If you don't have time to read all of this, skip to the end. It's the cool part of today's writing!
If you are one of my contacts on Skype you know that my computer is almost always on line and that I'll be happy to chat just about anytime.
But I also like to use these "Social Networking" tools for some Kingdom work.
"How so?" You may ask.
I have "friends" from all over the world on FB. Most are friends from church or churches where I have served in the past. I like to use FB to encourage everyone to be in worship or to pray for missionaries or persecuted Christians.
I write about many of those things here - on this blog - and then I use FB to let everyone know that I've rattled off something else and I hope that many will then click the link and be encouraged in their walk with the Lord.
I also have friends on FB that are artists that I network with through Etsy. We encourage each other with our art and advertise a little for each other and those kinds of things. For some of them, I am the only Christian they know. Will they become a follower of Jesus Christ because I am their friend on FB? I don't know. But at least they see a believer in the real world trying to live out his faith for others to see.
Skype
I have many contacts on Skype. Many of them live in Brazil. I met them on http://www.busuu.com/ which is a place where I am working on my Portuguese. (I'll write about busuu in the next section.) These guys know that I am a pastor. I love it when this one guy calls me Pastor Leeendol. Haha. I love his Brazilian accent. So anyway, we talk about God and church things as well as how the weather is. We go back and forth in English and Portuguese.
I also use Skype to send quick messages - sort of like a text message. Just today a friend on Skype asked me to pray for him because he felt like the devil was trying to mess things up in his life. I was able to tell him that I would be praying for him and then I sent him this verse.
James 4:7 NIV
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Busuu
This is the picture of me on busuu. If they ask about it - which happens a lot - I always tell them that I'm the guy on the left.
You wouldn't think a site that teaches many languages to people all over the world would be a place where you could witness, but it's actually a wonderful place. On bussu you have a lesson where you learn some new words. Then you have a place where you write about what you just learned and native speakers then correct your writing. You are then asked to correct someone else's writing. Someone who is learning English. After that, you are supposed to talk to someone who speaks the language you are learning. This is where I have met so many Brazilians who I now have as contacts on Skype.
Here's the cool part!
So today I had busuu open. I wasn't really studying Portuguese at the time. And I had a beep indicating that someone wanted to chat. It was a guy I met here from Russia. He is in the Russian Army studying engineering. He is 22 years old. We talked about the weather and things like that. He then asked what I do for a living. I told him I was one of the pastors at my church. He talked a little more about the snow in St. Petersburg and then he asked what religion I had.
Long story a little shorter. He is Russian Orthodox. He was Christened as a child because he is young enough to have been born after they were "free." I asked him if he felt like he was a follower of Jesus or if he was just happy that he was Christened. He said, "Probably the later." and then he asked me when I was Christened. I was able to share a little about my faith and I told him I was glad that his parents thought it was important for him to be a Christian. He agreed. So while we were talking I sent a Skype message to a friend and told him to pray for the guy. And then another friend called me and I asked him to pray for the guy. I guess I should have posted it on FB too!
We'll see where it goes. We said we would talk again soon. I hope you'll join me in praying for V.
I also hope you'll look for ways God can use you in His Kingdom work as you spend time with social networking.
No comments:
Post a Comment