the tenth session in our multi-part series on internet evangelism.

In this session, we examine another passage which demonstrates the need for Christian community as a foundation for outreach — 1 John 4:12-14.

This is the eighth session in our multi-part video series on internet evangelism.

In this session, we look at Acts 2:42-47, another passage which demonstrates the need for Christian community as a foundation for effective outreach.

This is the seventh session in our multi-part video series on internet evangelism.

In this session, we look at another passage which demonstrates the need for Christian community as a foundation for effective outreach — Luke 10:1-9.