Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Using Social Media to reach the unreachable in a "Facebook" age...Or how to use Facebook and twitter for the church in a post christian Era.

People have tried to get me to shut up on Facebook....no, really. I've had well meaning christians tell me, "Quiet down bro, turn it down a notch, Facebook isn't the medium for airing your social, political, religious views"
Bunk...and I'll tell you why.
I began posting scriptures straight out of the bible on Facebook about a year ago, (Late 2009). Because of that I've had people call me "Jesus Boy", and a whole plethora of more unpleasant names in Facebook right in front of everyone to see.
I know I'm having an impact on FB Twitter because a friend of mine after 15 years of being an atheist began communicating with me on FB asking me questions about scripture, Faith, and that he wanted to believe but wasn't quite sure how. So I began a dialog with (Grady, not his real name), and he asked me questions about sax playing, (he was a sax player at one time), and was a big fan of the Christian Rock Band I used to play in which was Steve Taylor and Some Band back in the 80's.
You see, Grady wanted to believe but had bought into the worlds lie that Jesus, God, and christians were just a way for men to make themselves feel better and ease their guilt. Grady kept telling me as we debated back and forth "Stay with me, I really want to believe", so I did just that.
After about two months of debating, arguing, throwing scriptures back and forth, (Grady knew the bible well), He started coming around and now says he's a believing Christian! Wow! I never thought I'd lead someone to Jesus Christ on Facebook but there it is! live and in Living color.
Back to my well intentioned friends that try to get me to "pipe down" the Rhetoric as they call it, God can use anything, even Facebook or Twitter to reach those that will never step foot in a church because they were given a horrible church upbringing, maybe had parents that were well meaning but a bit authoritarian about church, or perhaps had seen hypocritical examples of Christians early on. But Thanks be to God through His Son Jesus that we can use Facebook, Myspace, Twitter to reach those people that may never see the Gospel any other way. What a fantastic tool!
I have to say that Humor interjected everyday as well as scriptures, viewpoints, and since I'm a Musician, I post a lot of music videos and pictures from recent performances which draw people in that have the same likes I do. I also like to use the personal touch posting events In my daily life in a humorus way so as to lighten things up a bit and let people see that I'm a real person not some right wing untouchable person that can't relate to the human experience. I let people see my day to day struggles and frailties as well.
But Thank God for Facebook and Twitter and Youtube that can be used to reach the unreachable with the good news!
And , as always, remember, I'm just the Sax Player. Signing off. D.T.

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