Rob Williams recently had the opportunity to present to the IT Council of Campus Crusade for Christ about what he sees as emerging and future web ministry trends...particularly with blogs.” He posted about it here.

The portion of his article which resonated with me the most was this statement:

I think blogs can really be used to help connect everyone to someone who truly follows Jesus.

That, I think, is the strategy we need to embrace — using the web to bring unbelievers into relationship with believers around common life experiences and interests. I honestly am suspicious of evangelism which is primarily web-based, which “asks for the vote” online, as it were. But if we use the web to facilitate face-to-face relationships between unbelievers and believers, then those relationships can become the soil in which the gospel is sowed in people’s lives and also the platform on which ongoing discipleship can be based.

I’ve been thinking some lately about the fact that this website does not receive a great deal of comments (but thanks to those who do comment!) and about why that may be. I have an inkling of why that may be so.

As I’ve thought about the types of posts I write on this site, it occurs to me that I often begin by stating my opinion (and perhaps too stridently) and then sometimes inviting comments on my opinion. Instead of asking for your opinion from the outset. That’s not necessarily always wrong (I do have lots to say, and I do have some fairly strong opinions!), but I guess I want to find a bit more balance. So here’s a question for the readers of this site:

How do you think instant messaging can be used to spread the gospel? What are the unique opportunities? What are the unique challenges? Any tips from those who have used instant messaging for this purpose?

It’s an area I want to explore in my own life and ministry, and so I’m quite interested to hear what others might say.

Thanks and let the conversation begin!

Today marks the launch of a newcomer to the Christian Web Strategy Blogosphere: BlogMinistry.com.

The site is the brainchild of Dan Lee (who is also the visionary behind TestimonyBlog.com), who describes his vision for BlogMinistry as follows:

My target for Blog Ministry is to make it a small resource where people can get news, thoughts and maybe even tutorials on web evangelism and blog ministry.

The Barna Group issued a new report today called Technology Use Is Growing Rapidly In Churches.

I was going to write an article on this new report, but Rob already wrote it. Rob’s last paragraph is key.

Scott Reese is stepping out in faith to become a full-time web evangelist. Click here to read the blog he just started to keep a record of his adventure!

Well, I’m sure that title may have brought at least a few folks who cringe at the thought (rightfully so in most cases!) of including audio on your website (the kind that plays automatically whether you like it or not).

But actually, it’s a sentence from a book that seems to perpetually be on my desk at my day job: Call To Action: Secret Formulas To Improve Online Results, by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg.

I was reminded of an intriguing section from that book while reading an article today on the Church Marketing Sucks website called Making Sense Without Sense. In that article, Brad Abarre writes about being on a treadmill at a gym and watching television without the benefit of the wireless headphones that the gym provides — in other words, only seeing the video but not hearing the audio.

Without audio, TV becomes in someways a web site on auto pilot. An array of moving images and graphics that come together to tell a story. I kept watching to see if I could put the story together without the sound. It didn’t always work, but when it did, I am sure the gods of advertainment rejoiced somewhere.

The principle I want to talk about in this article doesn’t relate entirely to what Brad is trying to say, but I did want to mention the way my thoughts progressed because the Church Marketing Sucks website is worth adding to your regular reading list. I don’t always agree with what they have to say, but their writing is certainly thought-provoking.

At any rate, Brad’s article did remind me of this passage from the Call To Action book:

I think there are some interesting strategies to glean from this article on local search. Also, see this article.

While these articles are targeted at small businesses and lawyers, respectively, I think the principles of local search optimization are important for local churches and ministries as well.

Mark Batterson, the pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., has written a wonderful article on his Evotional Blog, about how the church has always used cutting-edge technology to further the kingdom of God.

Here’s a couple of great quotes from Mark’s article:

The church has to be in the business of redeeming technology and using it to serve God’s purposes.

For what it’s worth, my passion for blogging and godcasting have historical roots. The Internet is to my generation what the printing press was to the 15th century. Theology and technology ought to be the closest of allies.

I’d encourage you to go and read the entire article, which has some very helpful insights on how technology “fueled the Protestant Reformation.”

Earlier this month, I posted an article about Pathway Church in Palo Alto, California and their refreshing website targeted at unbelievers.

The pastor of Pathway, Scott Aughtmon, contacted me not long after that article appeared. Since I only live about 45 minutes away from Palo Alto, we arranged to meet at Starbucks last Wednesday afternoon. We spent almost two hours talking about how principles of internet marketing can be used to spread the gospel.

One of the most interesting parts of the conversation was hearing Scott talking about his experiments with Google Adwords to promote their church plant. According to Scott, they are receiving a nice stream of visits to the church website as a result of their Google ads.

Here’s a related article.

Brooke Bergan is writing today about the growing cadre of peope actively seeking to use the web to reach out to unbelievers:

Lately I’ve been thinking about the potential of using the internet as a means to draw unbelievers to Christ. To my surprise, I found I’m not the only one who’s been thinking over these things. It turns out this is a vision God has given many people.

Why not visit her blog and encourage her with a comment? Also, check out her ministry site at www.writersheart.com.

By the way, I normally don’t use the word “cadre” very much, but it came to mind this morning with a certain “insistence.” So I looked up the definition. Here’s one: “a tightly knit group of zealots who are active in advancing the interests of a revolutionary party.” Hmmm .... I kind of like that as a way to describe the internet evangelism folks and Christian web strategists I have met (offline and online)!

Carol Berg of Indiana is blogging today about questions she has regarding how to use a church website for outreach to unbelievers. I’ve left a comment on her blog and encouraged her to visit the blogs and websites of several Christian web strategists (see the links in the right-hand column). Why not visit her site and add your own two cents?

I’ve just been reading a new blog by Google software engineer Matt Cutts. According to Matt, one of his goals for the site is to give “advice on solid, common-sense search engine optimization.”

One of his earliest posts, Step Into My Shoes, recounts his email correspondence with a website owner whose site had been banned from Google’s index because of some questionable (i.e. spammish) aspects of the site. It’s a fascinating read into Google’s perspective on how some less-than-reputable search engine optimization companies attempt to trick the search engines into giving high rankings to websites.

I’m looking forward to reading Matt’s blog on a regular basis as I think it’s going to provide a great resource for website owners.

Also, make sure to head on over to Keith Seabourn’s blog and read about ethical and effective search engine optimization (I learned about this entry on Keith’s site from Rob Williams of Effective Web Ministry Notes who echoes Keith’s perspective).