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April 29th is Internet Evangelism Day. Here’s a link to the official website with loads of resources including a number of free ebooks on how to bring Jesus to the world through digital media including the following video:

Mobile Ministry Introduction from Keith Williams on Vimeo.

World wide web (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have found that Digital Evangelism Issues blog is always a good place to find resources for digital ministry. A number of good links are provided in the latest article: “Sources of digital ministry news”

One of the best is -“Web Evangelism Bulletin.” You can always find valuable articles and info there.

Also, with Internet Evangelism Day coming soon on April 29, here’s a link to all sorts of resources for the occasion.

Related Posts?:

1. -May 15: Internet Evangelism Day
2. Blogging Evangelism

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One of my greatest joys are the friends that I have made online all around the world in the last six years.

However, one of my greatest disappointments is how some of my supposed brothers and sisters in Christ have treated me sometimes over very small points of disagreement. At least small when compared to our common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some have actually been down right mean which is sad when you consider that all of it is displayed for everyone to see – believer and non-believer, Christian and what ever.  

I really believe that Christians should be relating to others on a higher level reflecting the love of the Lord and his call on our life to love others. We should be setting a good example in the name of Jesus and we should also be careful that everything we do and say online reflects well upon our Lord.

Along that line, here’s some great ideas on how a Christian should respond online from the GMO blog:

“7 Ways to Respond As a Christian Online, Pt. 1”

1. Pray.

2. Walk Away.

3. Avoid Debate.

and: “7 Ways to Respond as a Christian Online Part 2”

4. Be Gospel Focused.

5. Don’t Blast the Negative.

6. Be Encouraging.

7. Check Your Heart.

Read what the author has to say under every one of the 7 points. Well worth the time and born by the Spirit.            *Top

Related Posts?:

1. -Responding in Love to Difficult Comments
2. -Online Integrity and Credibility?

LOL. Actually this is not that far off the mark!

There are a number of ministries offering free apps for mobile devises with the Bible in most of the major languages plus teaching on every book of the Bible. It is a wonderful way for folks to secretly read the Bible and receive valuable Christian teaching in places where it is illegal and not risk jail time for getting caught with the actual printed material.

Mobile devises are widely available and really popular in 3rd world countries including the Middle East. The apps really do make the Gospel available to millions of people who would otherwise never get the opportunity to hear about the real Jesus Christ.

Here’s just a couple of the many sites that offer Bible apps:

YouVersion

biblephone

Related Posts?:

1. -Mobile Phone Revolution: Reaching the Unreachable
2. -Using Mobile Phones and Mobile Devices for Evangelism

  (February 2012 (Photo:Carol Browne)

I don’t know if you have noticed or not but some of the most successful blogs on the Internet no longer date their posts -Copyblogger for one. Why?

Blogs that have dropped the traditional dating have found that their older posts are now getting read at a greater frequency, the bounce rate has improved (readers stick around to read additional posts), and some of the older articles continue to receive comments. Most of those blogs have removed the dates from their posts and their article URLS.

I am currently experimenting with a ‘no date’ on this blog and my traffic and bounce rate has improved so I will probably keep it. I have other blogs where it definitely would not work.

Whether it is a good idea for your blog or not depends upon your content. If your content usually revolves around subjects and issues that are timely in nature like current events, new tech reviews, political news, and prayer requests than the traditional dating is important to the content and should be maintained.

On the other hand, if you are doing Bible studies, apologetics, answering Bible questions, or talking about writing and language than dating might not be necessary since the info is somewhat timeless in nature. The one great advantage is that older posts receive more attention.

There is also a middle ground strategy that some blogs are utilizing by maintaining a general ‘no date’ system then adding a reference to the date within the content itself if the article is timely in nature.

If you publish on WordPress you will need to use the following plugin in order to publish without the traditional blog dating: Date Exclusion SEO

One thing to be aware of, if you drop the dating from your URL it will break any of the backlinks you have received for your past articles. One way to solve this problem if you use WordPress is to use the following WP plugin: Advanced Permalinks

You can use that plugin to maintain the old URLS while changing to a ‘no date’ URL for future posts.              *Top

Related Posts?:

1. "Share This"
2. -The Rewards of Blogging Holidays and Special Events

Right now you can find one article after another talking about 2012 and "what really matters" when it comes to blogging or social networking. Most of the articles that I have read are on the importance of SEO and commenting in building traffic for ones site in the coming year. Not a few spend some time exploring how to get traffic and attention to some of your older posts. All good ideas since traffic and visibility is important.

However, if your purpose and goals for being on the Internet revolve around bearing your testimony about Jesus and/or doing some kind of Christian ministry, then the presence of God and His Holy Spirit in all that you do and say is of primary importance. The following short video (4:22) message by Francis Chan is a good one to remind us about “what really matters” after all is said and done: 

Catalyst Atlanta 2011 | Francis Chan from Catalyst on Vimeo.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. –John 15:5
ESV

*Hat Tip: GMO Blog               *Top

Related Posts?:

1. -Happy New Year 2012
2. Movie and Book Reviews as an Outreach

                  (Image via Wikipedia)

Here’s our top posts of 2011 based upon traffic and comments:

1.  -Top Christian Blogs Fall 2011

2.  -What is Google ‘Panda’ Looking For?

3.  -Ten Common Grammar Errors That Plague The Web

4.  -10 Online Behaviors That Christians Should Avoid

5.  -St. Pixels, New Online 3D Church on Facebook

6.  -Re: The New Google +1 Button

7.  -The Importance and Effects of Colors

8.  -Responding in Love to Difficult Comments

9.  -After 5 Years of Blogging Here’s What I’ve learned

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

Related Posts?:

1. -Top Christian Blogs Fall 2011
2. -The Pope Gives Good Advise for Christians Online

With the new year, many want to improve their lives in 2012. One of the best ways to do that is to read the Bible daily in the new year.

Several polls taken during the last year have unfortunately demonstrated that American Christians are somewhat illiterate when it comes to the Bible and particularly Biblical teachings. One good way to reverse the trend is to set aside time to read the good book everyday. An excellent idea is to read through the whole Bible or at least the New Testament during 2011. There are a number of good programs to help you in the process.

One of the easiest ways to get it done is to get a ‘One Year Bible’ where the whole year is divided up into daily readings usually with a selection from the New Testament, the Old Testament, and from Psalms. You can even get it in your favorite version at the book store or at Amazon.

If you find that reading all of it in one year is maybe too much, then you could read just the New Testament and Psalm offerings for each day and then maybe save the Old Testament or the following year (or visa versa).

There are also a number of good plans available that allow you to use your regular Bible for the reading. Here’s a few online: The One year Bible Online, Bible Year-eSword, Bible Gateway

You could also get the Bible on CD or tape and listen to it on the way to work this year or download it into your iPod, iPhone or MP3: iTunes, Apps me now

There are lots more Bible helps available just search online.

May God Bless us all in 2012.               *Top

Related Posts?:

1. Why Blogging? -A Bible Study Example
2. Setting Up a Bible Study Blog

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Most of the time holidays are a one day or a weekend at best affair but Christmas is an entire season that spans nearly a whole month. Plus it is a natural for Christian bloggers since the whole reason for the season revolves around the birth of Jesus Christ.

When it comes to blogging and bearing one’s testimony the opportunities provided by this holiday are far and beyond any other time of the year. First of all, nearly everyone is participating in the season in some form or another- believer and non-believer.So the interest is high and there are lots of things to blog about. The following are just a few suggestions.

What to Blog About

1. About your shopping experiences

2. About all of the hectic pressures of the season.

3. About how your family and extended family responds to one another.

4. About family traditions and how your family celebrates.

5. About what Christmas really means to you.

6. About how your faith matters during this time.

7. About the central message of the season and the birth of Jesus Christ.

8. About the events at your church.

9. About Christmas outreaches to those in need.

10. About your daily activities related to the season.

The Christmas season is a rich time of the year when it comes to touching others and your blog or website can touch people in ways that are not really possible any other time of the year. To see what I mean, all you have to do is view some of the traditional Christmas movies that are shown year after year during this season.

Folks are open to good stories and good news and there is nothing better for that then the coming of Jesus Christ as a baby. Now’s the time to tell them why Jesus came, why God sent his Son, and why that should mean something to everyone.            *Top

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.

Now in this generation we are also going through a comparable paradigm shift with the dawn of the Internet and the mass availability of computers but especially smart phones even in 3rd world countries. It is making the Bible accessible to folks in every country, even in places where missionaries and the Gospel are officially forbidden to go.

There are numerous sites right now on the Internet where the Bible is available in literally hundreds of different languages. Plus sound Christian teaching and Bible studies on thousands of different sites may be easily accessible with an iphone or Blackberry.

This is a major game changer, especially when it comes to evangelism.

Here’s a great article that explores the positive aspects and full potential of digital evangelism compared to the limitations of printed material:

“Are electrons better than dead trees?”               *Top