2003 IEC Annual Meeting

The IEC Annual Meeting was held September 9 and 10 at the Sheraton Gateway Suites in Chicago, IL. The meeting was once again held immediately preceding the Gospelcom.net Conference.

The meeting began at 1 p.m. on September 9 and concluded at 1 p.m. on September 10.

Dr. Steve Douglass, President of Campus Crusade for Christ, was unable to speak due to unforeseen circumstances.

Maura McCarthy, who made a presentation to the IEC Executive Committee in January 2003 on technology and faith, was one of the speakers. Maura spent 16 months as an intern, gathering research at Campus Crusade for Christ, International. Her background includes a Master's degree in social anthropology from Oxford University for work on the use of the "bridge" technique in evangelistic web sites. She is a doctoral candidate at Oxford with an emphasis focused on how religious faith and the use of technology shape one another. Essentially, Maura is looking at how technology use is rooted in the history, values, social context and daily practice of a particular community (in this case CCCI). Her Masters thesis is online at: http://mkmccarthy.homestead.com/thesis.html.

In addition, Mr. Tony Whittaker spoke. Tony is the director of SOON Ministries, based in Derby, UK. SOON produces free evangelistic literature for the two-thirds world in five languages. He also edits the Web Evangelism Guide and its associated twice-monthly email newsletter Web Evangelism Bulletin both of which are designed to equip Christians with ideas and strategies for online outreach.

The Annual Meeting closed with topical lunch discussion tables.

Materials from the 2003 Annual Meeting

Meeting Schedule

International Strategy Group Report
Presented by Mr. Keith Stonehocker, Christianity Today International

eQuipping the Church Online
Presented by Mr. Chris Thyberg, ForMinistry.com/ABSinteractive

A Promised Land of Opportunity: Ground to Claim in Web Evangelism
Presented by Tony Whittaker, SOON Ministries

Some Thoughts on Evangelism, Technology and Cultural Power: Presented by Ms. Maura McCarthy, Doctoral candidate in Social Anthropology, University of Oxford