Cyber Pastor

This article first appeared in YOUR CHURCH Magazine July/August '98 edition.

Are you the adventurous type who wants wind in your face, water splashing at your feet and the thrill of the ocean curling around your body? "Surfing the net" won't give you these thrills, but it can enrich your life and augment your ministry.

Surf Bored. There is no need for you to get bored while surfing the net. It offers interesting resources to enhance your ministry.

The Internet places oceans of information at your fingertips. Most Pastor's libraries are full of commentaries, church history and religious text books, not medical or ethical journals.

The Net allows you to find illustrations using historical documents, contemporary news items or literature from many disciplines. It gives you instant access to major newspapers like the New York Times or The Chicago Tribune. Infoseek and Yahoo allow you to search several major newspapers news services, or web pages at the same time.

Search engines like Yahoo and Excite are powerful tools to find information to bring a sermon to life. In a recent sermon, I illustrated Salvation as God's free gift by quoting from an article that appeared in WORTH MAGAZINE . The editors of the magazine asked some of America's wealthiest people, "How much would you pay for eternal life?" The women, according to the article, would pay just over three hundred thousand dollars. The men were a bit more generous, they would give a cool million. "Unfortunately," I preached, "money--not even a million dollars-- can buy you a spot in heaven, but fortunately, salvation is freely available to all who will accept Jesus as their Savior."

How did I find the timely quote? I typed "Sale" in a search engine.

Dr. Steve Long is an attorney and an associate pastor in Belen, New Mexico. Last Summer, he used a search engine to find an sound clip of Franklin Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. He played the recording as an introduction to a sermon encouraging the senior citizens of his Church not to "retire" from their Christian service. He reminded them that they were the generation that accomplished the impossible in World War II and that their leadership was still needed in their Church today.

Recently, I needed illustrations on modern day martyrs. I downloaded prayer requests from the mission field and found names of several recent martyrs and of missionaries in threatening situations. This information became a powerful illustration in my sermon. The congregation listened intently and responded by praying for these courageous people who put themselves in harm's way for the sake of the gospel.

John Coiner is the Sunday School Superintendent of his Church in Mableton, Georgia. One of his favorite web sites is 20/20 Vision. The site contains strategies for Church Growth and "how to" information for anyone who leads a Sunday School class or Small group. Among the resources, the site contains weekly inductive lesson plans for popular Sunday School curriculum.

When John found 20/20 Vision, he was discouraged and ready to resign his ministry. The resources he found there encouraged him and gave him a new direction for his Sunday School.

The Hall of Church History features "Theology from a Bunch of Dead Guys," a phrase coined by a friend of the curator of the site. Robert Morgan, a pastor in Nashville, Tennessee, accesses it to read Spurgeon's sermons. He says "it is the best collection of Church History" he's ever found.

You will find more than just Spurgeon's work there. You will find writings of the Church Fathers, Medieval Churchmen, Heretics, Eastern Orthodox, Catholics, Reformers, Puritans, Anabaptist, Arminians, Cultists, Unorthodox, Baptists and the recent Stalwarts.

Perhaps you'd rather teach with humor than quote Spurgeon. If so, you'll enjoy Eunet's Eculaugh . "a little girl, about five, and her even younger brother came to church. One of the ushers overheard her explaining church protocol to her little brother. 'You have to be really quite--if you talk, that man there will come make you stop!' The little boy looked back with huge eyes and asked, 'he will? who is he?" She replied, 'he's the Husher!'"

Our Sunday School director asked if we could set up a computer lab for our Children to use during Sunday School. We wrote a letter to Computer companies asking them to donate old computers to the cause. A week later, we had fifteen 386 and 486 computers.

We downloaded freeware Bible games from several web sites. Serious Developments offered the most. Adding the Freeware Online Study Bible, allowed adults to use the lab for Biblical research, but I've noticed they play the games as much as they use the Bible software. After loading these free programs on the free computers, we had a computer lab for our children and adults. Our total outlay for the computer lab was less than a hundred dollars.

Lifeguards on the Net. The real thrill of surfing is not finding a new sermon illustration; it is ministering to people. I'm sure you've heard that pornographers and molesters infest the net preying on innocent people. I've got good news for you, there are also lifeguards on the net.

Roger Williams is a Youth Pastor in Manteca California. He goes online to search for ministry resources, use E-Mail and to chat with youth.

One of his online buddies is a typical teenager with normal problems. Roger chatted with her several times. During one session, he discovered she was not a Christian, so he asked her to pray the sinner's prayer. She agreed. He typed "Dear Lord, I know I'm a sinner . . ." Moments later, her response came on his screen: "Dear Lord, I know I'm a sinner . . ."

Roger bumped into her at a State youth conference a few months later. Their face to face conversation confirmed the genuineness of her prayer to him.

Another young lady found help by accident. Dr. Brian Davis is a Pastor in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He uses the Net to research his sermons every week. In fact, he's not sure if he wants to prepare a sermon without the resources he finds on the Net.

One day he got E-Mail from someone he did not know. She obviously typed in his address by mistake.

Her note was an apology to another teenager for things she wrote while chatting about her own unwanted pregnancy. Brian considered the note God's providence, not a girl's accident. He sent her an encouraging note containing Christian love and counsel.

She responded to his E-mail and opened the door for additional ministry. Brian shared the gospel with her, and gave her some compassionate insight into her problem.

The Net allows other ministers to have a global impact with their ministry. Gerald Steffey is a denominational worker in Peoria Illinois. He uses the net to distribute his sermons and his wife's songs to other ministers.

J. W. "Bill" Phillips is Pastor of a Church in Portland, Oregon. He uses the net to keep up with missionaries around the world, get information and develop relationships.

What do these two men have in common? Both ministered to a new Christian from Europe. They met her during online chats. Bill & Gerald slowly earned her trust. She consented to provide Bill with her "snail mail" address and he mailed her Christian growth material.

They've helped her with her struggles, doubts and prayer needs. She told a friend, with a Scientology background, about her Cyber-Pastors. He contacted them and began a Cyber-relationship. He is asking many questions in his search for the truth. Bill asks that we will pray for the man that he will become a Christian soon.

Yes, there are perverted people in Cyber-space wanting to prey on the unsuspecting, that's the bad news. The good news is that there are also lifeguards on the Net wanting to pray with them.