In the midst of a plea for Christian bloggers to network and dialogue together, Brad Hightower strikes a chord in my heart:

When I was a new Christian, the first book I read was “The Selected Sermons of George Whitfield”. Whitfield was an open air preacher from the First Great Awakening. When I walked by a vacant lot in those days, I used to say to my buddies, “Do you see that? That is our pulpit”.

Well, the new mode of proclamation has arrived .... The blogoshere is the open air pulpit of the 21st Century. The open air preachers have arrived.

A couple of reasons Brad’s comments caught my attention:

1. George Whitefield is one of my favorite personalities from church history (for a very fascinating read, consider Arnold Dallimore’s two-part biography of Whitefield - here and here); and,
2. His assertion that the blogosphere and the web are the open air pulpit of today. How true!

Reading this has opened up all sorts of lines of thinking in my heart this morning as I think back to reading about Whitefield and his open-air preaching and considering how that applies to today’s world of web evangelism.

Dale Lature has some poignant things to say here about web evangelism, spiritual formation, the power of story, and modern-day communication tools. I especially liked this from the end of his post:

I can’t help but feel that the potential for aggregating a powerful “suite” of communication tools is reaching an apex in this day of the dawn of the blog. By combining blogs, dynamic data driven Web sites, web forums, digital photography and rapid maturation of multimedia that is accessible to increasing numbers of folks, the story telling power of the Web has siginificantly matured.

I think Dale and I are kindred spirits - effective outreach flows out of community and the stories of community’s participants. The web is at its best (in terms of being an effective tool for evangelism) when it is telling the stories of real believers and of the communities in which they participate.

A great post by Keith at Under the Acacias about Biblical imperatives to keep in mind while blogging.

Blog Business World has some helpful suggestions on dealing with comment and/or trackback spam. For Christian organizations, this type of spam can be especially onerous. I would agree with the author that we shouldn’t let the fear of spam keep us from using a blog format for our websites. At the same time, not turning off comments and trackbacks requires that we be vigilant (this is particularly on my mind today as I found approximately 15 instances of trackback spam on this site today - all for static areas of the site that have comments and trackbacks turned off).

Does anyone know where I can get a list of the number of internet cafes which exist in each country of the world?

Thanks in adance for any help anyone can offer!

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger recently interviewed Glenn Fleishman, an authority on entrepreneurial blogging. While the interview was primarily about blogging for profit, one portion caught my eye because I think it has application to online ministry.

People want to read and hear a real voice. This is why marketing is doomed to failure. No one believes it except the marketers. Real voices trump canned voices. That’s part of the Cluetrain Manifesto (paraphrased) and it’s why blogs have taken off in all realms.

This is something I think churches and ministries should heed. If we are perceived as trying to manipulate people through slick marketing approaches, our efforts are doomed to failure. Instead, unbelievers want to “read and hear a real voice.” They are looking for authenticity in our online presentations.

What’s the best way to present a “real voice”? Simple, let your people share their stories.

Brian Bailey, the Internet Manager at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas. recently blogged on Leave It Behind about the power of the internet (more specifically, of blogs) to facilitate offline conversations and relationships:

I had the chance today to have coffee with Erik Lane, someone I met through the wonder of weblogs....Our conversation confirmed once again that blogs really enable offline conversations as much as online ones. Meeting someone for the first time who you already know through blogs is very unique as a shared history already exists.

Reading what Brian wrote reminded me of a quick exchange (it was so short that I can’t call it a conversation) at our local evangelical ministers fellowship meeting a couple of months ago. A small groups pastor from one of our local churches teased me a bit by saying, “It’s good to see you in person and not just behind your computer!”

He was teasing me, but the teasing had a valuable lesson at its core. Since I am a strong believer in small groups and the power of community that is expressed in small, intimate gatherings of believers, I took what he meant as teasing to be a healthy reminder that internet evangelists should not forget.

All that we do as Christian workers in the digital arena should have as its ultimate goal the facilitation of face-to-face relationships. It’s ultimately the love of Christ revealed in community that convinces the unbeliever of the love of God and of Jesus’ mission (cf. John 17:21-23), and so any evangelism which takes place outside of community should be considered suspect in its effectiveness.

Does this mean that an online chat is ineffective? No, not any more than a face-to-face one-on-one chat is ineffective. But it does mean that we should always be looking for ways to facilitate face-to-face relationships and offline conversations through our efforts on the web.

Face-to-face conversations lead more naturally to wider exposure for the unbeliever to Christian community. Faciltating that process through online conversations requires a more intentional commitment.

For example, when I am in the midst of an online conversation with an unbeliever who I have never met face-to-face, am I thinking about where they are located and if I have believing friends or acquaintances in that area to whom I can eventually introduce my new friend?

Sometimes, this may not seem feasible (in conversations with people in certain creative access nations, for example), but it should always be our goal.

Neil Cox, the visionary behind IndyChristian.com and several other web-based city-reaching projects, mentioned in his follow-up comment to one of our recent posts that he has written a piece called Why Blog? on his personal blog (LovingChange.com).

Just wanted to give that piece a little bit more prominence. His “Top 50 Reasons To Blog” are certain to spark some great thoughts for those who are looking for a way to utilize modern-day technology to impact their world.

It’s been too long since I’ve posted here (I was going to say it had been a few days, but now that I look, it’s been 9 days!). I’ve been spending some time working with two new clients (one a ministry, one a lawyer), helping them to understand why a blog-type approach to their websites would be helpful for them. Hopefully, their sites will be launching a bit later this month.

That being said, on to today’s assignment:

1. First, read Why this “internet thing” is just starting at Seth Godin’s blog
2. Second, read So, what will it take to succeed? at Seth’s blog
3. Finally, read Rob Williams’ comments on Effective Web Ministry Notes, applying Seth’s wisdom to today’s internet ministry

No further comment is really necessary, but the strategist in me can’t resist just a little bit. Hint: it’s all about people and connections.

Here’s a very interesting page on the Internet Evangelism Day website: Meet Some Web Evangelists.  Currently eleven web evangelists are profiled. Their stories are very encouraging. What has struck me so far (I haven’t finished reading all of the stories) is how many of these people started out thinking they weren’t prepared to be web evangelists but how God encouraged them and used them as they stepped out in faith.

Also, don’t forget that Internet Evangelism Day is on the way! April 24, 2005! Make plans today to feature The Day in your church, your Bible study, at your college, etc.

The Barna Group today released the results of a survey regarding how Christians share their faith.

Not surprisingly, the survey found that although digital means (primarily email) was one of the least used evangelistic methods among believers, young adults were the most likely to use email as an evangelistic approach:

“Young adults are much more likely to share their faith through ongoing discussions with friends and through e-mail and instant message conversations than are middle-aged and older adults,” Barna explained. “They are less likely to engage in means that their generation finds offensive, such as street preaching or moral confrontation. The early signs suggest that the emerging generation – the Mosaics, who presently are in their early twenties down through early childhood – will continue along this vein. Ministries seeking to prepare people to effectively share their faith in today’s society would advance the process by enabling young adults to carry on knowledgeable conversations about the substance of the Christian faith and how it affects all dimensions of a person’s life. The ability to relate biblical principles to current issues and personal struggles – that is, to interact beyond the level of simply ‘getting saved’ – will be crucial for the future of effective outreach efforts.”

Rob Williams at Effective Web Ministry Notes is blogging today about Outside The Box Ministry, a new blog from Campus Crusade staffer Doug. See especially Doug’s most recent post on Podcasting With Purpose.