Over at Mobile Advance, a weekly list of links to news and happenings in and around mobile is posted. Here’s a snippet of what’s in Weekly Web Watch #24:
Mobile Ministry
Read the rest of Weekly Web Watch #24 at Mobile Advance.
Just a few items to note on this Friday:
Of common topic these days in digital ministry circles is how to better use digital tools such as mobile, social networks, etc. to better do the work of discipliship and continual engagement with the Body. A book that has been recently published – titled Netcasters – has been profiled over at the InternetEvangelism Day Blog with both a book summary and interview with its author. Here’s a quote from the interview.
…Netcasters was written to describe what internet evangelism is and who is doing it well – both large ministries and individual cybermissionaries. I also provide a list of resources and contacts so that someone who feels called to evangelize on the Web will be able to get quickly up-to-speed on how to get the ball rolling…
For more information, read the review/interview then purchase the book at Amazon and other online retailers.
Internet Evangelism Day is an annual focus day for churches. This year, it is scheduled for Sunday April 25. It’s an opportunity for any church to explore with its members the exciting opportunities for sharing the good news online. Ready-made free downloads – PowerPoint, video clips, handouts, drama scripts and music can be easily built into a presentation of five minutes or 50.
2010′s focus day will be the sixth to be used by churches around the world since the initiative’s launch in 2005. Over this period, digital media have developed dramatically, with the advent of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and the growing use of mobile phones to access online services.
IE Day’s website is also a one-stop resource covering many subjects including: how to build a church website that is ‘outsider friendly’, using Twitter in evangelism, and ideas for effective blogging.
Perhaps surprisingly, you do not need to be technical to share your faith online. And you can volunteer to be an email mentor to inquirers with several large online outreach ministries.
Internet Evangelism Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, based at the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton. It is supported by a wide range of Christian leaders and groups. “I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day,” says John Stott.
For more information visit the Internet Evangelism Day website.
Another great resource for web and mobile-based resources for evangelism and community buidling through the Gospel can be found at the Internet Evangelism Day website.
While IE Day doesn’t happen until April, there are still tons of reasons to be involved and to note the tons of resources provided. Of note, IE Day exists to:
Then again, you don’t have to take my word for it, there’s a YouTube video that explains more:
And an entire website of resources and media that you can use to help web/mobile enable your evangelistic efforts. Check out the Internet Evangelism Day website to learn more.
Here are some updates from the folks over at Internet Evangelism Day:
Church Website Opportunities
‘Desperately Seeking Lodgers’ is a new short parable from Internet Evangelism Day, highlighting the need for church websites to be people-oriented. ‘”We need more lodgers,” said Maria Silversmith to her husband Milo one evening…’
www.internetevangelismday.com/church-evangelism.php
Campaign for Prominent URLs
Internet Evangelism Day has initiated CPU – the ‘Campaign for Prominent URLs’, to encourage churches to display their website URL in large readable letters, so that passing motorists can easily see it.
www.internetevangelismday.com/church-website-publicity.php
The Church Website Design Questionnaire
The Church Website Design Questionnaire has become a valued tool for many churches. It provides a custom report, based on the answers a church webmaster enters online, suggesting ways to make the church site more attractive and user-friendly to outsiders.
www.internetevangelismday.com/church-website-design.php
Popular Culture – A Forgotten Gift
Internet Evangelism Day suggests that Christians do not often use a God-given evangelistic starting point – popular culture. “Suppose God sent you a letter. And in it, He offered you a gift – a simple evangelistic approach similar to the parables that Jesus used. Something that would engage with people’s interests, and employ a common language and experience. Would you want to use it?”
www.internetevangelismday.com/popular-culture.php
Online Training for Digital Ministry
Internet Evangelism Day lists a range of new resources to help Christians learn more about online ministry:
www.internetevangelismday.com/training.php
Speakers Available for Conferences
If you need a speaker about any aspect of digital evangelism for a conference, fraternal, staff consultation or Bible College, you can now request a speaker from Internet Evangelism Day’s panel of experts, available in a number of countries around the world. When traveling distance is a problem, most are also available to linkup via a Skype or telephone conference session.
www.internetevangelismday.com/speaker.php
Using Contact Cards for Outreach
Contact cards are an often-overlooked way to enhance a face-to-face interaction. As well as carrying your personal information, a card can invite people to visit a church website, and/or some recommended outreach sites that explain the Gospel clearly to outsiders. Internet Evangelism Day has a webpage explaining strategies for using contact cards, with a guide about using online design and print services to make your own cards quickly and easily. Pricing for 250 cards can be remarkably cheap – only a few pennies or cents each.
www.internetevangelismday.com/contact-card.php
Advance Notice of Internet Evangelism Day 2010
Internet Evangelism Day, the annual web-ministry focus day for churches, is set for April 25 2010. To mark the day, churches can create a short program, using free downloads from the IE Day site: Powerpoint, video clips, handouts and music, to investigate and showcase the huge potential for outreach using the Web.
For these and other information from Internet Evangelism Day check out their blog.
Book Review: Netcasters by Craig Von Buseck
Monday, August 22nd, 2011Netcasters is a short yet deep read (12 chapters, about 175 pages). In it, The author (Craig von Buseck, @churchwatch) dives into the question of “why” it’s important to consider digital spaces as applicable for missional, teaching, and discipleship activities. He then describes some of the activities happening online such as EveryStudent.com and Internet Evangelism Day. He then goes into some practical steps that computer savvy and not-so-savvy ministers and lay persons can take towards casting their net online. The content focuses more on social networking and pull-marketing-like methods in order to find, reach, and enable online ministry – though mobile and SMS is mentioned in passing.
Normally, I don’t have much a problem going into reading a book. I can usually get around everything from opinions to facts and simply enjoy the read. With Netcasters, the challenge was a lot different than I was accustomed to in respect to reading. Not only was I reading a subject that I have proficiency in, but I was reading a lot of the same information that I have posted here. It very much felt at times as if I was reading my own writings – and to anyone who knows that feeling of listening to your own voice, you can only take that so long before you need to put your ears into a different place.
That said, I came away from Netcasters feeling that this is still a timely read and useful resource for ministers who might otherwise be feeling overwhelmed with the pace and utilization of Internet technologies in faith, as well as general social contexts. von Buseck’s assessment of the potential for technology to play a part in ministry engagements is in one part still coming to pass, and in other respects is playing out exactly as he and others have foreseen. The challenge, as he notes several times in the last chapter taking about the crossroads of technology and faith, is that we don’t get discouraged as to what we have or don’t have, but just set ourselves towards this digital mission field and start/continue plowing forward.
Netcasters can be considered an old book in respect to writings on technology (published in 2010). When faith is added, there aren’t many solid materials in the faith-technology intersection and therefore this book finds itself as a solid resource guide for those looking to wrap their hearts and minds around the intersection of faith and technology, and what’s possible in this space. I would recommend this to any one with an inkling that digital spaces are ripe for ministry. But, not to stop at simply reading this, take some of the lessons and either join an existing effort or cast a net of your own to further ministry effectiveness in this space.
Netcasters: Using the Internet to Make Fishers of Men
Author: Craig von Buseck
© 2010, B&H Publishing Group
Print and eBook versions available via Amaon, CBN, B&N Publishing, and more
Tags: book review, CBN, Every, IE Day, Internet evangelism, Internet Evangelism Day, Netcasters
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