Participants:
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000277A
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00:01 There are many ways to share the gospel.
00:03 Stay tuned to meet a young woman 00:05 who's putting her cyber gifts 00:06 and talents to great use for the kingdom. 00:09 My name is Yvonne Lewis-Shelton, 00:11 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:38 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:40 My guest today is Felecia Datus, 00:42 Special Projects manager 00:44 at the Center for Online Evangelism. 00:46 Welcome to Urban Report, my dear. 00:48 Dr. Yvonne, I'm glad to be here. 00:50 Oh, we're so glad to have you here. 00:52 It's like having you come home. 00:54 Yeah, it's been a while since I was at 3ABN, 00:56 so it is like coming home in a different role. 00:59 Yes, yes, yes. 01:01 And you've been doing some amazing things. 01:04 But before we get into that, 01:05 I just want our viewers to kind of know 01:07 who you are and what your journey has been. 01:10 So where are you from? Oh, wow. 01:12 I am originally from the Bahamas. 01:14 I was born and raised there. 01:15 My family is from Haiti. 01:18 So born Bahamas, I studied in Jamaica. 01:21 So I did my undergraduate studies 01:23 at the Northern Caribbean University. 01:25 From there, I spent some time in France teaching English, 01:28 then I returned back to the Bahamas 01:30 working in radio, 01:32 and then I went to Andrews University 01:34 for three years, and that is where I am now. 01:37 Wow, wow. 01:38 And how did you come to know the Lord? 01:41 Have you always been a Christian? 01:42 Or how did you come to know about the Lord? 01:44 You know, I was born in an Adventist home, 01:47 you know, going to church every single Sabbath 01:50 with a family having worship, 01:51 but there just comes a point where it gets really personal. 01:55 And that personal for me started 01:57 when I was eight years old. 01:58 There was an appeal at church, 02:00 and my mom was like, "Go, and get baptized." 02:03 I was like, you know, 02:05 she's going to chuckle at this bar, 02:07 but she said, "Go up and get baptized." 02:08 I was eight years old. 02:09 I had no idea what that meant. 02:11 And I went up, and my mom actually followed me up 02:13 and she said that she wanted me to be baptized, 02:19 but not tonight because I had a cold. 02:21 And usher actually said, "You know what? 02:23 She'll be baptized, 02:25 and after she comes out of the pool, 02:27 she won't have a cold anymore." 02:29 I was baptized, I got up, there was no cold. 02:32 And it was then that I realized, 02:34 you know, there must be something to everything 02:37 that we have been doing. 02:39 So as an eight year old, 02:40 that's where it started to get more personal for me. 02:42 And, you know, with the journey of Christ, 02:44 there's there is that conversion moment, 02:46 but every day there's something new 02:48 that you're learning. 02:49 And so you're growing. 02:51 So I wouldn't say there was one particular moment 02:53 that it really got personal, 02:55 but it's a continual journey for me. 02:56 And that's what got me here. 02:58 That's awesome. 02:59 So really, from the age of eight, 03:01 your life kind of took, even though you were already, 03:05 you know, worshiping on Sabbath and going to, 03:09 and in a Christian home, you still, 03:13 you didn't know what you knew later. 03:15 Precisely, precisely. 03:16 And even as I became a teenager, 03:18 you know, you start questioning 03:19 a lot of the things that you do, 03:21 why do I have to got to church on Saturday? 03:22 All my friends are having fun on this day, 03:25 and I don't do what they do. 03:26 Why is that? 03:28 And there comes a point 03:29 where you have to make that decision 03:31 personally in your own mind as to why you do what you do 03:33 because at the end of the day, because mommy told me so, 03:36 because daddy told me so won't cut it. 03:38 That's right. 03:39 You get to college, 03:41 and you have to stand on your own two feet, 03:42 by the grace of God. 03:44 And so it was those moments especially in high school, 03:47 getting more experience in the world 03:49 in terms of what my friends were doing, 03:51 and asking myself, 03:52 why don't I do these things 03:54 and getting more personal with Christ, 03:55 that was definitely other things that... 03:58 They play a role in helping me to get where I am 04:00 in my relationship with God. 04:02 Yes, amen, amen. 04:03 And so you are a millennial, right? 04:06 So what kinds of challenges do you have as a millennial 04:11 and being a Christian? 04:12 What kinds of challenges do you have? 04:14 Oh, wow, I would say it's an awesome question. 04:17 The main thing is how to be culturally relevant 04:20 without compromising principle. 04:23 Unpack that for us? 04:24 You know, how do I go online and still relate 04:28 to what my other friends are talking about, 04:30 who may not know the Lord, who have some serious concerns, 04:33 but at the same time be relevant to them, 04:36 you know, will I always 04:37 just throw out a Bible verse for my post 04:40 or a Spirit of Prophecy quote that they won't understand? 04:43 Or will I find a way to reach them 04:45 where they are to learn from them. 04:48 And for me, also, to offer myself 04:51 so that they can learn about my experience 04:53 with the Lord Jesus, 04:55 so to be able to relate to them, 04:57 but at the same time, have my stance on God's Word. 05:00 That could be a challenge. 05:02 So that's something that I have been learning, 05:04 and that the Holy Spirit is teaching me to do. 05:06 You know, you don't want to seem 05:07 as a holier than thou person, 05:09 but you still want to be able to relate to your friends 05:11 who may not know the Lord. 05:12 Oh, that's such a good answer. 05:14 And that seems to me to be such a relevant issue. 05:18 Because you don't want to be holier than thou, 05:21 but you also have to have your standard, 05:24 and you have to have your witness. 05:25 Right. 05:26 And so that's what the Lord's led you to do. 05:28 Yeah, and He calls us to be peculiar. 05:30 He calls us to be special, we are consecrated, 05:33 we are holy, 05:34 but He still tells us that we are in the world 05:36 and we're supposed to be enlightened in this world. 05:38 That's right. In it, but not of it. 05:39 Right. Right? 05:41 Precisely. 05:42 So you got into doing things with the computer, 05:46 that's one of your gifts, how did you get into that? 05:49 So, you know, 05:50 that credit obviously goes to God, 05:52 but I would definitely have to say to Ed Widener 05:55 and Dave Sharpe, they are the ones... 05:58 Well, Ed Widener, a few years ago, 06:00 found out that the Adventist Church 06:03 needed to have a stronger presence online. 06:05 And so he decided to start this ministry, 06:08 Center for Online Evangelism, and he began to recruit people. 06:11 So he, and Dave, and the rest of the team 06:13 are training other people 06:14 so that we can train others to get them involved 06:17 in online evangelism. 06:19 And basically, that is, how do we spread the gospel 06:23 using our gadgets. 06:25 We're connected to it. Yes. 06:26 Whether it's through our watch, 06:28 or on our phones, or on our tablet, 06:30 anywhere we go, we have this with us. 06:33 And Jesus specifically told us to go 06:35 and make disciples to the ends of the world. 06:38 We may not be able to jump on a plane, 06:40 we may not be able to go certain places, 06:43 but just using this gadget, we have the capability 06:47 by the grace of God to reach thousands, 06:49 if not hundreds of thousands of people for the gospel. 06:52 And so whether it's my Facebook posts 06:54 or whether it's creating a YouTube channel, 06:56 whether it's a podcast, whether it's a blog, 06:59 I'm trying to learn, how do I do that, 07:00 and also training other people to do that. 07:03 And also through search engine optimization, 07:05 that's something else 07:06 that the Center for Online Evangelism does, 07:08 and trains people to do because a lot of people 07:11 are searching for the truth. 07:13 They want to know more about God, 07:14 they want to know more about the Bible, 07:15 they want to know about the Sabbath, 07:17 they want to know about these precious truths 07:19 that sometimes we take for granted. 07:21 And they're searching for it. 07:23 But unfortunately, we don't have that presence. 07:25 And so we're saying, "Listen, this is so important, 07:27 people are already searching, so let's optimize our websites, 07:30 let's create more content so that they can find out 07:33 more about who we are, 07:34 and they can definitely find out most importantly, 07:37 who Jesus is." 07:38 Oh, that's wonderful. 07:40 So the Center for Online Evangelism 07:41 then is training other people to do 07:47 search engine optimization, and all of that? 07:50 Yes. 07:52 And that's just one facet of what we do. 07:54 So we do provide that training, we provide the resources. 07:58 Recently, one of our workers Amy Prindle 07:59 created a manual teaching people 08:01 how to do search engine optimization. 08:03 We have a newsletter 08:05 that goes out every single week, 08:06 and we says the best practices, sometimes you would spend 08:08 thousands of dollars to go out there and learn it. 08:11 We're offering this to you for free, 08:13 because this has an eternal weight. 08:16 And if you can put this to practice 08:17 as a communication director at your church 08:19 or as a ministry leader, 08:20 you have the capability of reaching more people. 08:23 So providing resources, 08:24 providing the training on social media, 08:29 providing the tips for people to just learn about this. 08:33 Those are just a few things that we do. 08:35 So how long has the Center for Online Evangelism existed? 08:39 How long has it been in existence? 08:40 So Ed Widener founded it in 2012. 08:43 And since then, it has been growing, 08:45 you know, every year there are challenges. 08:47 That's the thing with digital, with anything digital, 08:50 the algorithms, 08:51 I don't want to use technical terms, 08:53 but things are always changing online. 08:54 So every year we've been growing, 08:56 we've been readjusting what we do, 08:58 but what we do still has remained the same 09:01 throughout the years. 09:02 So from 2012 up to now, 09:04 our main mission is to provide the services 09:07 and provide the training so since 2012. 09:10 Since 2012, so... 09:12 Wow, so and how long have you been with them? 09:14 So just the last year. 09:16 And again, it's just been so amazing 09:18 how God brings everything that we do together 09:22 because I had just graduated and I wanted a dream job. 09:26 And there was one particular job 09:28 that I wanted so much, 09:29 I said, "God, if You could just provide this job, 09:31 I will be so happy." 09:32 It didn't work out. 09:34 I was heartbroken. 09:35 I was heartbroken. 09:37 Then I went to a conference, 09:38 Society for Adventist Communicators, 09:40 and I met Ed Widener there. 09:42 And we were just having a conversation 09:43 that I thought was just a casual conversation. 09:45 God always, however, has something else in mind. 09:48 And a few days later, I started working with a Center 09:50 for Online Evangelism. 09:53 At that time, 09:54 I wasn't being very intentional 09:56 about my own personal online evangelism, 09:59 but I did recognize that I have to learn to use Facebook 10:02 or YouTube to share the gospel more. 10:04 But it was when I really started to work with them, 10:07 October 2017, that I became more intentional. 10:12 So it's been a little over a year 10:14 at the time of this recording. 10:16 That's awesome. 10:17 Isn't that amazing how, 10:19 you know, we think we want this? 10:21 Right. 10:23 And we're like, wow, why didn't I get this? 10:25 Right. 10:27 God has something better. He has something better. 10:28 He always. 10:30 I remember, in my own life, 10:32 I remember I was going through 10:34 a really, really difficult time, 10:36 and I was looking for a place to live. 10:41 And I saw this place and I thought, 10:44 "Wow, this would be perfect." 10:46 Like, "Lord, please let me get this place." 10:48 And it looked like it was going to happen, 10:50 and then at last minute it fell through. 10:53 And I was devastated 10:55 because I didn't know what I was going to do. 10:58 And it turns out 10:59 that the Lord had the same floor plan 11:03 available at half the price in a different place. 11:07 And so if we just trust God, 11:10 He's going to work it out. 11:11 Yes, and that's how it works. 11:13 Even with digital evangelism, we always think, 11:14 well, maybe this is the way 11:16 that we should share the gospel. 11:18 And God says, "Yeah, that will work. 11:20 But I have an even better plan." 11:22 Like, you're thinking that we're all going to walk 11:24 throughout the ends of the world 11:26 to share the gospel. 11:27 He says, "You know what? 11:29 I'm going to make this a little bit easier for you. 11:30 I'm still going to provide My power and My strength, 11:33 but take your phone and start sharing the gospel. 11:36 So God always works outside of our thinking, 11:39 and always gives us 11:40 something better than we expect. 11:41 Always. 11:43 Something better, always, always. 11:45 So explain how this works. 11:47 So someone comes, someone contacts you, 11:51 first of all, I guess they have to be techno savvy. 11:53 So I obviously would never be calling, 11:55 no, not for that. 11:57 So they call the Center for Online Evangelism, 12:00 and is it an online course, what is it? 12:02 Okay, so there are several things. 12:04 And no, someone does not have to be techno savvy. 12:09 If you just know how to dial a number 12:11 or if you know how to send an email, 12:12 you can get in touch with us. 12:14 And there are several things that we do. 12:15 So we do have a training course, 12:16 and that's coming up. 12:18 And as that develops, and it's available, 12:20 we make that announcement on our website. 12:22 But let's say for example, you are a church pastor, 12:25 and you want to get your members 12:26 more involved in evangelism. 12:28 And you also want your website to be found 12:31 by persons in your community. 12:33 So there are two things that you can do. 12:34 One, you can invite 12:36 the Center for Online Evangelism 12:37 to come and to do a training. 12:39 In that training, we train church members 12:42 how to use social media, how to use websites, 12:45 how to use YouTube to spread the gospel 12:48 and create more content online. 12:50 And how long is this training? 12:53 Is it weekend? 12:54 It could be for Sabbath afternoon, 12:56 it could be for three days, it's Friday evening, 12:58 Sabbath or Sunday morning. 13:00 So it's however the church wants to work, 13:01 we work along with you. 13:03 And so when church members and leaders 13:06 are creating more content, 13:07 what happens is that 13:08 when someone searches for Adventist 13:10 or when they search to know more about Jesus 13:12 or the Bible is the content 13:13 that we are creating that will appear. 13:16 But the other thing that we do is 13:18 search engine optimization. 13:19 We do offer that service for churches, and ministries, 13:22 and schools. 13:23 But then we also provide the resources 13:25 so that you can learn how to do it 13:27 because you can create a whole bunch of great content. 13:30 But if people can't find that content, 13:32 then it's almost worth, you know, it's almost in vain. 13:36 Absolutely. Yeah. 13:37 Absolutely. 13:38 And you want that content to be up as high as it can get. 13:41 To rank on number one on Google 13:44 because when you search for something on Google, 13:46 there are only 10 slots. 13:48 And statistics show that people rarely go 13:50 to the second page of Google. 13:52 So you have a few seconds to catch people's attention 13:55 to rank number one or two or three, 13:57 we want to be number one, our training churches, 13:59 this is the things 14:00 that you need to do to have that number one spot 14:02 because people are searching for the truth, 14:04 but they're not finding it. 14:06 I remember this. 14:07 There was an incident when after church, 14:08 I was invited to a potluck. 14:10 And I went to a house and there were strangers, 14:13 I just opened the door, and there were strangers there 14:15 and are docking charging at me. 14:17 I was like, "Oh, my goodness, what happened?" 14:19 Someone came up to the door. 14:20 I said, "I'm supposed to be here for dinner." 14:22 I had the wrong address, 14:24 you know, our finding does sometimes, 14:26 a lot of times, that's what's happening, 14:28 that people are searching for the truth online, 14:30 but they don't know how to find us. 14:32 You know, so the dinner was elsewhere, 14:34 but the person had given me the wrong address. 14:35 Yes. 14:37 And so what search engine optimization, 14:39 online evangelism, and everything that we do, 14:42 the training and the resources that we offer 14:44 is training people how to give those 14:46 who are searching for the truth, 14:48 the right address to find our content 14:49 because we don't want them to end up lost on the internet. 14:52 Absolutely, this is such a valuable service. 14:57 I mean, you going into churches and showing people 15:00 even people like me, 15:01 who are totally not techno savvy, 15:04 you know, how to do it. 15:07 And like you said, at the beginning, 15:09 we are all pretty much attached to our gadgets... 15:13 Right, precisely. 15:14 Phones, and pads, and computers, and all that. 15:17 Right. And maybe you enjoy writing. 15:19 So you may not want to be able to... 15:21 You may not want to talk to someone face-to-face. 15:23 But perhaps the Holy Spirit 15:25 could use your gift of writing to start a blog, 15:27 a blog where you show 15:28 what Christ has been doing to you 15:30 or maybe you relate specifically to issues 15:32 that deal with women, and you relate that to gospel, 15:34 start a blog, maybe you love talking, 15:37 start a podcast for ministry, 15:39 maybe you love being in front of the camera, 15:40 you don't need to wait for Urban Report to call you 15:43 or to be on 3ABN, you could use your phone, 15:45 you prop it up, 15:47 and you can start a YouTube channel. 15:48 Maybe you already have a Facebook page, 15:50 you can use Facebook Live, you can share posts, 15:52 maybe you want to give online Bible studies. 15:55 Just using your laptop or Skype or Zoom, 15:57 you can connect with people all over the world, 16:00 right there in your living room or in your bedroom, 16:02 and you can share precious truths with them. 16:04 So we're saying allow the Holy Spirit 16:06 to be creative through you, share the gospel. 16:09 So when people are searching for Christ, 16:10 they will find that content. 16:12 When they're searching to know about who are Adventist? 16:14 That is the great content that they will find. 16:16 That's incredible. That's incredible. 16:18 So you are going to wherever the Holy Spirit sends you. 16:23 If someone calls and says, 16:24 "Hey, we would love for your team to come 16:26 or someone from your team to come to our church." 16:30 Do they absorb the cost for bringing you, 16:34 how will that work? 16:35 You know, every time I go to answer this question, 16:38 I always look at the example of Paul in the Bible. 16:40 He was willing to go wherever the Holy Spirit led him. 16:42 But he also realized that the Holy Spirit 16:44 wanted to use the other people to be a part of the ministry, 16:47 and they were part of the ministry 16:49 by helping Paul to absorb that cost. 16:51 You know, they paid so that he can come in, 16:53 so that he was free to be able to do the work. 16:56 So we do ask churches, we do say to churches, 16:58 "Yes, we're willing to come in. 17:00 We're definitely not charging the prices 17:02 that the world charges." 17:04 People are spending millions of dollars 17:05 to learn about SEO, 17:06 thousands of dollars to optimize their websites. 17:08 We're saying we're offering this content, 17:10 you bring us in 17:11 because you're supporting this work, 17:13 you're supporting this ministry, 17:14 and you're helping us to create 17:16 more free resources to be available to everyone. 17:18 Good. So they bring you in? 17:20 Yes. And then you do the teaching? 17:22 Yes. 17:23 Do you have resources that that they purchase? 17:26 Or do you have resources that you just pass out. 17:29 So the resources are free. 17:31 For example, if you sign up to my newsletter, 17:34 every single week, you receive a blog post 17:36 about best practices 17:38 that you can apply to your church website 17:40 or to your ministry website 17:42 or to your platform to optimize that. 17:43 We have a manual that one of our workers, 17:45 Amy, beautifully designed, 17:47 we made that available for free, 17:49 you subscribe, and we give that to you. 17:51 The website has lots of content, lots of blogs, 17:53 we have our Facebook page, 17:55 we're creating more videos on YouTube. 17:58 We have webinars on our Facebook page 18:00 to make all that available. 18:02 But sometimes you want that hands-on training, 18:04 how to be practical, how to do it, 18:06 and so we come into churches 18:07 and we train people how to do it. 18:08 That is so awesome. What's the age range? 18:12 Do you have an age range, 18:13 like how young and how old or can anybody just come? 18:17 You know, anyone who has 18:20 the willingness to share the gospel 18:23 can get involved in digital evangelism. 18:25 You know, even if you want to get a child involved 18:27 because children know how to operate these things, 18:29 sometimes more than we then we do. 18:32 There's a gentleman who's in his 80s 18:34 who conducts online Bible studies. 18:36 So it's really anyone who is willing. 18:38 If you don't have social media, that's fine. 18:40 You have your phone or you have WhatsApp. 18:41 You can do evangelism through that. 18:43 Neville Neveling, 18:46 he is a part of Adventist World Radio 18:49 is known for having started churches through WhatsApp. 18:52 I mean, just using a phone 18:54 and we wouldn't think of it sometimes. 18:56 But there are people 18:57 who literally can't get to a physical church, 18:59 so they attend church on their phone. 19:01 So anyone who has a gadget, who has access to the internet, 19:04 who is willing and who wants the Holy Spirit to use them, 19:07 you can be a part of it. 19:08 That's incredible. What's your website address? 19:11 So you can find out more information 19:12 CenterforOnlineEvangelism.org, 19:15 and there you can find out how to get involved, 19:17 how to donate, how to support the ministry, 19:19 and find out more about Project Caleb, 19:21 the initiative 19:22 where we aim to promote more Adventist presence online. 19:27 Let's talk about that, Project Caleb, 19:29 how did that come into being, and what is it? 19:32 So again, it's linked to the mission of Center 19:35 for Online Evangelism. 19:37 And its main initiative is that whenever someone searches 19:41 and they want to know more about who Adventists are, 19:44 who are these people? 19:45 What do they believe? What do they teach? 19:47 Sometimes we may hear something from one person 19:49 or hear something from another person. 19:51 But we have to be able to tell that story. 19:53 And we see we know the story 19:55 of Caleb and Joshua in the Bible, 19:57 where they were going to conquer the Promised Land, 19:59 but it was all around with enemies. 20:00 It was filled with giants, 20:02 you know, God didn't just give them the land, He said, 20:04 "You're going to have to fight for this, 20:06 but I give you My presence and I give you My power." 20:08 So we see online and Google as that Promised Land. 20:12 And there are giants there. 20:13 There are some negative things on there, 20:15 but God says I will give you the power 20:17 so that this truth that you have can be more prominent. 20:20 You can take over this Promised Land, 20:22 so all of the other nations, 20:24 all the other people are searching for truth 20:26 will come and find the gospel. 20:28 And so that's the gist of project Caleb. 20:31 And we want everyone involved. 20:32 You know, everyone can do something, 20:34 whether you're helping to create content, 20:35 whether you're financially supporting, or you're praying, 20:38 or you're sharing that message, we can... 20:40 Through Project Caleb, 20:42 people will learn more about who Adventists are, 20:44 they will learn more about Ellen White, 20:46 and definitely above all, 20:47 they will learn more about Jesus Christ. 20:49 That is so important. 20:51 What you're doing is so important. 20:53 This is a whole other way to reach millions of people. 20:59 You know, when you watch YouTube. 21:02 And you look at YouTube, 21:03 and you see that this one video has gone viral. 21:07 And millions of people are watching. 21:09 Why can't that be the gospel? 21:11 Precisely, precisely. 21:12 Why can't it. 21:14 That's what you guys are doing. Yeah. 21:15 It's incredible. 21:17 Well, you can bring 2000 people, 21:18 maybe a church can hold 2000 people, 21:20 but typically you can bring 2000 or even 50,000 people 21:23 or 250,000 people into your church. 21:26 But you can produce a video, I get millions of views on it. 21:30 That's how the gospel works. 21:31 We have a power that the early church did not have. 21:35 If Paul the Apostle, if Peter, if they had gadgets, 21:39 they would use Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, 21:42 Instagram, everything to share the gospel. 21:46 Yes. 21:47 And we have it but we're not using it. 21:49 And so we're saying, "Hey, use it." 21:51 Yes, yes, and this is how. 21:52 Precisely. 21:54 And this is how. 21:55 So tell us about some of the people 21:57 who have been trained through the Center 21:59 for Online Evangelism and what they're doing? 22:01 So recently with the church online, 22:05 the church training. 22:06 So that started when I joined Center for Online Evangelism 22:10 a few months ago. 22:11 So we're just getting that program started. 22:13 And so the last two workshops that we had, 22:17 there was a couple who express, 22:19 we've always been wanting 22:20 to start a blog or start a podcast, 22:22 we just didn't know what to do. 22:24 As a result of that training, 22:25 now they're connected with the resources 22:28 to help them to get that started. 22:30 There was another one where we had... 22:32 In the morning at Sabbath, we preached about evangelism, 22:35 then we had that workshop, and you have people again, 22:37 who are saying, "Yes, now I want to start that blog, 22:39 I want to start that podcast, 22:40 I want to start that YouTube channel," 22:42 and they also have the resources. 22:43 So a lot of times we're finding church members 22:46 who want to do, 22:48 but who don't know 22:49 how to do or who don't know where to start. 22:51 So we connect them and we create a community 22:54 of online missionaries of digital disciples. 22:58 And so we say, you know, you can come, 22:59 we connect everyone, 23:01 so that we can help you learn even more. 23:03 Look at that online missionaries, 23:06 digital disciples, I'm loving this. 23:08 Yes, yeah. 23:09 What an amazing use of what we have. 23:12 We know like, what's in your hand? 23:15 What do we have, that we can use 23:17 to reach millions of people? 23:19 Of course, we have television, 23:21 of course, we have the internet, 23:24 it's incredible. 23:25 The other thing we want people to realize that 23:27 we are not pushing out or putting down 23:30 the traditional methods of evangelism. 23:32 That is really important. 23:35 So it's not pushing that out and saying, 23:36 "Hey, it's a new age, just use your phone." 23:38 No, we're still keeping the traditional methods, 23:41 were just saying, 23:42 "Now you add the digital methods." 23:44 So we still need the overseas missionaries, we still need, 23:47 you know, to get certain pamphlets 23:49 printed out to reach certain people. 23:51 But we're saying that you can also 23:53 use the digital means. 23:55 So you want to do mission work, for example, 23:57 connect with someone in a developing country 24:00 and say, "Hey, we're offering Bible studies, " 24:01 and then you can start a feeding, clothing program, 24:05 that is something that actually happened 24:06 as a result of online evangelism, 24:08 where you had someone 24:09 who's communicating with others in other countries, 24:11 starting a feeding and clothing program, 24:13 and at the same time sharing the gospel, 24:15 and it's all being run online. 24:17 Wow, wow, okay, 24:19 so look into this camera and talk to someone 24:25 who is wanting to do something more for Christ, 24:29 but they don't know what to do. 24:32 Tell them what they can do? 24:33 So in Acts Chapter 1, God promises that 24:37 He will give you power, 24:39 and He will send His Holy Spirit on you 24:41 to do something that you don't even think 24:43 is capable of being done. 24:45 We see Jabez praying that prayer. 24:47 He says, "Lord, bless me, bless me, indeed, 24:49 and enlarge my territory." 24:51 And right now, you have the ability 24:53 for your territory to be enlarged. 24:56 It's not just talking about material things, 24:58 it's talking about God 24:59 allowing your territory to be enlarged, 25:01 so that more people can know of the saving grace 25:04 and the power of Jesus Christ. 25:06 And so if you have that willingness, 25:08 if you have that desire, 25:10 God is saying, now you are connected, 25:12 you have no excuse now 25:14 because the Center for Online Evangelism 25:16 is here to get you connected, 25:18 to provide the resources, to provide a training, 25:20 and all you have to do is get in touch with us. 25:23 That's great, that is so good. 25:25 You also have a partnership with the Ellen White Estates, 25:29 tell us about that? 25:30 Yes, so we have several partnerships 25:32 with different ministries in the Adventist Church. 25:35 Because this is not, first of all, 25:36 this is not a work that can only be done 25:39 by the Center for Online Evangelism. 25:40 We're starting this, 25:41 but we need to partner with other people. 25:43 So we find out that a lot of people 25:45 are searching for Ellen White. 25:46 And she has great content 25:48 that relates to various aspects of life. 25:50 But sometimes they're not finding her content, 25:52 they're not finding about who she really is 25:54 when they go online. 25:56 So what we did is that 25:57 we partnered with the Ellen White Estate, 26:00 so that we can make it possible whenever someone searches for, 26:03 to learn more about who she is, 26:05 you know, if a canvasser comes to their door, 26:06 and they receive the book, Steps to Christ 26:08 or they received the Desire of Ages, 26:10 and they're curious about this name, 26:11 Ellen White, who is this? 26:12 When they Google, they pick up their phone, 26:14 they Google or they say, "Hey Siri, " 26:16 that they could find out who Ellen White is, 26:19 and Siri is responding, 26:20 but we don't want features right now. 26:22 And so this partnership 26:24 will help us to create more content 26:26 about who she is 26:28 and make her work more accessible. 26:29 We also partner 26:31 with the General Conference Communication Department. 26:33 And also with the North American Division, 26:36 with their social media and big data department also, 26:39 so all of us could work together. 26:41 So whenever someone searches to know more 26:43 about who Adventist are, who Ellen White is, 26:46 whatever it is that our church offers about, 26:48 what the Bible offers, that they can find it. 26:51 That's incredible. 26:52 That's incredible 26:53 because there's a lot of false information out there, 26:55 negative information, 26:57 and if you can really show who she really was, 27:01 that's really a blessing. 27:03 So you've partnered with the Ellen White Estates, 27:07 and so... 27:08 And you optimized, I guess, 27:09 and so now the true picture of her comes up. 27:12 Right, I was giving someone this example earlier 27:15 about someone added me on Facebook, 27:17 well, they thought they added me on Facebook, 27:19 but it was another profile 27:21 that someone else had created about me. 27:24 And so I realized, hey, what do I do about this? 27:26 I need to spend more time on my own page 27:29 so that people can know who I really am, 27:31 and not let someone else tell my story. 27:34 And so that's what we need to start doing, 27:36 start telling our own story, 27:37 so someone else isn't telling that story. 27:39 Wonderful, you're doing a wonderful job. 27:42 Thank you so very much for all that you are doing. 27:44 Praise God, thank you, Dr. Yvonne. 27:46 And thank you for being with us here today. 27:48 You know, your passion comes through, 27:50 your joy in the Lord comes through, 27:54 and we just appreciate you so much. 27:55 So thank you. Praise God, thank you. 27:57 Thank you for joining us. 27:58 I can't believe we've reached the end of another program. 28:01 Join us next time 28:03 'cause it just wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2018-12-30