Gutenburg goes to church

Imagine if... Guttenburg attended church the Sunday after he invented the printing press. He was overwhelmed with inner excitement about his goal of making the Bible available to the common man. After the service he walked up to the minister... "Guess what, I've come up with a way to copy books quickly and inexpensively...I was thinking of starting with the Bible."

"Why would you do that?", was the reply. A book would be so impersonal...if someone wants to learn about God they should come to church and listen to us...that's the way it has been done for as long as anyone can remember!

Why, if you start printing Bibles, anyone could read them and who knows what doctrines uneducated people would come up with...By the way, this printing press could be used to print evil books - a tool of the devil, we want no part of this... and please don't ask us for money to print Bibles to distribute all over the world. We only give money to our traditional missionaries who do things like us...are you serious? You want us to invest God's money for you to play with your printing press in your basement?...

We are part of an new communication revolution. The basic ways people communicate... how people get information... how people are entertained... how people find friends and connect with community... the Internet is changing everything.

The Internet is a powerful medium that can be used for evil or good. "All that is neccessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". The cults, false religions, pornographers, and those with worldly values are using the Internet in powerful ways to get their message out.

Most American Christians fail to see the potential of using the Internet to get the GOOD NEWS out. There are only a small handful of Internet missionaries that have been able to raise enough funds to work full time in this strategic ministry.

Most American Christians have not personally shared their faith with anyone this past year because of a perceived lack of opportunity.

Most American Christians have forgotton how lost this world is. Most have a close network of Christian friends from their church and don't even realize that America is fast becoming a pagen nation. Euorpe, the land that birthed the reformation is vastly post-Christian. Billions who live in countries like China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, North Korea, etc. have never heard a clear presentation of the GOOD NEWS.

The time is short, the need is great, we must rally the troops!

With your computer you can publish the GOOD NEWS to the uttermost parts of the world! We want to inspire you and train you to share your faith. We want to team you up with a like minded community group to encourage you and empower you to share your faith in a powerful way... Please pray for us...

"I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest"...

Web Evangelism Guide

Soon Reconciliation Resource Ministries will be diving into the world of Internet Evangelism. This Blog will serve as a place to refine our ideas as well as a way to enlist and train volunteers. If the Lord has you crossing our path by reading this blog we would deeply appreciate your prayers and ideas. We are still a few weeks away from promoting this blog and our ministry website.

If you are interested in Internet Evangelism, please keep in touch.

For those who are new to this I want to introduce you to a few great resources.

First I recommend that you sign up for the bi-monthly e-newsletter:

The Web Evangelism Guide at:

bulletin-subscribe@web-evangelism.com

This is a wonderful resource that will inspire you with fresh ideas and will keep you up to date with the latest in Web Evangelism.

Second visit and study:

www.Web-Evangelism.com our personalized versison is found at:

www.InternetMinistry.info

This is an absolutely the best site for learning about Web Evangelism. I had the privilege of meeting the site's founder, Tony Whittaker, a few years back at the Internet Evangelism Coalition's IEC Annual Meeting. You will notice when you visit his site, his name and picture is not plastered all over the place. He is a brilliant and humble servant that just wants the world to turn to Jesus. Years ago when I first thought about Internet Evangelism, I came across his newsletter. The Lord used it to help inspire me. For those who will be helping us in our endeavors and those who are just interested in getting the Gospel out to this lost world, you will be much better equipped by studying these two resources.

Let me know what you think...

National Porn Sunday

National Porn Sunday was yesterday. The purpose was to draw attention to the temptations of the dark side of the Internet. No one made of flesh is immune to the temptaions of the flesh. Scriptures teach us that we should follow Joseph's example and "flee youthful lusts". We are to make no provisions for the flesh... a good first step to protect yourself and your family is to get a good Internet Filter and accountability program.

I reccomend Bsafe, it is also reccommended by NEW MAN MAGAZINE, Campus Crusade, Dave Ramsey, Josh McDowell, and others. It's advantage is that everything goes through their servers so there is no clever work arounds. If you would like, the accountability software will send all your Internet history to an accountability friend. A free trial of the software is available here:

FREE TRIAL OF BSAFE INTERNET FILTER

They also have an inexpensive virus protection and email solution.
By trying this awesome product through my link here, you also help me in my efforts to be supported as a missionary.

You may send a copy of this post to a friend by clicking the "envelope" at the bottom of this post, or you can copy and paste the folowing link:
www.bsafeonline.com/?106290
to include in an email to your friends.

For about the same price as Norton AntiVirus or Mcafee you can get their top-of-the-line Antivirus protection, plus the Internet Filter, plus the accountability software!

_______


National Porn Sunday was sponsored by www.xxxchurch.com . Churches across the country addressed this seldom talked about issue. They have many good resources on their website and they also have a fee accountability software package.

India needs YOU!!!

This is amazing... I still haven't shared this blog with hardly anyone. I'm just writing out the vision that I believe God has given me. Today, I sat down to write a blog on how God can use Internet Ministry to share the gospel in India. First, I checked my email and somehow a pastor from India saw my blog on Internet Evangelism and wrote me:

"I PRAISE PRAISE "'GOD"'THAT YOUR GREAT INTREST TO HAVE THE FELLOWSHIP TOWARDS EVANGELISM,I CAN RAISE FUND FOR YOU BUT HOW CAN I HELP U? SUGGEST ME & INVOLVE ME ALONG WITH U SO THAT IN INDIA WILL BE BLESSED TROGH OUR FELLOWSHIP.THANK U FROM INDIA," PASTOR...(I'm not sure if I can share his name)

WOW! Thank you pastor, and thank you LORD, it's great to get a word of confirmation.

INDIA has nearly 1 Billion people who don't know the Lord...
INDIA has almost 1 Billion people who don't know Jesus...
INDIA has about 1 Billion people who are like sheep without a shepherd...weary, scattered, without direction, fearful without a protector and hope for the future...
INDIA has nearly 1 Billion people who God loves more that we could ever understand...
INDIA has almost 1 Billion people who woke up this morning without the "peace that passeth all understanding"...
INDIA has about 1 Billion people...1,000,000,000!!!...each one precious...each one with a void that can only be filled by God. Can we compehend this? ... Who cares?... Do you care?... Do I care?...

India's population is about 1.06 Billion. 80% are Hindu, 12.5% Muslim, and only about 2.5% Christian. Since 1975, India has allowed very few missionary visas and has expelled many foriegn missionaries. Those few who are left face increasing persecution and violence from religious extremists..."How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? and how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" We need to pray for India. Will you pray for India today? Will you pray for the billion lost souls tomorrow? Prayer always preceeds revival...

Let's pray and let's get involved. You can make a difference! Like those in the parable of the good Sameritan, we are confronted with the pain, the suffering, the need... We can choose to turn up the noise of our busy life and forget...to keep working on our personal to do lists... to live this day like yesterday and the day before... OR we can choose to PAUSE..., ..., PAUSE..., try to comprehend the pain... allow God to touch our hearts with HIS compassion... take time out of our busy schedules to demonstrate the love of God... and like the Good Samaratan invest financially into the kingdom of God... There are many wonderful Christian organizations and national churches ministering to India... Here is how you can team up with us...

OUR INTERNET MINISTRY IDEAS FOR INDIA:

Strategy # 1. Empower national pastors and ministers for both Internet ministry and conventional church/evangelism ministry.

At the Internet Evangelism Coalition Convention the Lord placed across my path Pastor K.I. Jacob, an national Indian Pastor. (He is in the US for a few weeks and I'd be happy to put you in touch with him). We prayed and began the process of coming up with a strategy.

First we can support a national pastor for about $60 dollars a month. We would want him to work part time with our Internet evangelism efforts along with their local mission. With over 18 different languages and 1650 dialects they'll know best how to contexualize the efforts. There would also be a need to provide a computer and internet connection. In much of India an Internet connection is rare and sought after. Besides developing and maintaining evangelistic sites, It could be used to train and disciple believers. Another important function would be to train poor children (English, education, trades) during the day. This will not only meet a great social need, it will also open doors to minister spiritually. As a side benefit, they also feel if poor children are receiving quality help it will greatly reduce the religious persecution and violence. I'm sure there are also many other India pastors that would like to partner with us in this manner.

I am praying that the Lord will touch a church or individual to commit $150 a month for at least a year to immediately start a test program with pastor Jacob's ministry. (Reconciliation Resource Ministries - designated "India Project", 223 W. Memorial Drive, Chicago Heights, IL. 60411)

www.IndiaMinistry.org This will be the place where we will be developing the community of those who wish to reach out in love to India. For now, if you'd like to help, please leave a post and send me an email at: WebEvangelist@gmail.com . We need help in so many ways...I don't have time to list right now. We also need to explore what resources are already in place that we can partner with.

www.FreeEnglishLessons.in This has tremendous potential. Please see my previous post on Internet ministry to China to get further information.

www.MumbaiIndia.in , www.CalcuttaIndia.in , www.DelhiIn.in . City portal sites have great potential, I'll share this in more detail in a later post. These three are a good starting point, they're HUGE. Metro Mumbai has about 18 million almost tied with Mexcico City as the world's second largest metro city.

www.BangaloreIndia.in , and www.HyderabadIndia.in . These are strategic cities... I'll share my ideas for them at a later time. These cities are centers of hope, hope of a much higher level of lifestyle for millions of young people. These are centers for IT and accounting outsourcing as well as call centers for huge American companies. There is also awesome talent there that could be tapped into for our Internet ministry projects. According to the Indianexpress, India wil now be the back end for all the new .org's.

www.GoodNewsForIndia.in . We need help in developing this as an evangelistic and discipleship site for the various language groups of India.

www.MobileIndia.in . Mobile phone useage is exploding in India. It will also be the only way millions will be able to access the internet. We need to think ahead. Besides developing some sites designed to be mobile friendly, we could offer various services such as Java and Flash games, a "joke of the day" etc. there will be great demand and many opportunities to provide a service to someone who would normally be antaginistic towards a Christian.

I need someone to make a designated donation of $65 US dollars so we can buy and secure www.IndiaChildren.In, www.IndiaTeens.org, www.IndiaFamily.in, (See the Chinese Internet Ministry post for how they can be used for the kingdom). also www.Bollywood.org.

Finally, my favorite: www.Touchables.in . In India they have the caste system. At the bottom are about 300 million know as the "untouchables". They are ostracized and have little chance of having anything but a life of poverty.

Aren't you glad for Jesus, the friend of sinners?
Jesus who TOUCHED those with leprosy, who were cast out, dispised and regulated to poverty.
Jesus, who lifted up the woman caught in adultry.
Jesus, who had time for children.
Jesus who touched the eyes of the blind man and cared for him who could not walk.

Oh I know the "untouchables' in general are not going to be surfing the Internet. Yet somehow, God can use this to give them hope. Maybe by raising awearness and mobilizing an army of prayer warriors. Maybe by providing materials and training for national pastors as they share the GOOD NEWS.

Spend a day, knocking on American suburban doors... invite them to church... ask them if they are interested in receiving God's awesome gift of salvation... Then hear the words of the LORD, "COME for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. I have...therefore I cannot come...Then the Master being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind....GO...and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

We offer hope. We offer unconditional acceptance. We offer value, though unworthy, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I believed God is going to raise up mighty men and women of God from the so called "untouchables". We are all untouchables, without strength, without beauty, unable to help ourself. Our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord. Yet for some reason, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

He bound up our broken heart. He brought beauty into the ashes of our life. Instead of mourning, He gave us the oil of gladness. Instead of a spirit of despair, He gave us a garment of praise. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ!

Only God deserves the glory and the first step to God is being poor in spirit and deeply humble. And for that reason... not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise...and the LOWLY things of this world, and the things that are DESPISED, has God chosen...That no flesh should glory in His presence. It is not excellency of speech or enticing/clever words that bring souls into the kingdom but demonstration of the Spirit and of Power. That way, our faith will not be in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. Oh we have GOOD NEWS for the "untouchables". When Jesus proclaimed His public ministry, His first words were, "The Spirit of God is upon me, Because He has annointed me to preach the gospel to the poor...".

What will you do today?


PS (10/10/05) - 20,ooo die in an earthquake in the area and It's not the lead story for the Sunday Chicago Times... The Suntimes did have an article on Bangalore... they also stated that 800 million people in India survive on less than $2 a day...

LISA N SCOTT

Chinese ministry websites - volunteer now!

As I begin my adventure it is important for me to prioritize and refine my ideas. My starting point is an easy choice, to develop a site explaining our 501c3 Christian non-profit, Reconciliation Resource Ministries. (www.ChristCares.org - hopefully functional by Oct.15). We plan on having our new fundraising materials by then. This Fall we are also sharing that Internet Ministry will be one of the main things we will be doing. I've mentioned it on and off for the past couple years but now we are actually making it an important part of my work week. I'd appreciated your prayers: 1) that our current supporters will catch the vision and continue to support us as we make Internet ministry a major component of what we do, and 2) that the Lord will raise up new individuals and organizations to support our efforts.

Instead of listing all my ideas, I'll take one focus area a week. Feedback will be important as we refine the ideas. We also want to start forming a team/community of those who might want to help out in some way.

Lets start by listing some ideas of how to reach out to the Chinese community. Soon there will be more Chinese on the web than Americans. I've been preaching at the South Suburban Chinese Church on a regular basis for about 15 years. I've developed a true love for the people and a deep respect for the culture. Ideas:

www.FreeEnglishLessons.org


Since China is closed to open witnessing, an effective strategy to share the gospel is to go to China and teach english and then look for opportunities to share the gospel. I have a friend who just returned from China doing this and another friend who is in process of raising support for this. It takes thousands of dollars for each missionary sent.

What if a few thousand dollars were invested in developing a website and advertising in China?

We could set up different courses (by age and by level of English knowledge). Volunteers could grade tests and write cirriculum. A selling point for this program could be that everyone who signs up could have an (American or English speaking) tutor that they could chat or email (& soon video IM) with on a weekly basis. The volunteers could have an email address from www.freeenglishlessons.org in order to keep a level of anonymity. Witnessing would take place on a couple of levels. 1) We can have limited advertising on the site and fill it with Chinese (witnessing) banner sites so those who are actively seeking God would have an easy path to follow. 2) More importantly, the relationships that are built by the weekly tutoring will provide many intentional witnessing opportunities. This would work with other cultures as well, next week I'll be sharing this idea with a national pastor from India.

www.YaoMingFanClub.cn Sport fan sites. Yao Ming is the most famous athlete in the world! He probably has OVER A BILLION world-wide fans. What if we banded together and made one of the best unofficial fan sites? (in both English & Chinese) ...

I also have www.yao.cc , www.yaofans.org , www.yaomingfanclub.info , www.yaostore.com , www.sportstars.cn , www.hrockets.com . I really think my nitch will be in developing indirect witnessing websites. There are many ways to witness through a "fan" site but I must move on due to my limited time.

www.fun.org.tw and www.fun.cn.com . Most people who come to Christ do so while they are young. Child-like faith is more natural as a child. A site with lots of games, crafts, coloring, etc. A lot could also be done in a fun way on Chinese culture, language, and history. There are many Chinese parents in America who are looking for ways to keep their culture alive for their children.

www.ChineseSpaceProgram.com . There is a lot of interest in this now.
There will be many book reports and search engine requests for this. There are many ways we could develop an indirect witnessing site through this.

www.GodLovesYou.cn . This could be a direct witnessing site. As long as politics are avoided, it should not be censored. It may be wise to have a mirror .tw or .org site in case of possible censorship. I use to own "godislove.cn" , my domain registra made a mistake when I renewed it and told me it was successfully renewed when in fact it was dropped. Because another Christian organization picked it up I don't think I will persue anything.

www.Chinaministry.org . This could be a site where we:
1) Develop a community for those who would like to help with these and other Internet outreaches to Chinese people.
2) Develop resources for Chinese Christians. Also list current Internet resources available for Chinese outreach.
3) Strategize and possibly find a Chinese Christian who: a) has a passion to serve God b) is web literate c) who lives in a 3rd world country so that he/she could help us with our endeavors in a significant way for a couple hundred dollars a month.




I also have www.ChineseTeens.cn (& www.chineseteens.info as a mirror "backup" in case of censorship.
www.shopchina.cn , and
www.chinesefamily.cn (& www.chinesefamily.info as a mirror "backup" in case of censorship. ) any ideas?



Please pray:

That God will send the people and resources for the witnessing projects.
I am praying that poeple will see the need to support full time Internet Missionaries. It's a strategic time and a strategic method. I have been on a part time salary for almost a year now and if God doesn't provide quickly, I'll take it as His will for me to be a "tent-maker" and do the Internet witnessing as I am able to find time after work and family.
I want to do His will, whatever that may be. I don't know how, but since I feel God's leading in this endeavor, I believe he will provide in an unexpected and bountiful way.

If you or someone you know would like to help, please contact us to get further information:

Reconciliation Resource Ministries
223 W. Memorial Drive
Chicago Heights, IL. 60411 usa
*1(708)709-0469

Scott Reese: Pastor/Director
WebEvangelist@gmail.com

We need both financial donations and volunteers. I'm praying for a special gift of about $3,300 to help launch our Internet Ministry endeavors (Chinese and many other ideas). Any amount would be deeply appreciated - (We are a 501c3 non-profit, so it would be tax deductible). We need volunteers for the various aspects of these (and other) projects. We need your thoughts, ideas, and input as we prioritize our endeavors. We also need people to help spread the word for these endeavors.

PS: The Internet ministry conferences that I attended are putting much of the conference materials online on their websites. I'll see what all they put up and add anything I got out of the conferences that is not posted. www.webevangelism.com and www.gospelcom.net . Also since I still don't know how the blog/net search spiders work let me add: Internet Ministry, Web Evangelism, Chinese ministry, Chinese Christians, how to do internet ministry, christian volunteers, volunteer to teach English, Internet Evangelism, Church, PCM volunteers, billy graham, outreach, media ministry.

A blue Monday?

It's almost Monday morning,

time to go "back to the grind"...

But wait...There's excitement in my soul...

I can't wait to get up and tackle "the Adventures of a Web Evangelist".

Last week I attended Internet evangelism conferences sponsored by the Internet Coalition (Billy Graham Center) www.webevangelism.com and www.Gospelcom.net. I got to meet people like John Edmiston www.cybermissions.org and Allan Beeber www.worldlinc.org . A guy named Terry Mattingly taught on Christian Blogging www.tmatt.gospelcom.net .

Walt Wilson shared stories of real people. How God used the awesome technology of the Internet to get the GOOD NEWS to precious individuals like you and me, who had deep hurts and a hungering to know if there really was a God who cares.

Today I had the privilege of preaching at the South Suburban Chinese Church (With the help of a translator - just like Billy Graham, just minus about 50,000 people) on Romans 10:1-15. By God's grace and mercy, I can say with Paul, that my heart's desire and passion is to share the good news of the love of God!

MondayBlog * MondayBlog * MondayBlog * MondayBlog * MondayBlog

For now I'll blog every Monday (or Sunday Night) and more often as God guides. I need daily prayer and daily I need wisdom and counsel as I make important decisions, so maybe it will be more often if there are people willing to give me advice and share their thoughts.

My first blog I just decided I should put one up because it is important for me to learn about blogging. I had no idea that people would be reading it before I had a website up and before I told anyone about it.

Thank You! for the encouraging words. You inspired me, and I deeply appreciate it. If there is anything you'd like me to be praying about or if I can help in any way, just let me know. Frank I think you got things going. You have an awesome site with awesome ideas and resources:http://www.strategicdigitaloutreach.com/ Somehow Brian from the UK heard about my blog and sent me some very helpful resources. Thank you Brian. He has a great ministry, especially to new believers. His site is: www.newchristian.org.uk .

NEXT WEEK:
1) I will share highlights of the two awesome Internet Conferences.
2) I will list some of my Internet Evangelism ideas. I could really use some feedback: Preparing for this moment I have already bought a bazillion domains (No, I'm not manic-depressive, at least I hope not). My poor wife has rightlfully been a little dismayed when I would purchase a domain when we're not close to getting a full salary...God bless her...I feel like God has a plan and will honor a little sacrifice. Anyway I can't attack in all directions, I need to prioritize...feedback, ideas, and counsel would be helpful.

May God Bless you in a mighty and powerful way. And be ready with a smile or a kind word for that person that God will put across your path today who needs HIS love.

Scott,
your friendly Web Evangelist