Eldorado KS April 28, 2023
“The Ministry On The Net”
Our responsibility is to put Christ first, and do all things for His glory. 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 10:31-33
I. Your Website: A Digital Hub
Congregational or personal.
A. Analogues To The Analog World
1980s: track rack, church directory, Yellow Pages, newspaper ad, radio program, the cassette recordings, high speed duplicator, typewriter, etc.
Now, we all have a printing press, a radio station, and high definition TV station and Hollywood studio in our pocket.
B. As Ad
Replace Yellow Pages and Newspaper Ads
Importance of Google Results
Our results: https://www.google.com/search?q=mulvane+church
This leads to your homepage.
Ken McDaniel, Springfield, IL https://springfieldchristians.com/
C. As Track Rack
D. As Newsletter / Magazine
Expository Files https://www.bible.ca/ef/
E. As Book Store / Archive
David Padfield.com — https://www.padfield.com/
Andy Sochor — https://plainbibleteaching.com/
F. As Tape Library / Radio Station
https://www.heraldoftruth.org/
G. As TV Station
“In Search Of The Lord’s Way” https://www.searchtv.org/
Douglass Hills church “Morning Five” https://www.facebook.com/douglasshillschurch
Truth Factor https://truthfactor.com/
Miscellany
Hosting Company / Platform https://www.squarespace.com/
https://www.diakonosmarketing.com/
Mobile Responsive
Steve Rudd “The Interactive Bible” https://www.bible.ca/
II. Email Lists
Direct and information dense.
Ron Halbrook weekly. halbrook@twc.com
Joe Price - Bellingham Washington, https://swordtips1.wordpress.com/ http://www.bibleanswer.com/ssword.htm
Loop 287 Church in Lufkin, TX https://lawofliberty.com
Keith Sharp - Highway 5 South Church of Christ, Mountain Home, AR, “Meditate on These Things”
http://www.christistheway.com/mott/
III. Social Media
A. Facebook
Don’t discredit your message with unChristian posts and comments. Acts 23:5; Jude 9
B. Livestreams
Platforms
Youtube Facebook Live Rumble
Twitch Twitter LinkedIn
Amazon Live Instagram Live
and several more
Content
Prayers? Announcements? Singing?
Quality counts. Review your content regularly.
C. Zoom
helper apps: https://www.ecamm.com/ https://obsproject.com/
D. Recorded Video
Short form - (mentioned earlier) Douglass Hills church, daily, Morning 5 program.
Truth Factor - https://truthfactor.com/
https://www.youtube.com/mulvanechurch
YouTube dominates.
E. Podcast
Edwin Crozier - Text Talk, a daily podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/text-talk/id1498708071
Hal Hammonds - Citizen of Heaven podcast https://halhammons.com/
Kenny Embry - Balancing the Christian Life. https://www.balancingthechristianlife.com/
Denominational
Martin Lloyd-Jones https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/
Alistair Begg - Truth For Life https://www.truthforlife.org/
Ligonier Ministies, centered around the late Dr. R.C. Sproul. https://www.ligonier.org/
Layton Flowers, a “Provisionist” one man band web podcast / YouTube video effort to refute the first four parts of the TULIP. https://soteriology101.com/
Tips for podcast success:
Impeccably good audio — assume you are in someones earbuds connected directly to their brain.
It is a powerful place to be.
But, if the quality is annoying in any way, expect them to move on.
Publish very consistently.
Get on the big lists: Apple’s List, Google’s, Spotify’s
If you do video with it, YouTube is the only place to go.
Do it for the cause. You have to, because you will make no money at it.
F. Twitter
From LA, Ethan Longhenry https://twitter.com/deverbovitae/
From rural Alabama, Mark Nichols Posey https://twitter.com/PulpitPreview
Mastodon - federated Twitter-ish replacement.
G. Others
SnapChat
Hillsong, Elevation Church, the Pines, Lots of trendy, prosperity gospel, Charismatic
TikTok - lots of error, Progressive Christianity and atheism
But not just that.
Chad Bird, conservative Lutheran theologian
https://www.tiktok.com/@chadbird1517 https://www.1517.org/
https://www.1517.org/podcasts/40-minutes-in-the-old-testament
IV. Text
Texts - direct & personal
iOS app Hit ’Em Up —- https://www.hitemupapp.com/
Don’t group text to large groups.
Final Thoughts
Our digital tools are extremely powerful. Use them for God’s glory.
The Chinese invented the printing press, but it’s technology was eventually forgotten because it was controlled by the emperor.
Gutenberg invented his press in same time and place as Protestants began. They covered the world in pamphlets, Bibles and Psalters.
A few years after radio was invented, the airwaves were filled with sponsor driven content and preachers.
Film and TV were more complicated and expensive, and it took a while longer for the religious folk to figure out their place in it.
The internet is the most democratized technology by far. The pornographers and the preachers flocked to it. And both are still powerful forces in it.