Tuesday, September 7

Become an Online Missionary

by Stu Johnson, PhD

Those who have never heard about Him will see,
and those who have never heard of Him will understand.
Isaiah 52:15

Recently, a number of us met with Allan Beeber, director of an exciting project called Global Media Outreach. GMO is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ International. I have known Allan over the past decade through a number of internet evangelism conferences. Allan has the mind of an engineer and the heart of an evangelist, helping Campus Crusade become a leader in using the internet to reach people with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to tell you about GMO and encourage you to become involved as an online missionary or "OM." But, first, let's look at some of the background Allan shared with us:

According to statistics from Google, every day about 2 million people search on spiritually-related topics. Over 200,000 of them respond to one of Campus Crusade's promotions and are directed to a relevant evangelism site. There are dozens, each aimed at very specific demographics or topics—military serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, people suffering from natural disasters, questions about Jesus, and many more. On average, over 30,000 each day indicate some sort of spiritual decision for Christ. Of these, about 20-25% (6-7,000) submit the simple response form on that site which contains some demographic data plus comments or questions.

The form is sent to one of nearly 3,700 volunteer online missionaries through a sophisticated, secure system. These believers (often senior adults) personally respond to each seeker via a virtual mailbox. The system is easy to use. It is not a live chat, but works like e-mail as it builds "threaded" conversations between OM and seeker. It is safe and secure, never revealing the OM's actual name or personal e-mail address. CC has been blessed with wonderful resource people, including a full time cryptologist. This ensures security for both OM and seeker. The system also handles different languages and fonts. There are numerous resources available to each OM through the GMO website.

As Allan shared with us, online missionaries are reporting with excitement their experiences. Focusing on examples of seniors, he cited several who never thought of themselves as missionaries or evangelists. Following the online training offered by GMO, they found themselves immersed in conversations with seekers around the world. Some respondents are hearing about Christ for the first time; some live in areas of danger and persecution; many use English, but some require OMs fluent in other languages. This is where the long history of Campus Crusade in global evangelism and its expertise in high tech applications and security comes into play.

Following a four week online training period, each OM becomes part of a community of other online missionaries. These communities of 20-30 OMs are supervised by a network of leaders who make sure that the system is working as effectively as possible. They also offer suggestions and support. Communities can be virtual—handled entirely electronically—or they can also represent a physical community, such as a retirement community, church, or other groups.

Because conversations are handled in an e-mail fashion and not as a spontaneous chat, OMs have time to check the extensive resources available to them on the GMO website before composing a response. Because the contact becomes part of an ongoing conversation, it is best that responses be brief and focused. And because of the way the system is organized, OMs also can tap into support from other OMs in their community and leaders.

While many OMs spend some time each day responding to messages, the minimum is three per week. The system is set up in a way that if you are unable to handle messages for a time, they can be held for you or passed on to someone else during your absence. Likewise, if you have reached your normal number of messages, you will be alerted to a pool of additional messages to which you can respond. Once an OM begins contact with an individual, the conversation continues between that respondent and OM.

GMO is part of an overall strategy by which Campus Crusade desires to give everyone on the planet multiple connections with the gospel by 2020. They have already seen tremendous results through Bible distribution, media, and on-the-ground missionaries. GMO represents a significant component of that strategy and leaves it with a wonderful problem. With response doubling every 9-10 months, there is an urgent need for more online missionaries. 7,000 will be needed by the spring of 2010.

Becoming an Online Missionary

There is no cost to become an online missionary. The only technical requirement is that you have access to a capable computer attached to a high speed connection (not a dial-up telephone modem).

• Apply to become an OM at www.gmojoinus.com, providing your testimony and two spiritual references (with their respective e-mail addresses).
• Once approved, you will be given a password with access to a 20-30 minute online training site.
• If you wish to continue, you will be placed in a four-week training community. You will receive one e-mail from a real seeker each day and your Community Leader will help you become adept at answering people's questions.
• After this 4-week period, you will be placed in a regular community. Once an active OM, you can ask (or reassign to) your Community Leader how to handle difficult e-mails.

Allan summed it up by saying,"We have found that retired believers make excellent online missionaries. They have the time, intelligence, wisdom, computer access, and desire to make their remaining years count as much as possible for Christ and the spread of the gospel."

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a real "kingdom difference." We would love to see a good number of you become involved—and then share your experience with us. (Use the submission option on the Contact Us page).

Dr. Stuart Johnson is a communication consultant in Wheaton, Illinois who serves as web consultant to Senior Evangelism Partnership and managing editor of SeniorEvanglism.org.

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