INTERNET EVANGELISM AND ITS OPPORTUNITIES

 

THE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH OF THE INTERNET
 
The growth of the Internet has been phenomenal. It took 38 years for radio to reach 50 million listeners in the world, and 13 years for TV to reach that amount. But the Internet reached 50 million users in only 4 years. By mid 2005, only 11 years after the launch of the World Wide Web Consortium in 1994, there were already One Billion users of the Internet on planet Earth. Five year later at the end of 2010, Internet usage had grow to over Two Billion users world-wide.
Amazingly, by 2010 over 75% of Americans (around 204 million) were using the Internet, with over 60% of households having Internet access. In Scandanavia, home usage rates are even higher. The explosive growth of the Web provides the Body of Christ with a profound opportunity to use this new media as a means of communicating God’s message of love and truth to the masses of people throughout the world. The potential for communicating the gospel message over the World Wide Web is truly awesome. And distance is no hindrance. It is as easy to reach a web surfer in Mongolia as it is to reach a web surfer in Malibu, California. And the cost is exactly the same!
POPULARITY OF RELIGION ON THE INTERNET
A research study released by Reuters News Service, found that “more adult Americans use the internet for religious purposes than for gambling, banking or trading stocks.”  The survey found that “each day, more than 3 million U.S. adults find religious information online.” 
The researchers discovered that most of the users were involved in serious research rather than chat room participation. In fact, 65% of these 3 million daily adults were searching for religious reference material, 50% were looking for information on other faiths, and 25% were seeking spiritual counseling advice. The study found that those most active online were also most active in their local congregations, with 86% reporting that they prayed or meditated every day. The survey indicates a tremendous potential for using the Internet to communicate serious doctrinal truths. It’s a fact, when most people now look for information, they no longer go to a library or book store-- they go to the Internet. And this is where God’s profound truth needs to be presented.
THE FOURTH NEW MEDIA AND ITS GLOBAL POTENTIAL
Among Evangelical denominations, Seventh-day Adventists were pioneers in the use of mass media to fulfil the Great Commission. The work began with James White using the print media, and developed into an extensive world-wide publishing operation. Radio was introduced by the Voice of Prophecy, soon followed by The Quiet Hour, Amazing Facts, and Adventist World Radio (AWR). Then came the television ministries of Faith For Today, It Is Written, 3ABN, and now the Hope Channel.
In the last five years there has been an incredible explosion of the Internet as a 4th media to communicate information to the masses. This new media has the ability to reach “into all the world”, by literally reaching into every home having a computer with Internet access or TV with a web-access box. Through the Internet, the gospel and prophetic message can potentially reach every cell phone with web access, can reach every airplane seat with wi-fi access, and can reach every laptop with mobile-connection or hot-spot access. The message can be communicated 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, in every language and to every nation & culture, propagating the crucial Bible truths desperately needed by the world as we enter into the final generation.
AdventWeb believes that the pioneering spirit of the Body of Christ must now be directed to take advantage of this new media that has a tremendous potential for effective and low-cost global evangelism.

However, Journalists for Christ (JFC), a Christian media group based in Nigeria has urged Christians to effectively use the Internet for evangelism. The group made the call in a statement signed by its Administrative officer, Dayo Emmanuel to mark the World Internet Evangelism Day held recently. It noted that the growth in Internet use in the country offers many opportunities to reach out especially to the youth. “More than ever before, we have to be interested in utilizing the enormous opportunities which the Internet offers us to reach unbelievers who need answers to many questions about the truth of the gospel. “For us to use the Internet for evangelism, we must know enough about how it works and what is possible through the technology that has reduced the world to a global village” JFC stated. The media group implored Church and Ministry leaders to incorporate the use of internet into their evangelism strategy to reach more people. “If we are to fulfill the injunction to take the gospel to the end of the earth, we have no choice but to improve on the use of the Internet. “It is not enough to have websites like many Churches presently have, but it must have enough interactive features to win souls. No matter our reservation for the negative part of the Internet, the truth is that we must wake up to the reality that it is a tool we cannot ignore",  the journalists stated

Research materials culled from WACC and adventweb.org

A Nigerian, Who At 15 Emerges World’s Youngest Female Pilot

A Nigerian, Kimberly Anyadike, a graduate of the After-School Programmes of the Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM), Compton, California, United States, earned her place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest female to fly in a private plane from coast to coast. Cyber Africa writes on this achievement even as the whole world stand still for her.

A Nigerian female teenager, Kimberly Anyadike, age 15 became the toast of the world when she did what no one in her age has ever done before. At an age when many will either be carried away by peer pressure or still be trying to come to terms with what they really want to become in life, this young Nigerian is already a pilot and has single-handedly flew an airplane.

Former President Bill Clinton of the United States was moved by her achievement and personally wrote to her a congratulatory message, describing her as “an exceptional young person with a bright future. He said what Kimberly did was extraordinary and served as a clear indication that she is an outstanding individual. What makes her feat a rare one is that at 15, she was already a pilot.

Clinton’s congratulatory message to Kimberly reads: “Dear Kimberly, I heard that you recently became the youngest African-American female to complete a cross-country flight. Congratulations!

I’m so glad that Tomorrow Aeronautical Museum offered a venue for you to demonstrate your bravery and achieve your goals. What you did was extraordinary, and it served as a clear indication of the outstanding individual you are becoming.

You are an exceptional young person with a bright future, and you should always seize opportunities to do inspiring things.

With hard-work, persistence, and focus, you can accomplish so much – I hope you will carry this lesson with you as you grow older.

I send my best wishes for success and happiness in all you do.”

Because of her American citizenship, though of Nigerian parenthood, she was given a title of “the youngest African-American female to fly in a private airplane from coast-to-coast.” She piloted a single-engine red-tail four-seater Cessna 172 airplane in the United States from Compton, California to Newport News, Virginia and back.

Kimberly who initially wanted to become a cardiovascular surgeon single-handedly flew the plane without a serious technical support, except that she was accompanied by a safety and commercial pilot, Ronell Norman and Tuskegee-trained airman, Levi Thornhill.

Precisely in 2008, Kimberly’s elder sister, Kelly, had set a world record as “the youngest African-American female to go solo in four different fixed-wing aircraft on the same day.” At that time, she was 16 years old. Kelly and Kimberly were inspired and sponsored by the Tuskegee Airmen, who run the Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM) programme.

The Tuskegee Airmen are an elite group of black pilots, who flew missions during World War II, when the United States Air Force was racially segregated. They operate a programme called Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM), an organisation which provides scholarships and after-school programmes for aspiring young pilots. The organisation encourages young people involvement in aviation as an alternative to drugs, gang violence and other self-destructive activities. While TAM advocates build and woo young talents to the aviation industry, through its programme, the organisation also provides the elementary, middle, and high school students with the opportunity to work one-on-one with qualified tutors, mentors and aviation staff for at least five days per week.
However, to qualify and maintain a continued stay on the programme, it is required that students maintain above average grades and stay out of trouble.

TAM in a statement about its programme said: “We have concluded that their newfound interest in aviation and relevant historical events improves their overall academic performance as well as their behaviour in school.”

In its few years of existence, the TAM had already set nine world records, some of which include those won by Jonathan Strickland, Breean Farfan, Jimmy Haywood, and Kenny Royhave, who at one time or the other had set world record as young pilots. The outstanding performance of these TAM graduates bore an eloquent testimony to what has been described as “the positive results of the life-changing programmes” offered by Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum. And all were said to have stayed focused and inspired with the help of The Tuskegee Airmen.

According to Kimberly she said she hoped her accomplishments inspire other young people. “The sky is no longer the limit,” Kimberly said.

The Anyadike sisters’ desire to fly was inspired by the achievements of Mae Jemison, the first African American female to travel in space and Bessie Coleman, the first African-American airline pilot.