Internet and Culture Trends, News & Links

TurningPoint 2006, a 100 percent natively integrated PowerPoint-based audience response solution from Turning Technologies, LLC, was recently featured at the Worship Facilities Conference and Expo (WFX) at the Nashville Convention Center.

During Dr. John Vaughan's general session, over 325 attendees used Turning Technologies' ResponseCards to answer questions regarding demographic information, size of congregation, anticipated growth and integration of technology. Because of the real-time technology, Dr. Vaughn was able to alter his presentation based on the poll responses.

"Once I got a sense that the audience was composed of many smaller churches, I modified my content," said Dr. Vaughn. During the course of the conference, church pastors and other leaders enthusiastically recommended ways to implement TurningPoint within worship facilities.

Keeping a finger on the pulse of congregations was a prevalent topic of conversation among attendees. Frank Johnson of Sanctuary United Methodist in North Wales, Pennsylvania stated, "Too often we assume we understand what the congregation thinks or feels. Using TurningPoint allows for a more accurate reflection of how they really feel. True feelings are a result of anonymity and open, honest feedback."
www.turningtechnologies.com


November 2005
IN THIS EDITION New Online Salvation Tool TalkEnglish.com Turning Technologies Chinese Search Engines Internet and Culture News & Trends

New Online Salvation Tool - Winning Your Friends and Family
Christ for all Nations, the ministry of Reinhard Bonnke, has developed a new online salvation tool. This innovative tool has been proven to be a highly effective way of delivering the message of the Gospel to those you love and care about. With the assistance of this tool, people can evangelize family members, or others they know, regardless of where they live, right from a computer.
		Dr. Reinhard Bonnke is a recognized specialist on the Christian faith, and lectures extensively on apologetics to adherents of diverse religious practices around the world. With the use of Reinhard Bonnke's articles to bring the salvation message to those who don't know Jesus Christ, Christians are able to send targeted articles, which consist of three emails. Users have the availability and the flexibility to choose from several articles that will best communicate the salvation message depending on the spiritual level of the recipient. The user than determines the best time to send these emails.
Christ for all Nations has developed a simple, yet sophisticated, stepped approach by which a user may send these articles in sequential order. Users also have the option of forwarding the entire series as they send one article every two or three days to a friend or family member. This process consists of three emails; each one bringing the Gospel message in ever greater clarity and more intensity, with the final email coming directly to the point. This method is designed to bring the recipient along from "cold" (where most people are today) to "warm" (interested and wanting to learn more) and finally to "hot" (ready receive Christ). This method seeks to minimize the chance of an automatic negative reaction. Yet, only the user can judge what is appropriate to send. After sending the salvation articles, Bonnke Ministries emphasizes that the most essential step is the follow up with the family and friends who received the emails. They suggest the sender remember that they are actually the human link that God has used to walk a friend or loved one through to their eternal salvation. They also offer helpful follow up suggestions that have been proven to be successful keys to get the recipient reading the Bible and connecting with other believers which is essential to a solid foundation in their new walk with Christ. A special booklet, written by Reinhard Bonnke and entitled "The Ultimate Plus," is free of charge. Some recipients who request this booklet will also receive a special edition of the "New Testament." Go to http://www.cfan.org/Goto.asp?ID=106 for the Firesite website to sign up and get started with the "Winning Your Friends and Family" program, a program which Bonnke ministries says "brings the world within your reach."

TalkEnglish.com Teaches Internet Users How to Speak English for Free
In many countries, students have learned how to read and write in English without being able to speak English. Steve Kim, a 31 year old computer software engineer, created TalkEnglish.com to provide English lessons for everyone. Steve Kim majored in English Literature at the University of Washington and worked at Microsoft for nearly 5 years. The "click, listen, and repeat" feature of TalkEnglish.com allows students to click on any of the 5,000 audio files, listen to a native English speaker, and repeat after the audio segment. The interactive conversation tool is another feature of TalkEnglish.com. Students can practice having a conversation by using the hundreds of conversation dialogs in the database. Students can either listen to the whole conversation without interacting, or choose to engage in the conversation. http://www.talkenglish.com
Editors Note: What applications might a tool like this have for Internet Evangelism?

Turning Technologies Introduces Response Solutions to Attendees at Worship Facilities Conference and Expo
TurningPoint 2006, a 100 percent natively integrated PowerPoint-based audience response solution from Turning Technologies, LLC, was recently featured at the Worship Facilities Conference and Expo (WFX) at the Nashville Convention Center. During Dr. John Vaughan's general session, over 325 attendees used Turning Technologies' ResponseCards to answer questions regarding demographic information, size of congregation, anticipated growth and integration of technology. Because of the real-time technology, Dr. Vaughn was able to alter his presentation based on the poll responses. "Once I got a sense that the audience was composed of many smaller churches, I modified my content," said Dr. Vaughn. During the course of the conference, church pastors and other leaders enthusiastically recommended ways to implement TurningPoint within worship facilities. Keeping a finger on the pulse of congregations was a prevalent topic of conversation among attendees. Frank Johnson of Sanctuary United Methodist in North Wales, Pennsylvania stated, "Too often we assume we understand what the congregation thinks or feels. Using TurningPoint allows for a more accurate reflection of how they really feel. True feelings are a result of anonymity and open, honest feedback." www.turningtechnologies.com

Chinese Search Engines and the Power of Ranking a Website in China
The power of being able to reach a population of 1.3 billion and with an increasing Internet savvy audience make attaining a top ranking in Chinese search engines more important than ever. China, with a population of 1.3 billion, and a capital city with a population of 13.7 million has one of the fastest growing economies in the world - and over 103 million reported Internet users. Whatever the product or services being sold, according to www.servicewrap.net, the only real way for a website to penetrate China quickly is through the search engines, and achieving rankings in the Chinese search engines will soon be instrumental for a company's worldwide success on the Internet. With the number one search engine in China currently being Baidu, and with Yahoo investing $1.7 billion in English language portal Alibaba.com. China is fast becoming a Mecca for the worlds greatest search companies.
Editors Note: Considering the vast numbers of Chinese online - and with the potential to be online - how are Christians taking advantage of Chinese search engines and website rankings? Tony Whittaker on Understanding Search Engines - http://www.web-evangelism.com/resources/search.php and an article with "31 Ways to Promote Your Website" http://www.web-evangelism.com/resources/promote.php Christian-web-masters.com also has information on search engine optimization - http://www.christian-web-masters.com/articles/web_search-engine-optimization.html

ChristianPodder.com and LifeWay.com http://christianpodder.com/ BBC: Web Enjoys Biggest Year of Growth http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4325918.stm BBC: Volunteer Call for Tech Savvy http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4386012.stm Pew Internet: Teen Content Creators and Consumers http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/166/report_display.asp PRWeb: Crossmap.com, a new online Christian business directory http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/10/prweb301385.htm

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