My cousin Melissa was murdered on Easter Day 2011 by her former fiancee.  In her loss, we find ourselves wishing we could help prevent other women and families from the same devastation.  In her memory, we are partnering with Verizon Hopeline to collect old cell phones (all carriers, all conditions – even broken) which they refurbish to “give domestic violence survivors back their voice.”  If the phones are received in October, they will also donate money for each phone to the local abused women’s shelter near where Melissa lived.

For those of you who know me personally, please give me any old phones you have by October 24 so I can mail them to Florida in time.  For those of you I don’t have the pleasure of knowing yet, please mail your phones directly to the following address so it can be received before the end of October.

Joe’s Crab Shack

Attention:  Hopeline Cell Phone Drive

2024 W First Street, Ft Myers FL 33901

Thank you.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Proverbs 31:8

I’m actually going to take a different approach, and talk about two positives of media for the Christian in the 21st century, as well as a word of advice for parents.  Several bloggers will write about this same topic this weekend, so check out the Beginning of Wisdom main site for other views.  This should be interesting!

POSITIVES

Media is a tool to fulfill the Great Commission.  Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19).  You can disciple the nations right from home simply by responding to e-mails of those around the world who are searching for Jesus.  See the ‘live’ world map showing those coming to know Christ now at http://greatcommission2020.com  – for more details, read my previous blog “E-mailing Egypt,” and join me as an online missionary.

Media is a tool to make the Church relevant to those who may not know Christ.  Do you remember when you felt empty, searching for something to satisfy?  Maybe you still do.  I can tell you, I’ve found that Jesus satisfies.  Eventually, those who are searching to fill the emptiness will “try” Jesus – if they were to walk into your church Sunday morning, would their first glance tell them Jesus is relevant to the media-driven world they live in, or just a figure from ancient history?  The gospel message remains the same – just the ‘gift wrap’ changes from decade to decade so people know Jesus isn’t a museum piece but a living, life-changing God.  Hebrews 4:16-17 says, “Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality.  He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help” (The Message).

One of the best examples I’ve seen of effective use of media in a church was when we attended Shoreline Church in Austin, Texas – simply check out their webiste at http://www.shoreline.net.  The website is modern, maintained, and makes others think, “Hey, these people are real, down to earth, relevant people – and if they are talking about Jesus, this may be the answer I’m looking for!”  Instead of having the pastor simply read announcements from the bulletin, they use a weekly video called “Shoreline 411” for church members to share their excitement about various upcoming events in a way that is both lighthearted and created with excellence.  They even had a room for breastfeeding mothers filled with rocking chairs and live video stream so I never had to miss a sermon while I was feeding our firstborn son.  I can tell you that this church was FILLED with youth and young families who could relate to this presentation of the Gospel.

FOR PARENTS

Finally, parents must be media-savvy in order to protect their children.  Obviously, Satan wants to use media for his own purposes – to divide families, to tempt, to destroy.  But if we were to avoid everything that Satan tries to use for his gain, we would miss out on the ways God intends to use these for good.  When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples to minister, He said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard…”(Matthew 10:16-17a)  I firmly believe that I need to stay current with at least the basics of various sorts of media in order to know how to best protect my children.  To use a very simple example, if I didn’t know how to use the Internet, I wouldn’t know how easy it could be for my children to stumble across a pornographic website.  Therefore, we have implemented safeguards on all media in our home so that they can use the Internet but only to access the content Daniel and I have approved ahead of time.  I recommend the “Safety Bubble” app for phones and “BSecure” for computers (online download).  BSecure allows you to customize what content is allowed for each user and even filters the content on any laptop or phone that anyone else brings into our home through the wifi “Whole Home Filtering” feature.

Jesus, may we stay abreast of the latest media formats in order to protect our children, make our churches more relevant,  and find new ways to fulfill the Great Commission.

A picture is worth a thousand words – and the day I saw a world map showing “real-time” decisions for Christ, I knew I wanted to be involved.  The map:  http://greatcommission2020.com

Today’s stats:  31,239 indicated decisions for Christ, 12,223 completed discipleship Bible lessons, and 4,032 requested follow-up e-mails.

It’s called Global Media Outreach, and the concept is simple:  People are searching for God through the internet; a search engine leads them to one of many GMO websites that walks them through the steps of accepting Christ.  If they request follow-up, their name appears in my inbox.  I simply respond.  I make sure they understand what accepting Christ means, encourage them with Bible verses, “listen” to them as they talk about their questions or struggles, and pray for them.

Last week I used Romans 8 to encourage a man struggling with condemnation for his past.  Today I shared my own testimony with someone working to forgive those who have hurt him.  Some questions are simple, such as “Who is Jesus” from a lady in China.  Others are more complicated such as, “Why did God allow this to happen” from a precious lady in Egypt.  She and I formed a close friendship as we talked together over a 6 month period.

You can be an online missionary too.  Worried about security?  We use a separate secure e-mail system with missionaries’ first names only.  Worried that you may not have the answer?  You can “reassign” anyone to specialty groups of volunteers (suicide, substance abuse, tough theological questions, marriage/family issues, etc.).  Worried you can’t speak their language?  Reassign them to a different language group.  I only speak English, yet I have talked easily with people from Africa, Asia, and South America – not to mention Europe, Australia, and the USA/Canada as well.  Worried that you may have a question?  We each have our own “Community Leader” to answer our questions and pray with us.

In the past 5 minutes, 98 more have requested follow-up e-mails.  A simple e-mail.  A life changing result.  Only 5 minutes per day.  Will you respond?  

Join me at http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com/online_missionary.html.