In years past missionaries would have ministry which took place in a face to face environment. For the most part this is still true today. Most ministers are people oriented, they love to meet with people, to serve them, and to pray for them. If you have been in ministry for a long time you know that people are important. It is often said that we are in the "people" business.

In the past few years people have been extremely interested in virtual ministry among groups of people that have limited access to the gospel. Many Virtual missionaries can log on and share the gospel in a different context. This is a great way for believers in the church to take advantage of new technologies to share the message more effectively in closed countries. 

However, most of these individuals crave something more. They have a desire to be, excuse the buzz word term, "missional" with their lives. In my opinion this is where virtual and physical ministry intersect and if done properly can become... Ministry. As believers take what they are doing on the street and continue that same ministry in the online social environment the virtual and physical become one ministry. This intersection has so much potential to reach more people through authentic relationships it is really exciting to see where the future will take us. I personally looking forward seeing this played out in each of your ministries. 

Tags: Social Media, Missions, Strategic

I was catching up with a MDiv student this past week that I mentored for a short time while living in New Orleans. He is a good kid, smart, and a very hard worker. But he was having a hard time trying to see how someone can invest in another's life through social media. I told him that the best way for discipleship to occur in the life of my new believer is face to face discipleship. However, that is not always an option. Social media is a great way for people to invest in others when we are separated from each other.

Investing in people is not a simple task. Its takes time and energy. But it can be done through social interaction, especially through technology. As social media continues to change the way we interact with one another it can also allow us to be strengthened by each other as well. Missionaries love receiving emails, FB messages, and texts that just say, “Hey, I am praying for you today”. Lets be honest for a moment, everyone likes it when someone tells them they are thinking about them. Its kind of a big deal. Take moment right now and let someone know that you are thinking about them.

As I have mentioned before and I agree completely with Leonard Sweet that using social media can be used in discipleship. In my context, new believers need constant interaction. Using social media to send encouraging words and accountability when necessarily will help the new believer grow in his or her relationship with the Lord and with you as his mentor.

The student quickly caught on to the importance of how in some contexts social media is a vital way to disciple, and share life with another believer. I pray that we are using our social media accounts for this purpose.

Tags: Twitter, discipleship

I have met several college students over the past few months that have disabled or deleted their social media accounts. This causes me to ask the obvious question, why?… Some guys have decided that they are trying to avoid being tempted by the images they see on FB so they have chose to abstain. This is a nice and noble response to experiencing temptation, but in my opinion it is a temporary solution to a long term problem. It is a bandaid on a gushing wound. We all know someone like this, and don't get me wrong, if Jesus tells you specifically to away, then you should abstain.

Other people are just fed up with people (their own friends) posting nothing but crap on walls and in Twitter feeds so it's a waste of time. Therefore, they see no purpose in it. This is so frustrating to me. Now I recognize that I am an innovator. In the mission community we normally have research departments but most do not have a development department to help missionaries develop new ways of sharing the gospel with a UPG or Urban center.

Now please let me try to convince you to keep using Facebook and other social media.

What if the Lord, in all of His awesomeness, brought almost every nation under one roof. Mind you it is a digital roof, but at least its one place. Most believers already have access to this place and all they have to do is look, and they kind find people from almost every nation. Why would you not use such a tool, or venue that has access to over a Billion people. Just in case you missed it thats billion with a B. There are over 56 Million Facebook users in the Middle East alone. By having a Facebook account you potentially have access to Arab Muslims that need to hear the message of the Gospel. By friending, messaging, chatting, sharing, and discipling through the means that we have, Facebook, we are doing and being about the Great Commission.

Please hear me clearly, I am trying to get students, or any believer that has a Facebook account to use it for the glory of God by sharing the gospel with the nations. I am trying to get stay at home, & professional mothers to talk about their faith with mothers in other cultures. But, why? The real question is why not. They taught us in seminary to go where people are to share the gospel. The also told us to use what we have available to spread the seed of the gospel broadly. I just have a hard time finding a better place than on Facebook. Yes, it contains junk that doesn't belong. But if believers would use it for its maximum potential it could be a tool that to change the world.

So Ty, give me one reason to keep my Facebook account. Ok, with a Facebook account you have the opportunity to share the message of the gospel with Millions of people.

Tags: Facebook, Gospel, Great Commission, Nations, Believers

The other night I was at a Youth event and they were talking about "Threats" to the youth group. One of the items they wrote down was that social media is a threat to youth group growth. I have a lot of experience with using Facebook and Twitter for Kingdom impact so I was curious to figure out how social media can threaten our churches and youth groups. Don't get me wrong, I know about the potential threats that are in the world. Living in the Middle East kind of prepares you to see potential threats especially with information in the "online" world.

In America I feel like most parents are terrified of social media. They seem afraid of what their children have access to in the world. It shows me that parents are not preparing their children to be light in a dark world. Parents, if you are not preparing your children in how to act in a lost world, and even a lost social media world then we have pretty much lost the battle at this point. Yes, there are dangers of placing content (pictures, locations, and status updates) out there for anyone to read. Parents and mentors need to be proactive in educating your children and followers in proper social media etiquette.

In the past few months I have started encouraging students to use social media to share their faith with the nations from their social media accounts. This can even mean those that live in the Middle East. My main context is Muslim peoples so I usually train and challenge students to share their faith and look for friends and potential followers in other cultures that speak english. In the Arab world over 50% of Arabs that have a Facebook account mark English as their primary or default language. They do this for three reasons: 1) They speak English 2) They want to speak English or 3) They want you to think they speak English so you will be their friend. As a missionary in that context I want you to friend them and share the gospel with them. If you are interested in more information about this send me an email or a DM on Twitter and I'll hook you up.

I clearly think that social media is not a threat to youth ministry. I see a huge potential for using social media for sharing ones faith in the Facebook & Twitter culture. I also agree with Len Sweet who says that Twitter has the best potential for disciple-making because users follow people they want to hear or learn from but, I will talk more about that in another post later. Youth groups and youth ministers just like any other person in ministry need to use social media to its max potential for Kingdom purposes.

Tags: Students, Missions

We all know some of the basic reasons we use social media in the church. We like to be connected and communicate with each other on a regular basis. Small groups can create community pages, and almost everyone in the church follows the pastor as he tries to figure out how to use Twitter appropriately. But how are people in the church, the believers mind you, how are they using social media for outreach?

One pastor told me about the importance of using ads for people in his community asking them to come and join the church for a Sunday morning worship service. This is not a bad idea. You can even create a special Twitter feed for your prayer team so prayer request arrive to the prayer warriors as fast as possible. But, what about the nations?

How can churches in America have an impact on the nations using social media? I know this might be hard to believe, but its pretty simple. One of my favorite quotes from my time living overseas is, "It's Simple, Not Easy". It is simple to take the ways we use social media in the states to share the gospel and use that on a world level in order to make relationships with people of various people groups. Instead of looking for people that you have things in common with look for people that are different. They might be from a different country, have strange customs, or speak another language beside English. As you build a relationship with this new friend tell them about Jesus. It's pretty much that simple.

Tags: Great Commission