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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

The organizers of the day offer more than 20 eBooks for free plus lots of other resources on doing ministry on the Internet.

The titles include:

• NetCasters: Using the Internet to Make Fishers of Men by Craig von Buseck
• God Space: where spiritual conversations happen naturally by Doug Pollock
• Effective Church Websites for Emerging Generations by Frank Johnson
• Several books by church communications trainer Yvon Prehn

Check out the full list here: Free Internet Evangelism Day Books

              (Image via Wikipedia)

Integrity and credibility are two issues that everyone online are going to be involved with one way or another. Whether you are writing a blog, publishing a website, or just reading and commenting. For the Christian blogger or social networker it should be absolutely crucial and obvious.

We really should be asking ourselves before we hit the ‘publish’ or ‘send’ button –How will this reflect upon who I say I am. If I am presenting myself as a Christian does it reflect favorably on Christianity or the church? Is this article, comment, or observation really reflective of what I want to do and be Online?

After all, if your sites are any thing like mine, folks from nearly every country on the face of the earth and from nearly every culture and religion have stopped by and visited one time or another. If you are styled as some kind of ‘Christian’ site does it reflect the testimony that you would like to bare to the world?

Interesting enough, I have been mistreated, badmouthed, slimed, and berated far more often by fellow Christians than by any secular or foreign folks I may dialogue with.

Can’t tell you how many times a day my busiest blog is actually ‘spammed’ by other Christians who drop in links to their site or articles of their own in the comment line and wonder why they never see the light of day on my blog.  It would be one thing if it was an actual response to the article but it seldom is. Maybe some keyword in the article triggers it all. Amazing!

What are they thinking?

Then there is those occasions where I find that entire articles have been lifted off my blog and find their way onto another ‘Christian’ website with no attribution at all. Where is the Integrity there. It is somewhat flattering in a backhanded way. I have actually had a brother respond rather indignantly to the suggestion that it should be at least attributed or linked.

Then there are those sites that slander famous pastors and preachers. There’s an incredible mega-church 3 blocks from my house in Lake Forest. I am utterly amazed how many sites and articles that I have run across on the web libeling and obviously misquoting and taking that famous pastor entirely out of context. It is ridiculous. If he had said a tenth of what is attributed to him he would have been kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention long time ago.

Also don’t bother commenting on a site like that and trying to correct some of the ‘misquotes’ that you know the truth about. Those folks don’t really seem to want the truth and actually resent it.

Sometimes I wonder what some Muslim from Yemen or Buddhist from India must think about reading sites where Christians are battling over dirty laundry. A negative testimony for sure?

Point is, we really should be more careful Online and reflect the integrity and the credibility of our faith. Since we are reaching a global audience we should be more aware of that reality and how it reflects upon Christianity and our Lord.

Pope Benedict recently issued some good advise for Christians online. It was addressed to Catholics but it is right on target for all Christians involved in any kind of Internet ministry:

"We must be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its ‘popularity’ or from the amount of attention it receives. The proclamation of the Gospel requires a communication which is at once respectful and sensitive."

"There exists a Christian way of communication which is honest and open, responsible and respectful of others. To proclaim the Gospel through the new media means not only to insert expressly religious content into different media platforms, but also to witness consistently, in one’s own digital profile and in the way one communicates choices, preference and judgments that are fully consistent with the Gospel."

Response: The Pope is said to be techno challenged but under his leadership the Vatican has begun to enter the digital age and update everything that they are doing online.            *Top

“For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them; for creating a new system of exchanging information; and for changing how we all live our lives, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year.”

The runner–up is said to have been Wikileaks’ Julian Assange who was a strong candidate before his recent legal problems.

Response: The choice and even the runner-up demonstrates how much a part of our daily lives the Internet has become. No longer just the playground of techno-geeks, nearly every family and person in America plus one billion and half people around the world are touched in some way by the web.

For some of you who thought that it was all just a fad that would eventually play out now is the times to consider that we are really in the midst of a communication revolution. I’m sure that friends of Gutenberg were not all that sure about his invention of the printing press either at first. Those who saw the first autos laughed for a while and kept on riding in their horse and buggies, and those who saw the first TV broadcast in 1939 probably didn’t see much future in it.

However when it comes to the Internet the future is right now and it is making it possible to take Jesus to countries where it is illegal to preach the Gospel. it is a revolution and a new day. Time to get aboard, we could be looking at the generation referred to in Daniel 12:4 -

  “…to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

Millions are searching for knowledge and all sorts of stuff on the internet everyday in every nation of the world. We really do need to make it easy for the world to find Christ even if by supposed accident.            *Top

“How are you using social media to refresh others?”

Quote from article:

Will you choose to be a breath of fresh air to the world today? How are YOU using social media in your life to refresh others lives with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ?

Philippians 2:15:

“Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.”

Response: Some good thoughts to consider as we tweet, poke, and ‘Like’ around our own social networking sites.

                           (Mobile Phones –Wikipedia)

We have written about how the Internet is a new ‘Roman Road’ making it possible to reach the ‘unreachable’ all around the world. In the first century the roman roads made it possible for Christianity to spread quickly around the known world. Not only that but English is the dominant language (the new Greek) and many people around the world are becoming literate in it through its use on the Internet and in new media.

Even more incredible is the mobile (cell) phone revolution that is spreading to every nation on earth like wild fire. There are already over 5 Billion phones in use. This is really astounding when you consider that there are 6.5 Billion people on earth. More and more these mobile devices are being used to access the Internet. There are predictions already out there that within a couple of years mobile phone and mobile devices will overtake PC’s as the primary tools used to access the Internet.

Implications For Evangelism

Already there are Christian groups that are responding to folks around the world using mobile devices and spreading the Gospel to heretofore ‘unreachable’ people. Read this detailed article by Keith Williams and Leith Gray about what is currently going on and the plans for the future. Pretty incredible:

“The Little Phone That Could: Mobile-Empowered Ministry”  

        (Image via Wikipedia)

From GMO blog: “God’s redeeming work, on the internet.”:

“If you haven’t seen this, I really encourage you to visit http://www.greatcommission2020.com/as soon as you finish reading this. It is pretty incredible to know that right now, as you are reading this, people are praying to receive Jesus as the Savior of their lives, and you are able to watch it all happen on your computer screen. Now that’s a miracle!”

Response: It really is incredible. Check it out and watch as hundreds come to Christ from all around the world—in real time!

(Image by EraPhernalia Vintage via Flickr)

According to a United Nations agency (released today -Tues.10/19/10) the number of Internet users will surpass two billion this year to nearly one third of the world population.

The greatest increases and impact have come from developing countries with 162 million new Internet users this year. The forecast is that Internet usage will continue to increase exponentially in the future till every country and nation is touched and affected in a major way.

Implications for the Gospel

The rise of the Internet is similar to other world changing events in the past like the invention of the printing press, the Reformation, the discovery of America, and the Industrial Age. It is causing a major paradigm shift all across the world and bringing every nation closer together for better or worse.

When some little known pastor of a tiny church in Florida says that he is going to burn a Quran folks in the caves of remote Afghanistan hear about it and respond.

On the positive side, the Internet has opened up every nation to the Gospel, even places that do not allow Christian missionaries. The time is coming when every nation will hear one way or another about Jesus. No government can really stop it now.

This is big time and similar to the first century when the Roman roads and the universal Greek language made it possible for Christianity to spread across the known world in one generation.             *Top