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IEC ENewsletter - December 2007
Stimulating and accelerating web evangelism within the worldwide Body of Christ
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| MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE IEC |
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Merry Christmas from all of us at the Internet Evangelism Coalition (IEC)! We are grateful for your partnership and support as together we seek to "stimulate and accelerate web evangelism within the worldwide Body of Christ."
2007 has been an important year of growth for the IEC - as we expanded the reach of the IEC annual meeting by programming the Internet Evangelism Track for Gospel Communications' Internet Ministry Conference (IMC). As you view the IEC videos from the IMC, it's our prayer that you will be motivated, encouraged and blessed in the ministry God has called you to in Internet Evangelism. We are thankful for this important new partnership with Gospel Communications and ask that you would be praying with us as topics and speakers are chosen for the 2008 IMC Internet Evangelism Track.
Involvement in Internet Evangelism Day continued to grow in 2007, as churches and ministries raised awareness of the many opportunities to share Christ online and through other technology. Read the IED report in the May IEC ENewsletter. Next year's Internet Evangelism Day is April 27, 2008.
Brown Governance, a member of the IEC, conducted the first ever International Internet Evangelism Survey in 2007. This pioneering survey examines the way Christian organizations report and track the results and effects of their Internet Evangelism efforts. Survey results are available to read here.
In 2007, the IEC also restructured its membership opportunities, with a number of additional membership benefits including reduced or free registration for the IMC. Email us if you would like more information about becoming a member of the IEC.
Subscriptions to the monthly IEC ENewsletter have also increased by several hundred this year. The enewsletter has examined topics such as: the new Church Assessment Tool offered by Tony Whittaker and Internet Evangelism Day; St. Pixels online church; the Church in SecondLife.com; Mobile, Glocal and Evangelism opportunities; Internet and content trends and research; the Internet Missionary Society of 2010; and how to Delve Into Jesus.
Thank you again for your prayers, partnership and support. We look forward to ministering with you in 2008 as together we seek to reach many more people with the love and grace of Jesus Christ!
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| FIND YOUR VOLUNTEER NICHE: VOLUNTEER.GOSPEL.COM |
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 By Andy Rau, Content Administrator at Gospel Communications
How do you put your faith into action? One of the most important characteristics of a Christ-like life is service--using our time and talents to help those in need. Unfortunately in our culture of hyperconnectivity, establishing authentic human connections can seem paradoxically difficult. So how does one put the call from Jesus to "serve the least of these" into practice?
In thinking through this dilemma, Gospel Communications and TechMission were inspired to launch their latest global Internet project: an online volunteer matching site (http://Volunteer.Gospel.com). Many Christians have both the talent and willingness to serve, but are unsure how to do so--or they may even be unaware that their time and skills are not only valuable, but could be a huge help to under-resourced ministries and communities.
Volunteer.Gospel.com aims to close the gap between those potential volunteers and the service opportunities that fit them--with over 1,000 ministries and more than 2,000 volunteer opportunities listed, the site can find a service niche that fits virtually anyone's skills and interests.
The site is free and works much in the same way that job matching sites like Monster.com do--except it matches volunteers to volunteer opportunities, not paid positions. Potential volunteers can search thousands of volunteer and short-term missions opportunities until they find the right place for them to contribute their skills. After finding an opportunity, users simply click a button to be matched to the organization to volunteer. Volunteers might find themselves wrapping Christmas presents for homeless children, sorting and bagging food for low-income families, or helping serve holiday meals to the needy. But the opportunities don't stop with local needs--the site can also connect Christians to virtual volunteer opportunities that let them serve from a distance. If your skills tend toward the technical-web design, computer programming, accounting, grant writing, etc.--Volunteer.Gospel.com has service opportunities for you too: you might help develop a website for a missionary organization in China, for instance, or provide long-distance assistance to homeless shelters across the U.S.
In addition to individual volunteer opportunities like these, the site also lists hundreds of short-term missions and volunteer opportunities for church small groups. Volunteer.Gospel.com's short-term missions directory includes nearly 650 short-term mission trips in over 50 countries, ranging from one week to three years in length.
Gospel Communications is lending its full support to the new site. Coupled with the already established user base of the Bible Gateway site, the most popular Bible site in the world, Volunteer.Gospel.com is expected to recruit thousands of volunteers who will donate time worth millions of dollars in service to under-resourced communities.
The site is maintained in partnership with TechMission's ChristianVolunteering.org, the first major website to match volunteers with Christian volunteer service opportunities. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, the value of the donated time of faith-based volunteers in 2005 was $51.8 billion dollars. Those faith-based volunteers are the target market for this website. Other ChristianVolunteering.org partners include the Salvation Army, the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, World Vision, and YouthPartnersNet (formerly known as Compassion USA).
So if you've ever wondered how your talents can be best put to use, Volunteer.Gospel.com can help you answer that question! Whether you're interested in face-to-face volunteer work in your local community or would prefer to lend your technical expertise to an overseas ministry that needs help, there is an opportunity for you here. And if you're a church pastor or ministry leader, there are plenty of service opportunities listed for your small group or congregation to get involved with. Don't just wish there was a volunteer opportunity that fit your unique talents--head over to Volunteer.Gospel.com and see how easy it is to find one!
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| BIBLE AND KORAN ON ONE WEBSITE |
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Source: Zondervan To The Point
Dutch public broadcaster IKON (Netherlands Interdenominational Broadcasting Company) and Radio Netherlands Worldwide have announced a new website that brings together the major texts of the Bible and the Koran on one website. The texts are available in Dutch, English and Arabic:
Bible and Koran Website
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| MOBILE WEBSITES |
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 visionSynergy has created a mobile (or cell phone) companion to its PowerofConnecting.net website. View the mobile version of the website at http://www.powerofconnecting.mobi.
Power Of Connecting provides important information and resources for networking and partnership, including an enewsletter and blog.
Other mobile resources and sites are available at Zondervan: http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Mobile/MobileLinks.htm, or zvan.mobi.
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| TPE OFFERS "ANSWERS" |
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Source: AG News
"Today's Pentecostal Evangel" (TPE) recently launched "Answers," a new blog-format website that provides answers to challenging questions about the Bible, theology and Christian living.
"TPE gets hundreds of questions in the course of a year...and we feel that people deserve answers," Ken Horn, editor of "Today's Pentecostal Evangel," says. "So we try to answer, sometimes in the pages of the magazine. Time does not permit us to give personal attention to each question, so we hope that by building a database of answers that are posted online people will be better served."
"Answers" visitors submit their questions and Assemblies of God leaders, scholars and pastors contribute answers founded in the Word of God. In addition to submitting questions, the blog format allows site visitors to read previous answers, post comments and read others' comments.
The site already has questions and answers posted, but beginning in 2008, "Answers" will be updated at least once a week. The first of the year will also see the launch of other new AGblogger sites, including several contributed by TPE staff members.
Answers Website
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| CHURCH PLANTERS CONNECT ONLINE |
 Source: AG News
A new Church Multiplication Network website has been launched by the Assemblies of God. Developers say the site is intended as a resource for church planters, district leaders and people looking to invest financially in church planting. The Church Multiplication Network website offers a variety of resources including testimonial videos, podcasts, relevant articles and links to other sites.
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| NEWS CORPORATION BUYS BELIEFNET |
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Source: Ecumenical News International
Rupert Murdoch's global media organization News Corporation has acquired Beliefnet, said to be the largest faith and spirituality information site on the World Wide Web, for an undisclosed sum. "Beliefnet has garnered respect for its commitment to quality, editorial strength and unbiased approach to faith and spirituality from a broad range of consumers, religious and political leaders, journalists and advertisers," said Dan Fawcett, president of Fox Digital Media, part of News Corporation, in a 4 December statement announcing the acquisition.
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| DIGITIAL FOOTPRINTS |
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 Internet users are becoming more aware of their digital footprint; 47% have searched for information about themselves online, up from just 22% five years ago. However according to a new report from the Pew Internet Project, few monitor their online presence with great regularity. Just 3% of self-searchers report that they make a regular habit of it and 74% have checked up on their digital footprints only once or twice.
Indeed, most internet users are not concerned about the amount of information available about them online, and most do not take steps to limit that information. Fully 60% of Internet users say they are not worried about how much information is available about them online. Similarly, the majority of online adults (61%) do not feel compelled to limit the amount of information that can be found about them online.
Pew Report Overview
Pew Report (PDF)
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| FALSE SENSE OF ONLINE SECURITY |
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More than half of computer users who think they are protected against online threats like spyware, viruses and hackers actually have inadequate or no online protection, according to an independent research study conducted for Verizon. Verizon's study, conducted with 545 U.S. Internet subscribers by the independent Internet research firm iTracks, contrasted participants' opinions about their level of online security against results of Verizon Security Advisor scans performed on their computers. While 92 percent of participants thought they were safe, the scans revealed that 59 percent were actually vulnerable to a variety of online dangers.
"Internet security protection is like a smoke alarm," said Bill Heilig, vice president for Verizon broadband services. "As long as it works, it's great. But with a dead battery, it's worse than no smoke alarm at all, because it creates a false sense of security. That's the position that most Internet consumers find themselves in today, and what they don't know is definitely hurting them. We're offering all Internet users a free tool to help them know if they are truly protected or if they need to take action to get the security they need." Verizon is offering its Verizon Security Advisor service at no charge to customers of any Internet service provider, to help evaluate the virus, spyware or personal firewall security software on a computer so users can take steps to close any gaps in their online security protection.
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