Brother:

This is a great post. I have a lot to say in regards to this.

I'll be back in a bit to comment.

In Him:

Sean

Hi Paul:

As I mentioned, this is a very worthy dicussion and I have a lot on my heart about it.

I hope and pray that others will join in this thread. Becuase I think it is BIG and that God wants to do something BIG in all of us involved on this site.

I'll begin the dicussion as if we were sitting talking and I am responding back to parts of what you have said. Here goes:

Amazing. I believe God is really moving in the area of the web and is really giving a lot of Christians a vision for the web. It is so true what you say about the difference being stark. I have experienced the same thing. I had a passion for the web for awhile, but had only last year really been given by Him a vision/dream for it. The difference is amazing.

I encourage us all to seek God's vision.

One thing that was a real break-through for me was coming to understand how God made me and gifted me. I kept thinking I was supposed to have a passion/vision for a certian people group, or a particluar ministry such as the lost, homeless, ect. I was confused by the fact that my main passion was the Internet in general, and a real desire to some how use it for God's work. I was set free when I discovered it was okay to have a passion for something particular other than people. (Although we still love people.) Just like a music minister may have a love for music in general, God gave that gift and uses that gift. Or, just like my wife has a passion for organizing and leading, and is used in many areas of the church, not nesc. for a single outreach or minstry to a set people group. We can have a passion for the mininstry/method itself.

I read a book last year called:

This really helped me discover how God made me for the vision He called me to.

To be continued...

I know others have seen me mention this before. In the past six months I have mediated a great deal on this scripture:

This really says it about any endeaver. Unless the Lord is doing it and watching over it, then it is done in vain. This is what I thought about for a long time in the first few months. Really trusting, for example, that He was the builder and the watcher of C-W-M.

Lately, I have been meditating on the second part. Yes, the Lord builds, but there is also a builder (us). Yes the Lord watches, but there are also watchmen (us). This for me, has implied what you said above: "seeking Him...because He will do the (immense) rest of it"

A friend of mine called this synergy with God. Some people think synergy is some how working with God, part God doing it, part us doing it. However, my firend suggested that synergy is 100% God and 100% us. In otherwords, we give ourslves 100% working and watching to the vision/dream that God has given us, and we know that is is 100% God building and watching.

This requires a constant seeking Him. I have started praying now before any task, recognizing He is at work.

What do others think about this?

To be continued...

In Him:
Sean

There is a study that really touches on this.

Our small group did it a couple of years ago. Has anybody else gone through it? It is a great book/study.

It suggests that God is working in areas, and we are to seek Him and join Him in that wrok. We look around and seek Him for evidence of His working. I have certainly seen enough evidence that God is working in the Internet field. Some of us are called to join Him.

In Him:
Sean

Sean & Bobby,

This is indeed a great post. It is hard sometimes when God places a passion inside of you and others dont necessarily share that same passion. Sometimes, the passion that God places inside of us, isnt so overtly Christian either. Jesus said, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." What is eating you!? LOL....I guess what I mean is, what is it that consumes your thoughts? It may very well be the thing God has called you to.

When I began to share with some, my love for the Internet, I may as well have told them I was addicted to internet porn. They saw this as carnal and didn't see the potential or value of using this medium for reaching the lost. I am not a web developer, but I know a little more than the average person, and have a few websites that I run. When I started MichianaOnline.com, I was looking for a way to offer godly advice without scaring people off. I know how people respond when you preface your statements by saying you're a Christian, so I wanted to lead people to Jesus in a way that they could understand. I wrapped the other things into the site to also foster discussion without people feeling inhibited.

I heard the coach of ND Football team speak yesterday and he stated that opportunities are abounding around us every single day, but we need to be able to see them. The internet is one of those huge opportunities staring the church in the face. We can reach millions if we are wise.

Well said brother.

I like how you put this. What a great concept.

Part of successfully meeting this vision/dream is to excite others in the church leadership about the vision. We as Christian webmasters also need to become skilled vision-casters. I'd say with language and imagery like that, and through prayer, and the Holy Spirit, this dream will come.

In Him:
Sean

I make a distinction between vision and mission. My mission is a short easy to understand statement that clearly defines what I am doing. My vision is a visual word picture of a preferred future outcome.

I'll post my mission now, and later I'll post my vision because it is quite a bit longer.

My mission is to Create, Advance, and Expound faith in Jesus.

Create-propagate, be used to lead people to Christ
Advance-move forward, do what I can to assist and support
Expound-to explain or make known in further detail

My daily ministry is the same, but done through web technology. Thus my stated ministry is:

My ministry is to Create, Advance, and Expound faith in Jesus through web technology.

These statements then lead me to various activities/projects.

These include:

C-W-M where I hope to support, and grow with other Christian webmasters as we share our passion about the Internet and inspire each other to serve God through the gifts He has given us.

Developing web-based application services for Church's, Christian Organizations, and Outreach sites to use in their ministry. The app I am working on now is a prayer app that webmasters can easily add to their site.

Very glad to share this with you all. I hope we can all share more and inspire one another.

In Him:
Sean

The Bible study group I am a part of will be starting the book on Sunday. It is good to hear that you found it worthwhile.

Note: must remember to go through the lesson.

I think this is a good discussion. It helps if we know why we are doing something and not living life without purpose. I look forward to what others have to say. God has given each one of us gifts and calls us to use them for His purposes.

David

Wow, I've had a great time reading all these posts!

Thanks for suggesting those books Sean - I will check them out (there's a chance my dad already has them - he has lots of books!).

It's easy for me to get caught up in the "working hard" part, and not do enough of the "depending on Him" part. I keep stopping, and checking my direction - "hey, now what am I trying to do here? God, what am I trying to do here?" The way His answers come are so varied. Sometimes, he'll just give me an idea of something cool, another time, someone will say "it would be good if we could do ..." and God had already sewn the thought of doing that in my head. And then there's times when he will prevent things from happening. I had a hard time getting a new splash page done for our site (someone was dead-keen on it when I asked them, but never got there) - I ended up doing a draft one (the current one) just so we could launch it. 1 month down the track, and we now know that we don't want a splash page at all - it's such a waste when we are trying to reach OUR vision (it might be good for a different site). My first thought was - "that was God's will, right there".

Yes everyone, God is into the Internet. Just like He's into rock music. If, it is done to His glory and according to His purposes.

I would say the mission statement for my church's website is:

"Leading people to Christ, building them to Last" - ie my church's mission statement. Only now, I am actually working towards doing this!

The vision would be the glasshouse thing. Not having a "flashing-lights show-off-the-church" website, but having a transparent website where God shows off.

Amen! This really is a great thread.

I don't know if I'm qualified to be saying anything here, but I will anyway...

I'm going to make a bold statement here: I think that the advent of the PC was one of the greatest advances for Christian missions ever. I think it could have had a much larger impact on missions had so many people not rejected technology as being something "evil" or "of the Devil" (what can I say, I'm a Methodist -- the average age of the Methodist denomination is 60). Since I basically missed the PC revolution, I'm trying to "make up for it" (so to speak) with the Internet revolution. Like Sean: "My ministry is to Create, Advance, and Expound faith in Jesus through web technology" (though I couldn't word it so well). For a long time (even before I was a member here), I have been trying to use the Net to push missions forward. When you think about it, one of the biggest problems thoughout the history of missions has been communication -- the transfer of information. Well, the Internet is the Information Superhighway!! I think that too many Christians are scared of new technologies to be able to fully use them for God's work. Ok, now on to answer the question(s) at hand:

www.joyintheharvest.com - dual purpose really, as with everything we do at Joy, it is our hope and prayer that people will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Also, we hope to communicate to people outside of Eastern Africa about the wonderful things that God is doing there (through our mission and through other missions).

www.the-techie.com - our ultimate goal is to spread the good news of Jesus Christ all over the world, and specifically, we have found a good way to do that is to aid other missionaries/pastors/teachers/Christian workers who are having computer (or other technical) troubles.

www.iluke.net - to goof off and have some fun /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

Topic Stickied /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

wow!! There is not much more i can say but, wow!!

As I read these posts my heart has been touched and while i read i was thinking to myself "What could i possibly say to expound on this subject?". To tell you the truth, I have no idea but the Lord is laying it on my heart to do so, so i pray that this reply is not of me but of him. Amen

When God first laid it on my heart to start my ministry I was all for it. As i prayed further for direction in how i was supposed to proceed in starting and building my ministry the Lord laid the internet on my heart and heavily. Now if any of you know me in the least bit you know that my ministry has been the internet for quite a long time through being staff on CCNet and taking part in other chat ministries along the way.

Chat Ministry was not Gods intention in this part of my walk. God led me to build an online ministry for him. A website!

Like i've mentioned in my previous posts around c-w-m i had exactly zero knowledge of web design but this is what the Lord wanted for his ministry and so i trusted him. I had no idea what i was getting into nor did i care. The Lord is in control.

In starting this ministry i was forced, as my closest friends know, to give up a lot. I had to put my life on hold for this and focus with an undistracted focus. I also trusted God in that. Though giving up the things i did hurt me a great deal, I knew in my heart that my faithfulness would bring me blessings and more importantly, bring God the glory he deserves. God provided so much to help me in building his ministry. I'm certainly not alone in this. Thank You Jesus!!

In 2 months i've been blessed so much and i've grown so much closer to Christ through this ministry and the relationships it's helped me build. Though I still have much to learn in the field of web design and my site isn't the most spectacular or dazzling, it's what God wants and it's what he led me to do. I give God all glory, honor and praise for that.

You ask about my dreams and visions for my site, as far as a dream...It's to spread the word of God and lead as many as possible to Him.

But as far as the vision...

I don't know because it's not my vision...It's Gods and I don't know what he's got planned.

But whatever it is...I'm excited and ready to do whatever he wants me to do. Praise God!!

Da New Guy,

Scott

Scott:

Thank you so much for sharing. I will keep your ministry in prayer. We are also here as a community to support each other through fellowship and sharing our skills.

Blessings:

Sean

Scott, that's awesome to hear you are just letting God direct you totally - way to go!

Sometimes being an expert at something can be a hindrance - depending on yourself rather than depending on God.

So continue in your weakness and God's strength! /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

I think it was great to read all those thoughts you wrote.

My vision is about our youthwork and internet is part of that. (Read more about our vision in youthwork: http://familyreini.com/english/youthgroup.htm)

I pray that God leads me to right direction that how can I serve my youthgroup through internet. The three key points have been fellowship, communication and information. Because we don´t live very close to each other, our website helps to make planning and informing. And that brings more teens to youthnights, because they know what is happening.

And now we are also reaching new people in the net. Sometimes people will found our website by they own, but now there are more people who are leading others to visit our pages and to have contact with us. There are teens who are not belivers, but they have questions about Bible etc. I speak with them in the chat but I hope I´ll see them sometimes also in the church.

We are doing the soulwinnig everyweek on the streets, and sometimes we have concerts were we play some music. And I think it is great that we can give our website url, and probably meet them again sometimes in the net. /specool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":specool:" border="0" alt="specool.gif" />

Hey ekku

That sounds fantastic, using your website as a key part of your outreach, and it sounds like it is working well. Thanks for sharing that with us, it is really encouraging!

Paul

Hi!
Yea, our website is not isolated from our youthprogram, but it is part of that. And we use it to support other things we do.

For example, tonight we will go to reach out new teens on the street. Probably we´ll have a chance to speak with them just a few minutes, but we´ll give them a track, were is also the address of our website. And if they are interested, they can read more about us, and they are also able to find us later.

ekku /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

That was beautiful. Your vision is upright and has God's mission on it. We can never loose site of what He has in store for us. With true love for Him our mission by any means is to reach one that seeks Him. After we have done all we can do, we just stand firm on His word. This site (CWM) enables me to create and reach in His Name. And I thank HIM for that.

God Bless you and your church site. You are in the right direction. We have to dream to reach the vision. What an awesome God we serve. Look at His power now, I love this site.

If I can help in anyway -- well, after I get over this obstacle -- let me know. I'm not an expert, but serving the Lord is my goal.

Standing, Trusting and Relying on Him . . .

Thanks Brenda for your encouragement. I keep looking forward to the next revamp of the site - which will involve a redesign (of course!) but also some more strategic changes - I have learnt so much beyond coding in the past year. God keeps stretching my imagination!

Your site is beautiful.

God Bless You!

Hello,

The vision for my website::

My website is not for any church or youth group. Its just a general christian website. Ive got two goals.

One :: Im hoping to create a whole christian community, especially South Africans, where you can use the forums to share views on specific topics or debates. I also want christians to meet other christians on chat, and on the forums.

Two :: To provide a resource database for stories, poems or anything of the sort concerning christianity.

If you go to the website, you will see what i mean. www.christians.za.net

Thanks,
Rich.

Hi Rich

Your website has a large range of resources - and it's good to see pages with actual content, not just "coming soon" which is what you see so often on sites that have grand plans. So keep up the good work, and thanks for sharing your vision.

Paul

Hi
When it comes to using the internet for outreach and services I am like a kid in a lolly shop!

I am all over the place, ideas and thoughts, possibilities and oportunities there doesn't seem to be any end to it. The Internet is the ultimate communication, information and educational tool/medium there is in the physical.
Hos 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

I have a vision of bringing together groups of people in the body who have no common communication, just like this site, brilliant! Let me explain.

I see a great need to have a place for people of like interests to come to gain knowledge and discuss issues and help to fulfill peoples visions and goals in their ministries.
Our church is actively engaged in mission work in New Guinea and surrounding nations north of Australia. There are many people going to these places, dozens if not hundreds who we never or rarely hear about. It is a great work and so inspiring! The things that are happening are awesome, just like the Acts of the apostles. The church at large needs to hear about these people and what God is doing.

We also have the opportunity to establish a contact point using a website for a large Christian group here in Australia who have not had a propper communication channel. They are a world wide bible group and need an Alumni here in Australia. our vision is to bring all the graduates together using email and website technologies, there is no single contact list so we are relying on friend emailing friends to get it around. But we believe this will lead to building relationships and eventually conferences and the building up of this part of the body.

On top of that we have our own church community. This is where we need to get a vision of what our website will be for. What our focus will be and what we intend to achieve. I have passed on your points in this article to the pastor for feedback in the initial stages of our website - The Life Centre. The site has been up a week.

It is so encouraging to hear what you are all saying about using the Internet for outreach, evangelism and communication. There doesn't seem to be much vision for it until someone has done it and achieved something substantial, then people see some usefullness in it.

I hope that what I have said doesn't sound like I am leaving God out of this! Without God this will be nothing, but in God all things are possible.

This is only my second or third post and I'm starting to rave on already.......sorry.

Great to see your sites, and what you are achieving.

Love ya.
Tony

PS. would be good to see where people are from under their avatar.

Hey Tony

The problem with the Internet soemtimes is there's so many options and so much potential - I think only God knows the bounds of what He wants to achieve online. But things are progressing too.

Great to hear from someone else in Australia. I too am from there, Perth. We used to have locations visible under the avatars in the previous msgboard, I am not sure but maybe we don't now so there isn't too much focus on where people are from. The info is always in the profiles.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks BobbyMac
Good to have someone from Australia on the boards. I do some business with companies over there to do with the Internet, it must be a nice place. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

/specool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":specool:" border="0" alt="specool.gif" /> Seeing where people come from helps me to remember things about them when I'm on the board. But ok, personally I think it adds that something when you're chatting....

Tony

Hey that's really cool. Great topic.

To share a bit personally, my friend has been a graphic designer for just over a yer, and i worked in the same place for a month. The company ran out of work for me, so i was laid off, then my mate mark was laid off a month later.

Over the last month, God had been speaking to me about the possibility of starting up a Christian web design company, with Mark. I obviously couldn't see where mark would fit into it, because he was employed and doing well.

Little did I know that God was saying the same thing to Mark too! Mark came up to me one day, and said "I don't know if there's anything in this, but i think God is speaking to me about working with you, in our own company"...

well, that took me by suprise, but we still couldn't work out where he fit into it, as jhe was still working. 4 days later, the work had run out and he was free to do whatever!!

He is now going to college studying graphic design, and I am working full time now, but in our spare time, we are building a Christian Web Business.

The reason why, is because we want to see people saved. It is something God has put on our hearts, and we don't know exactly how to do that through websites yet, but that is our vision. Something else God has put especially on Marks heart, is raising the profile of the church. Again, we don't know too much of how t do that yet, but we are praying about it.

But after reading these posts, I wanted to say that we're with you all the way!! I don't know how we can help, or what we can do, but we will pray about it, and see where God is taking the world wide web. It is exciting times!! Keep me posted!

If you are seeking God and are available to Him, then you will have a lot to offer to us here.

How do you lead people to Christ through web sites - well I don't know much about that either, but I will keep trying and aiming for that goal.

Sometimes the profile of the church is high enough, just the profile is the wrong kind. We need to improve the church's profile, so that we are the one's doing the telling, not just the media. We need the church to be what people are looking for, not try to convince people to look for the church as it is. The web provides the perfect opportunity for this.

Paul said it very well. If you're open to His leading, you're well on your way to achieving your vision and plan for your web business or site or what have you.

I just love the thought of "I have no idea where i'm going but i'm trusting God to lead me". That's an amazing thought isn't it?!

I'll leave it at that..

Scott

haha, yeah, like

Lord, I have no idea where this road goes, but let's go there together!

/amen.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="^^" border="0" alt="amen.gif" />

thanks for your replies on what I wrote, wise words, I will take hold of them!

Patrick

Hi

There's no doubt in my mind that church websites can really reach into the community - if they are written so to do. I've tried to write extensively on the topic at

http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/c...hurch-pages.php

- a page on which I welcome feedback

It also includes a two-way email list for church webmasters.

Blessings

Tony

Hi soon
That site is great, I have refered a pastor onto it for review. He wants a site that is not religious and can meet with the people, he's looking at a CMS or a blogger page or both.

well done
Tony

My dream is to have the best christian forum on the net with, best posters, teachings, some wintnessing, and 500k members

I didn't used to have a dream. It was just to make a site for the young people at out church and other christians. Then I read the online evangelism guide, boy did that change my views in a big way. I didn't realise how mad Id been to not see this, and my fream began to emerge. my fream is still not fully developed, but I can partially see it. My dream is now to reach out into the lifes of young people and show them love and that they would be saved. I had never seen the internet i this light before until I had read the guide, and now I do it's amazing. I dream that our church will have an internet ministry that will be effective and that people will realise the effectiveness of the internet.

Bobbymac, I do not have the time to say much, but just to encourage you in your great vision for your church's website. Continue to be steadfast in your faith and the Lord will grant you your heart's desire. I also believe this useful educational website will play its role in helping you realise your dream.

Dunamis

Thanks Dunamis, your encouragement is well-timed. I am currently wrestling with the whole site, and am going to be working together with another guy (music pastor) on doing something completely different to the way it is (at least, that's the idea I have right now). But it is a wrestle for sure.

Some of you know that I was diagnosed with cancer last fall, and that I am finished with treatments now. Even more of you know that I have started a website, titled CancerTips.

When I started this website about 2 & 1/2 months ago, I wanted a place where anybody could come to in order to feel loved, and in order to be encouraged. I also wanted a place where people could come just to relax, in my forums.

However, my biggest goal in this project is that it would be used as a ministry - indirectly - to touch lives, and show people God's love. I don't want to force anything onto anybody. I want this website to be one of character, one of fine resources, one of quality encouragement. THROUGH these things, will others see Christ, and through my conversations on the forum, will others see His love.

My dream in this is so that others will be ministered to, people will receive good information, and others would simply just come to let loose.

-David-

That would be wonderful. There is a great need for such sites.

I have discussed this strategy at

http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resourcesh/health.php

Sometimes sites of this type appear to identify themselves as purely for Christians with the illness or problem, and therefore appear to exclude others.

Blessings

Tony

That's really cool, Tony. I really like the article. Is this a website that you are maintaining? The site looks like great.

Oops, it would have helped if I had given the correct URL - which obviously you managed to find anyway! Sorry. It is

http://www.gospelcom.net/guide/resources/health.php

Blessings

Tony

Yes, I noticed that. /biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />