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It’s Wednesday night. I’m on an airplane again. This flight is to San Antonio. I’m spending tomorrow helping train Christian Leadership Ministries staff to maintain a major website.

You may recall that 10 years ago in early 1995, God allowed me to be a part of the launch of a new ministry vineyard — the internet. I remember one well-meaning person counsel me that this was not going to amount to much. Bah! Humbug! The internet and ministry didn’t seem to mix well.

I have to admit that traditional ministries like our previous assignment with the Jesus Film in West Africa seemed much more effective.

But Kay and I knew the Lord was calling us into this new pioneering work of learning how to use internet communication media to minister to others.

And it worked!

Last year, Leadership University, which we pioneered in 1995, had 6 million visits by over 3 million different people (unique visitors, in internet-speak). Christian Leadership Ministries has continued its leadership in helping people bring the power of a biblical worldview to the many issues confronting our complex society.

The ministry strategies developed at Leadership University, Stonewall Revisited, World Religions Index, Doug Yeo, and many other sites in those early years at CLM have proven extremely effective and have been adopted and refined by almost all Campus Crusade for Christ ministries who are using the internet effectively for evangelism. Those strategies are being used to expose someone to the gospel every 5 seconds, and see someone indicate a decision to receive Christ every 20 seconds. Last year, 250,000 people indicated decisions for Christ through Campus Crusade for Christ internet ministries. They sent over 100,000 email messages which were answered by 1,000 trained volunteers.

So, I’m traveling to San Antonio to help another handful to be equipped to continue to minister through helping professors integrate their faith with their academics.

Hearing these great numbers is exciting — a quarter million decisions, a thousand trained volunteers, 9 new believers in the 3 minutes you’ve been reading this post. But it happens one-by-one. It happens when we take time to talk with others, at work, in our homes, in the neighborhood, or in an email.

After all, ministry is a “contact sport.”

Thanks you for partnering in this “contact sport.”

I read a good, incisive article this morning: 8 things pastors need to know about e-ministry.

I’m involved in fulltime ministry for Christ and the rest of us need to know these things too! Here’s his main points:
1. Your target audience for church growth is Internet-savvy.
2. Your Web site will be your “first impression” for many people.
3. If you’re not on the Web, you don’t exist to many people.
4. Seekers will visit your Web site before attending your services.
5. A whole generation exists that will seek “religion” online.
6. The Web site is too critical to be run by a volunteer.
7. You can’t afford a cheap site.
8. People are viewing your current Web site right now.

Having spent over 10 years in e-ministry, I agree wholeheartedly. Want to read more? Try some of the articles on our technology website that my friend Rob has put together. Even better, read our e-ministry blog regularly. Rob is passionate about this! I’m supposed to post there also, but I don’t blog like Rob! 🙂