Why?

TRANSCRIPT

Hi, my name is Shane Hochstetler, and in this video series, I’m going to share with you some resources and practices for utilizing the tools we all have to share the freedom, healing, and hope available in Jesus, through the Bible.

I want to share with you two websites that you may find to be valuable on the subject of Digital Evangelism; these are also linked in the description below this video.

sdadata.org, and gscsda.org/communication (now digitalevangelism.info)

The first website is an excellent resource for the present time. The North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists has really prioritized the topic of digital evangelism and has worked hard to provide good information for you on the topic.

Whether it’s about design standards, social media, how to start a YouTube ministry, and more… Visit the site, watch some videos, read some articles, be blessed, then be a blessing.

The second website is my web page on our conference website. All of the highlights from this series of presentations are available there!

So, let’s get into it, why digital evangelism?

In Matt 28.19, Jesus told his disciples, and he tells us to “go,” and “make disciples.” Not to wait around for them to come to us.

Jesus exemplified this perfectly. He went to the seashore, found fishermen, appealed to them in terms they understood, using examples and stories of fishing.

Jesus also went into cities, found bankers, tax collectors, and spoke to them in terms they understood and appealed to them.

Where are people today?

Well, they’re still on the shores, they’re still fishing, they’re still banking, still buying and selling,… But to a large degree, they’re doing all of these things, with their phone close by, connected to the internet.

For all of its pros and cons, there is something we cannot deny, it is where people are. And they will not be leaving it anytime soon.

Because this is where people are, we have a responsibility to meet people there, in an intentional evangelistic way.

The essence of how we go about this isn’t entirely different to how we would most successfully meet people face to face.

Are our neighbors likely to interact with us if every time they see us we have a scowl on our face? What about in public when we lose our cool with our kids? Our behavior, the words we say, the things we do, can make all of the difference in winning people’s confidence.

With this series, I want to help you best represent Christ in the digital mediums that are available. In a similar way that a smile or a firm handshake could make all the difference in physical interaction I want to show you how our online activities can have a similar positive impact.