Subscribe Feed (RSS)Elder Ballard Encourages Use of Internet to Share the Gospel
December 15th, 2007 by Richard K Miller | Filed under Ideas, Member missionary work, Mormon, Online missionary work, Podcasting, Technology, The Church, Videos.If you're new here, read more about the More Good Foundation. We help members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) share their beliefs on the Internet. Learn more about what Mormons believe or talk with Mormons at LDS.net.
Today Elder Ballard spoke at the BYU-Hawaii graduation and urged graduates to use the Internet to share the Gospel. He mentioned blogging, podcasts, Facebook, video-sharing sites, and “people using … search engines to hunt for topics about the Church.” Here are selected portions:
The emergence of New Media is facilitating a world-wide conversation on almost every subject including religion, and nearly everyone can participate.
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Conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches.
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The challenge is that there are too many people participating in conversation about the Church for our Church personnel to converse with and respond to individually. We cannot answer every question, satisfy every inquiry, and respond to every inaccuracy that exists. …some who seek answers want them to come directly from a member of the Church, like each one of you.
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May I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the New Media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including Newsroom at LDS.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church, and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports.
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Others have recorded and posted their testimonies of the Restoration, the teachings of the Book of Mormon, and other gospel subjects on popular video-sharing sites. You, too, can tell your story to nonmembers in this way.
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Use stories and words that they will understand.
Elder Ballard also cited the Indy Books blog, where Bookslinger chronicles his daily missionary work.
I think this will prove to be a landmark talk.
Full transcript: Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church
Press release: Apostle Urges Students to Use New Media
(Thanks to several people who sent me this.)
Knowing that engaging in the on-line conversations is approved, even encouraged should make a big difference. Certainly will make More Good’s work easier, in terms of content and fundraising!
Wonderful news!
Whitney Johnson
http://www.knowyourneighbor.typepad.com
[...] Blog and Know Your Neighbor, which both have many excellent resources and ideas. You can also read a summary of Elder Ballard’s speech, or the full transcript. Do you have your own ideas or experiences on how to share your thoughts on [...]
I absolutely loved reading this talk by Elder Ballard! I hope many many more will become involved with this great work that is happening here online. There is a true spirit that is felt when doing this with our time. I know that the Lord is pleased with the efforts that are being made by so many to talk to people about the gospel online.
I just want to thank those with the More Good Foundation, for everything you all are doing to rally this work, and to be a credible resource for members with a desire ‘to do more good’ through the internet and its amazing potential for success in sharing the Gospel.
tDMg,
Kathryn Skaggs
gVr
Very cool to see an apostle cite these avenues for sharing the gospel. I bet Bookslinger feels great knowing his work has been recognized at the highest levels of the church!
Connor, Actually, it’s kind of scary. Gotta be careful what you say online, you never know who’s going to be reading it.
There have been people from church-owned IP’s from the ldschurch.org domain browsing my blog for a while. (I use a free public tracking service.)
But those could also have been from the public terminals in the SLC Family History Library.
I saw a couple blog posts (at ldswebguy.com and splendidsun.com) about this talk before I read Julie’s post at T&S where she pointed out that my blog was quoted. Yikes!
Actually, it’s kind of scary. Gotta be careful what you say online, you never know who’s going to be reading it.
Indeed. Potential employers, family members, and…. general authorities, apparently!
I’m trying to help follow this advice, too. My wife and I put together this video and we think it can be a great missionary tool. May help to start conversations about the church. Please help me spread it around.
here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CHSVC2nAl8
I don’t have a blog dedicated to promoting the church. I did recently use my business blog in an effort to counter negative press about the church.
Every little bit helps:)
[...] believe or talk with Mormons at LDS.net.On Friday, Elder Ballard spoke at BYU-Idaho graduation and, as he had done previously at BYU-Hawaii, asked graduates to get involved on the Internet: “Every month there are 60 billion searches [...]