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(Our thanks to Christianity Today International for providing the IEC with these banner images!)

MySpace.com, Xanga.com, facebook.com and bebo.com are just four of the many Internet websites that have developed recently purporting to offer a place for people (particularly young people) to connect with others in an online “community.” What does this phenomenon mean for Christians: for Christian young people who are involved in this type of online networking and for denominations and ministries involved in online evangelism?

This fall’s Internet Evangelism Coalition (IEC) Annual Meeting will seek an answer to that question with a report on how one major Christian ministry is responding, followed by a panel discussion of Internet Evangelism experts who will look at how Christians should respond to this online trend.

Dr. Sterling Huston, Chair of the IEC Executive Committee, emphasizes that the IEC Annual Meeting “deals with cutting edge issues” faced by the Christian web community such as social networking websites. Huston says the IEC meeting offers a unique opportunity for Internet Evangelism practitioners to network and learn from each other about evangelism on the web, as well as plan together for collaborative partnerships to make the most of web evangelism-related resources and personnel.

SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES
David LeFlore, Vice President of Evangelism/Outreach, American Tract Society, will share how the American Tract Society (ATS) is taking the Gospel message to Myspace.com through an evangelistic page within the Myspace.com community that ATS reports has already seen several decisions for Christ.

Following his presentation LeFlore, along with Robby Richardson, Director of Internet Ministries for Gospel Communications International, Craig von Buseck, Ministries Director at CBN.com and John Sorensen, Executive Vice President for Evangelism Explosion International, will participate in a panel discussion called “ChristianMySpace” and “MySpace.com/Agapespace.” The panel will address questions such as “Should Christians create a Christian MySpace.com?” and “Should Christians embrace these types of sites and see them as open mission fields to share Christ?”

INTERNATIONAL INTERNET EVANGELISM
The guest speaker at this years’ IEC meeting is Gordon Robertson, vice president of Digital Media for the Christian Broadcasting Network, whose September 20 presentation will be “Using the Internet for International Evangelism.” Robertson is also Vice President of The 700 Club; Vice President of CBN WorldReach Asia; Founder and President of CBN Asia, Inc.; Founder and President of the Asian Center for Missions.

Other speakers include:

• David Hackett, Associate Director, visionSynergy: The network of leaders of non-English speaking evangelistic websites continues to grow. David will report on the development of the International Internet Evangelism Network and its future.
• Debra Brown, President and CEO, Brown Governance: Debra will provide an update on 2006 Internet Evangelism Day and a look at how this event is raising the level of awareness about the opportunities for evangelism on the Internet.
• Andy Fish, Project Director, National Office, Campus Crusade for Christ: Andy will give an overview of www.storyspot.com which equips believers to share personal stories that communicate an element of the Gospel. The objective is that these stories about a person's relationship with God will become an extension of their online identity that creates opportunities for the gospel.

MEETING DETAILS
The 2006 IEC Annual Meeting begins on September 20 at 11:30 a.m. with lunch and concludes on September 21 at 11:00 a.m.

The Registration Fee for the Annual Meeting is $125 and includes 3 meals and refreshment breaks. Register here.

The IEC meeting will be held at Marriott Chicago O’Hare (8535 West Higgins Road, Chicago, IL 60631). Rooms are available for $124 plus tax per night. The deadline for making hotel reservations has been extended to September 8.

Hotel reservations may be made by going to www.gospelcon.org/hotel (note the “n” in the address). (The IEC group rate is part of a package with another conference, Gospel Communications, International.)

Questions? Please email iec@webevangelism.com. 
 

Millions of people access the Internet each day through web browsers, cell phones, RSS readers, and countless other ways. Thousands of Christian websites await them online, eager to share the Gospel with a spiritually desperate world. So why aren't all those Christian websites connecting with the people who need to hear their message?

Because there's more to effective online ministry than a website and an email address.

Sharing the Gospel of Christ with the wired world means a lot of different things. It means using today's technology tools skillfully and wisely. It means understanding how people communicate online. It means knowing the spiritual hurdles that keep people from the truth.

It means being excellent in every possible respect, from personal integrity to web and ministry standards.

If that sounds like far too much for any one person to handle, you're right--and that's why we created Gospelcon (www.gospelcon.net). Gospelcon exists to train online Christian evangelists, equip them with the technical knowledge they need, and most importantly, connect them to other Christians doing ministry on the Internet. We want Christians to do online ministry better.

Gospelcon 2006, September 21-23, is a chance for you to improve your ministry and get to know other people involved in Internet evangelism. Join us as we explore new and better ways to share Christ with the online world.

Gospelcon 2006 is open to anyone with a passion to make an impact for Christ online, or who want a better understanding of online ministry.

Gospelcon Conference

Christian.com has announced the launch of GodCast1000.com, a new website that organizers say is the largest podcast directory on the Internet dedicated solely to Christian podcasts.

So-called “Godcasts” are believed to be one of the fastest-growing genre’s of podcasting, which has become more mainstream as millions of digital audio files are downloaded from the Internet to computers and portable MP3 players. Apple’s iPod is the most popular MP3 player, with over 58 million sold to date.

GodCast1000.com ranks the top Christian podcasts by categories, such as church sermons, Christian music and Bible study. The largest category is sermons, and over 150 church sermon podcasts can be found and subscribed to for free on the site.

HisKids.net, an alliance of leading Christian radio programs for children, is launching its website – www.HisKids.net – on September 2, providing numerous programs and music on-demand at one central site.

“For the first time in history, children's Christian broadcasters are working together as never before to reach kids in new and innovative ways,” said Dodd Morris, director of His Kids Radio, a broadcast ministry of Cornerstone University and coordinating partner of the alliance.

Six programs, “Down Gilead Lane,” “Karen & Kids,” “Kids Corner,” “Paw & Tales,” “The Pond” and “We Kids,” will be available on the web site initially. Other programs are expected to be added in the near future. Music artists featured include Rob Baigi, Jeremy Blaido, Seeds, Jana Alayra and Go Fish. His Kids Radio programming also will be available real time at the site.

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