Ministry

According to new research, 82 million Americans seek spiritual or religious information from the Internet – up from 28 million just five years ago.

“Sixty-four percent of Americans seek spirituality on the Internet, and as Christians, we need to be there for them,” said Craig von Buseck, director of ministries for CBN.com.

Recently, CBN reported on the exploding use of the internet for those seeking help with spiritual issues.

The report included a great video interview with a college student who came to Christ at the University of Virginia through Campus Crusade for Christ’s evangelistic website for students, EveryStudent.com.

One of the couples we’ve renewed our friendship with at this conference is George and Grace Buremoh. George is the Coverage Coordinator, responsible for all Jesus Film ministry throughout West Africa. Grace is the Area Human Resources Coordinator, responsible for all the staff HR needs throughout West Africa.

We’ve known George and Grace for 25 years.

But this week, George told me something I had never heard before. He said, “You (Keith) are the first person I contacted after returning to Nigeria from our schooling in the U.S.”

He continued, “I had benefitted from the Transferable Concepts. I wanted to translate them into Yoruba. I wrote to the Nigerian office and you (Keith) responded telling me how to purchase the Transferable Concepts.”

George continued to become more and more involved in the ministry in Nigeria. About 20 years ago, they joined the staff fulltime.

We just never know what comment or what response we make is going to be the next step on someone’s spiritual journey. I think of that often as I respond to email from around the world who are seeking to know Christ.

You never know…

100 participants. 26 countries. 5 continents. Together our internet ministries are seeing hundreds of thousands come to know Christ every year.

You’ll find it hard to locate Kay and me. We’re at the “way back” as our kids used to say.

Conference participants gave tremendous comments, like:

It’s been an eye-opening experience for me to attend this conference. I came not knowing what to expect but I’m learning with a greater awareness of what I can be doing in the internet. I am so excited that God has raised up so many talented, gifted, and passionate people like you guys to do something so ‘out-of-the-box’ creatively and courageously. Thank you for setting an example for us! I’m blessed by you guys!

I arrived feeling like a fraud because I am so technically challenged; but am leaving empowered. Thank you so very much!

You can read more on the MinistryNet:Bangkok 2007 website.

MinistryNet::Bangkok 2007 has begun. 100 people from 25 countries on 5 continents.

We started last night with a brief session then opened up the coffee shop. And they came and talked. And talked. And talked.

A major outcome we’ve prayed for is that people will network with one another, share ideas, dream, and trust God together. We set up whiteboards. We hung huge pads of paper for drawing. We put crayons and paper on the tables. We set up computers around the room. We provided coffee, tea, and treats.

And they networked. And they drew diagrams. They shared ministry processes and strategies.

It’s Monday afternoon here in Bangkok. We’re finishing our first full day.

I love international conferences. Our worship time was led by a Singapore and Thai praise team. Our devotional speaker Oumar from Mali spoke in French and his co-worker Daniel translated into English for us. Wouter from the Netherlands was the first main session speaker.

We heard about internet ministry activities and lessons learned in

• Korea
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• East Asia
• South Africa
• Mali
• Zambia
• Ghana

What a day! I can’t wait for tomorrow!