There are stories of people losing weight, rehabilitating after a car accident, recovering from knee surgery, and beating depression. Think of a website like this for Mormons to share what the Gospel has done for their lives. (Stories about the Word of Wisdom would dovetail.)

Elder Richard G. Hinckley’s invitation could provide a starting place:

I invite each of you, young or old, to dedicate a small notebook to this theme. Write at the top of the first page the words “What my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints means to me.” Then briefly list those things that come to mind. Over time, additional thoughts will come, which you can add to your list. Soon you will have a growing booklet that will fill you with gratitude and appreciation for your membership in the Lord’s Church. (Repentance, a Blessing of Membership)

Perhaps you’ll feel comfortable sharing some of the items in your notebook publicly. If so, why not start a blog or create a YouTube video? Make it real. Be yourself.

I’m not sure why 24 Hour Fitness chose “12 million”, but, coincidentally, that’s roughly the number of Mormons in the world.

http://imapc.lifewithoutwalls.com/

If there were something like this for Mormons, would people use it? What question or starting point would evoke the most and best responses? (And the definition of “best” is open for discussion.)

The Internet has made it easier to learn about the Gospel, but it’s also changed our view of authority and caused us to need a new set of skills.

How do we discern between sources?
Who are the authorities?
What do we do when the prophets are silent on an issue?

How can New Media tools enhance learning in seminary, Institute, and Sunday school?

President Benson said, “The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to ’sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out [His] elect.’ (Moses 7:62.) This sacred volume of scripture needs to become more central in our preaching, our teaching, and our missionary work.”

One way we could encourage friends of other faiths to read and experiment on the Book of Mormon is to write a book review on sites like Amazon.com. Do a simple search for “Book of Mormon”, select one of the many editions of the Book of Mormon, then rate it and and write a review about it. Explain an experience that’s occurred when you read the Book of Mormon. I’ve added this to our (non-comprehensive) list of ways to share the Gospel online.

Bookslinger uses his blog to write about ways he is sharing the Book of Mormon in person.

How can we better share the Book of Mormon through the New Media?

The students created two videos, below, to explain. This quote from student Taylor Rose summarizes it well:

Our audience isn’t just this little Provo bubble any more. We actually have the whole world as our audience. People from anywhere can see the content we are creating and we can create something people will be interested in everywhere…. We can tell who we are. We can tell our story.

We can invite them into our lives, show them how we view things, and show them how we make decisions. I think this is an excellent opportunity to show people who we really are.

Dana King serves as a Church public affairs representative in her hometown of St. Louis, MO. When her local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, launched a multi-faith religion blog, Dana decided to get involved. She writes about her Mormon faith while her local colleagues write about their Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant faiths.

I see several positive aspects:

• This encourages greater interfaith understanding, with people you might actually see or know in your community.
• Because the blog is operated by the local newspaper, it already has an audience and is marketed and advertised.
• As local search improves, what Dana writes is increasingly likely to be found by an investigator in her area.

I haven’t heard of anyone being called to be a blogger, but this is pretty close. Not that Dana was asked to be a blogger, she simply decided to get involved in this good cause “of [her] own free will”.

Importantly, Dana doesn’t presume to speak for the Church; she simply speaks as an adherent to the faith.

What if a public affairs representative in every community encouraged the local newspaper to start a multi-faith religion blog and began writing about the restored gospel?

P.S. Dana King also blogs for Whitney Johnson’s Know Your Neighbor, which has resources for public affairs representatives.

Our own Heather Newell has an article in Mormon Times about usage of the word “Mormon”. As the head moderator at LDS.net, she occasionally receives emails from Church members concerned with our usage of words that persons of other faith use:

I receive emails expressing concern about using the word Mormon, especially using the term Mormon Church. As members of the church, we all know who we are, what we believe, and that this is Jesus Christ’s Church. Many of us understand the style guide set forth by the church to the media. But not everyone else does.
…
Even though I’m an active, daily participant in online conversation about the church, in the past I too have struggled with embracing the word Mormon. I want to share the insights I have gathered which have helped me respectfully say, “I am a Mormon.”

Read more: We Are Mormon at MormonTimes.com

For his religion class this semester, Richard Holzapfel changed his usual scripture log assignment to an online blogging assignment where students write their thoughts and feelings on gospel subjects.
…
Holzapfel said he and students have already seen positive results, engaging in conversations about the gospel with people all over the world.

Read more: Homework and Missionary Work Come Together on Student Blogs

Via ldsmediatalk.com

A recent BYU Daily Universe article explains that Dr. Richard Holzapfel is encouraging gospel blogging by making it part of the curriculum. In BYU religion classes, it’s common to be asked to keep a private study journal throughout the semester. By moving the assignment online, the study journal

• may benefit a much larger audience than just the student;
• may be the catalyst for conversations about the Church;
• gives readers a glimpse into the life of a real member of the Church; and
• lives beyond the end of the semester*, whether the student continues to add to it or not.

Students may take the assignment more seriously — avoiding fluff and cliches that might pass with the grader — since the real world is reading.

Authenticity is paramount:

Holzapfel said he urges students to make their blogs authentic and said they must include “real things about real life.”

“If the blogs are preachy, no one will read them,” he said. (Student Blogging Spreads Church Globally)

Similarly, online journal services like LDSJournal.com or Pyxlin.com could offer a “Share this Paragraph” button in their private journals, so Church members can share without much extra effort.

By the way, Professor Holzapfel practices what he preaches and has begun blogging on the BYU Religious Studies website:

Dr. Richard Holzapfel’s blog

Here is a 3-minute video demonstrating Woopra on MormonWiki.com:

This strikes me as the online equivalent of the store clerk who asks, “Can I help you find anything?” You usually answer, “No, I’m just looking around.”

Elder Cook has touted privacy as one of the great benefits of learning about the gospel online:

“There are a lot of people today who would like to know more about our faith but they are concerned about having their privacy invaded. They want to look at things in their own time and in their own way. They do not want to feel like they have any pressure…. We feel that the Internet and the privacy that it affords people is a wonderful way to do that….” (Internet to find, Missionaries to Teach)

I suspect that most people will prefer not to be interrupted while searching for information about the Church. However, I wonder if a small handful of people would appreciate being offered some help?

In celebration of its 10 year anniversary, Google has released a tool for searching its oldest search index, from 2001. A search for “Mormon beliefs” or “Mormon missionaries” returned a very different set of results 7 years ago.

Due to the efforts of the Church and many Church members, people looking for information about Mormonism can now expect to find a wide variety of stories, testimonies, and experiences from Mormons living their faith.

And there’s still more to do.

I am ready to put a link to the church under “what I believe” on my About page, and to swear less (never, I think) online than I do in real life. I talk about our family reunions and about odd things that occur to me in church. I post videos of my seven-year old practicing her primary talks. But I’m not sure I’m the best example.

Sometimes I worry: will people judge the church by my words and actions…? Will they think I’m hypocritical for drinking Mountain Dew and oppressed because sometimes I hate being a mother?

Is this a problem?

I don’t think so. Jane’s authenticity should be considered a strength, not a weakness. Our friends of other faiths aren’t anxious to discover that all Mormons are alike. I think they’d be glad to discover there’s a Mormon out there just like them, with the same background, education, tastes in food, skin color, and hair color. Maybe they’re even from the same area. (Maybe there’s a Mormon out there for everyone!)

In the comments below Jane’s post, several women say that Elder Ballard’s talk inspired them to start blogs.

Sharing the Gospel online doesn’t need to mean posting your testimony on YouTube or necessarily sharing your testimony, in the traditional sense, at all. While speaking in Washington, D.C., Elder Ballard explained it this way:

Clearly, in this context I am not talking about declaring your testimony of faith in the traditional sense. Naturally, you can and should do that where the setting is appropriate and the audience is receptive, such as a church meeting. Rather, I am talking about taking part in everyday conversations in an unforced way, where your values and your religious beliefs will arise naturally. No one likes to have religion thrust down their throats. Instead, allow people to see how your beliefs lift and shape your life for the better.

• How does the gospel help you as a parent engage with your teens?
• How do your values encourage you to participate in civic affairs?
• How has your experience as a home or visiting teacher enlarged your compassion or care for the sick and needy?
• How has your Church life helped you to avoid such things as pornography and immorality?
• How have family councils or home evenings helped you resolve differences of opinion with members of your family?
• How has your experience in speaking in church helped you address large public groups?
• Where did you learn to respect and not to criticize other faiths?
• And so on.

Customized for Salt Lake City metro area, US

Google can determine — by my IP address — that I am searching from a location near Salt Lake City and attempts to make the search results more relevant to my location.

When our friends of other faiths look for information about our faith, Google may present them with local search results. Perhaps this might include a blog post from a member in their city or a picture of the temple in their area.

This is good news!

1. Instead of feeling discouraged, thinking “Why should I blog? It could never make a difference,” online member missionaries should understand that by sharing authentic, local experiences, their blog may be preferred over a more general source.

2. If a searcher discovers the blog of a local Church member and becomes interested in the Church, the member can be involved in the teaching process with the full-time missionaries.

If you have a blog or website, consider writing about the Church in your area. Here are some example titles you might use:

• “What it’s like to grow up as a Mormon in Las Vegas, NV”
• “How I feel when I visit the Las Vegas Mormon Temple”
• “Where can I visit a Mormon chapel in Las Vegas, NV? What will it be like?”
• “Why I was a Mormon missionary in Tulsa, Oklahoma”

If you have a blog, you can participate in a Testimony Tag by
1. Creating a blog post about a Gospel topic
2. Linking to another positive website or resource about the Church
3. Encouraging (”tagging”) your friends to do the same

For more information, read Testimony Tag.

Thanks to David for sending this in. I thought this was a great idea.

By the way, for an example of being a missionary online, see Matt Asay’s post “Five things you don’t know about me”. In the course of explaining five things about himself to a business and technical audience, he mentioned both his high school seminary class and his mission to France. He wasn’t preachy; he simply mentioned elements of his beliefs and practices that were a part of his life. This sort of transparency and openness helps build bridges and dispel myths about the Church.

Last week we attended the FAIR Conference. Among my favorite talks were the conference opener by Mike Ash and the conference closer by Dan Peterson.

Mike Ash presented concepts from his new book, Shaken Faith Syndrome. He explained the idea of “inoculation” — introducing members to doctrinal or historical points that might be unsettling if received from unfaithful sources which intend to shock or confuse. For example, we might better inoculate Church members by linking to the relevant FAIR Wiki article on Joseph Smith and polygamy when discussing Joseph Smith or polygamy.

Dan Peterson spoke of softening and broadening the field of apologetics. Apologetics is meant to provide plausibility for faith, not prove anything. We need not debate. If our faith is rational, or based in things we consider plausible, the Spirit can testify of truths. Apologetics can help provide this plausibility, for those who want it, by clearing the thorns so the seeds of faith can grow.

Dan’s vision for broadened apologetics is making the Gospel more “attractive” (or more remarkable) by sharing our experiences, telling our stories, and encouraging others to experiment for themselves. This kind of sharing of beliefs is central to the mission of the More Good Foundation and seems to be what Elder Ballard has asked for.

Earlier this year, Dave Keller suggested that Church members who participate on the Internet should engage in a “vigorous self study program” so they’re prepared to discuss any issue that might arise online. Here I see an interesting convergence: Dan and Dave seem to be implying, respectively, that the apologist and the online member missionary ought to be more like each other.

See also: Dan Peterson on Humble Apologetics at MormonTimes.com.

Speaking of websites launched by Church employees, Brian Hansbrow has recently launched LDSTeacher.com. LDSTeacher.com is a social network with the goal of “improving teaching and learning in the … Church.”

At LDSTeacher.com you can discuss such topics as how to invite the Spirit into lessons, how to increase student participation, and how to prepare to teach. In a Church with no paid ministry, teachers may find these resources helpful.

Participants include the following individuals, as well as occasional guests:

• Larry Richman, LDS.org Product Manager
• Joel Dehlin, Church CIO
• David Nielson, Managing Director, Church Audiovisual Dept
• David Frischknecht, Managing Director, Church Curriculum Dept

A recent MormonTimes.com article quoted Larry Richman relative to the launch of this new site:

Richman said the principal writers for LDSMediaTalk.com will glean technology information useful to families based on each author’s area of expertise. The curriculum director will focus on teaching the gospel. The audiovisual director will focus on Hollywood, movie-watching and music. The CIO will dig into technology issues. “I’m somewhere in the middle of all of those,” Richman said.

The article includes references to MormonHunnies, the three Mormon college students who’ve shared their beliefs on YouTube, and youth in Las Vegas who recorded their testimonies at Youth Conference.

“Speak on what you know,” Las Vegas youth leader West Allen says. “Make it personal. They [members] should share how the Church or the gospel has personally benefitted them and their families.”

Source: Mormons Make Their Voices Heard — Digitally

• Youth can tell their friends about the video and link to it from Facebook or MySpace pages.
• Parents can share the video with their co-workers and friends of other faiths. It may be less intimidating, for giver and receiver, to share a video of one’s son or daughter.
• The public at large can see what Mormon youth are like.
• Youth gain experience being missionaries, before serving full-time missions.
• When they grow up, youth can look back and recall the beliefs they formed while young.

Read more: Youth answer Elder Ballard’s challenge with video
Watch video: Youths in Las Vegas record testimonies

YouTube is the 3rd most visited website in the world and another avenue for sharing the Gospel. The Church has published several dozen videos on YouTube, as have many faithful members. Here is an overview:

• Videos from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Videos from the More Good Foundation, including testimonies and conversion stories
• Videos from FAIR, including answers to many questions about our beliefs
• YouTube user lds9999 has created many positive videos about our faith, including a video for each of the 125 temples. If you have a blog or a website, why not find the video for your temple and embed it on your site? This will help more people find it when looking for information about the temple.
• YouTube user believingldsmormon has created about a dozen videos, including facts and figures about the Mormon church and an explanation about garments. He is addressing topics for which there is public interest. (He’s “going where the people are.”)
• YouTube user SethAdamSmith has posted many good videos. He also campaigned for other YouTube users to post their testimonies online.
• Jean Kapenda, a convert from the Congo who joined the Church in Switzerland, video taped his conversion story and made it available on YouTube.
• And there are several other YouTube users who address Gospel topics by simply speaking into the camera. No one could accuse mormonhunnies or notAbadLookinMormon of being scripted or unreal.

If you have a video camera, or a laptop computer with a built-in web cam, why not record yourself and share it online? You could share your conversion story, your testimony of a particular Gospel principle, or how the Gospel affects your day-to-day living.