I will be presenting a 3 hour Professional Development Seminar at National Youth Ministry Convention 2013 on REDEEMING SOCIAL MEDIA. In the lead up to NYMC I have a series of interviews with Christians using online mediums in a deliberate way for the Gospel. I have asked the same 4 questions to each guest and there are some fantastic posts coming!
The fourth guest is Stu Harris. Stu works for yesHEis.com and will be hosting a Panel Chat with Q&A that I will be participating in at NYMC this Saturday. Having interacted with him via email and read his answers below, I’m really looking forward to gleaning more wisdom when we hang out!
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1) What church and/or ministries are you part of?
I’m married to Jeanette, and we have 2 handsome boys Samuel (7) and Luke (2), and a little princess on the way :-) We’re originally from the UK, but moved to Sydney 12 years ago. Since then we’ve lived in Tassie and now we’re living in Queensland. We’re part of Good Life Church on the Sunshine Coast. We love their missional heart for the local community.
I work with a great team of young, energetic, passionate folks who love to share their faith in Jesus and encourage others to do likewise. Christian Vision have been involved in evangelism ministry since 1988, and 4 years ago started the transition to developing a focus on online mission introducing yesHEis, a website and app (Apple + Android) that is designed to help Christians share their faith on the various social media platforms. We operate in multiple languages around the world. I lead the International English team which includes creatives, marketing and community specialists who connect with the local church.
2) What ways do you use online mediums in your ministry and witness?
Our focus as a ministry is to develop tools that help Christians share their faith online. We’ve developed a website and app called yesHEis that is a place that Christians can go to and find short films to share with their friends. The short films are based on topics that people are searching for online, and are selected for their ability to inspire someone seeking answers encouraging them to explore further. There is a follow up video that the viewer can watch which is a brief 2-minute presentation of the gospel. Our Community team respond to questions and connect people with a local church for ongoing discipleship.
3) Why do you think it’s important for Christians to be deliberate in how they use online mediums?
Our attitude for evangelism online should be no different to that of the offline world. People tend to be less civil on social media. They may say things that they’d never be prepared to say to someone face to face, but I believe that regardless of someones attitude, I would encourage responding positively. We need to be salt and light in the dark places online too. Be known by the encouragement that we are to someone online. Facebook, Twitter, etc are after all nothing more than a blank canvas until people start to write, add photos, videos and comment. The redemption of social media starts and finishes with seeing lives transformed by the love of Jesus.
4) What advice would you give someone keen to be effective online for the gospel?
Today’s culture see almost no separation from their online life and offline world. They are one and the same, connected to the same ongoing conversation. We need to be as intentional online in engaging with people about the gospel as we are offline. Jesus called us to Go into the world… people are congregating online having conversations there, we should Go there too, and find ways of sharing the good news.
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Thanks Stu! Go check out yesHEis: website; twitter; facebook; youtube; google plus. Feel free to interact below in the comments.