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.

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.

LDSMediaTalk.com is a new blog created by several Church employees to share “technology ideas for LDS parents and youth.” While this blog is not an official publication of the Church, these bloggers are experts in their fields and are close to the issues. Anybody interested in how the Church uses and will use technology to fulfill its mission should subscribe to this blog.

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 Church Newsroom has a good article about members of the Church who are using YouTube and other websites to share the Gospel.

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

Elder Russell M. Nelson recently discussed the Church’s new website about the Savior, JesusChrist.lds.org, in a short video clip on YouTube (embedded below.) He said the Internet is a medium which will help the Apostles fulfill their calling to preach the word of God throughout the entire world:

Our responsibility as Apostles is to teach of Jesus Christ to all the world. We have used the website [JesusChrist.lds.org] because that’s the way people get their information now a days. When the Lord called his Twelve Apostles, he called them to send them throughout the world and preach of him. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. In those days they could talk to a few people, here and there. In our time, we’ve had radio, television and now we have the Internet. The Internet is a very excellent way of promoting the word of God. We have confidence in this medium. We know it will appeal to a lot of people. We take seriously the responsibility that we have.

Elder Nelson then quoted the Apostle Paul’s words to the Ephesians — Ephesians 2:19-20
and Ephesians 4:11-13 — and said the website is to help promote a unity of understanding.

So that’s why we have this website. We are to promote unity in our understanding of our faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. The Lord has revealed more in this day and age than He has ever before. We’re the recipients of that knowledge and we’re happy to share it with others. We’ve done it through this website and we’ve employed not only the written word but visual text and some video clips. This should be a great aid to the members of the Church. They can identify segments of this that will be of particular appeal to their family or friends or relatives and just forward it.

We may have a different understanding of Jesus because he personally appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and he taught the Prophet Joseph Smith and so those revelations are very important. There’s only one Jesus Christ and our understanding of him is very rich and we’re very anxious to share that with all human beings.

We’ve written previously about using the Internet to fulfill the three-fold mission of the Church and suggested some ways members can be involved in proclaiming the Gospel online. Elder Nelson’s comments reveal an even larger vision for the use of this technology. I think we can begin to see how the truth of the Lord will actually and realistically “penetrate every continent, visit every clime, sweep every country, and sound in every ear.”

Video:

Source: New Web Site Focuses on Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ

See also: The Wentworth Letter

Tags: russell nelson russellmnelson apostles

This week the Church launched JesusChrist.lds.org, a new website entirely about the Savior Jesus Christ.

The following “badges” can be used on your own blog or website to link to the site. This is a great way to share teachings of the Savior with your readers and visitors.

To use an image from the left, copy the HTML code on the right to your own blog or website:

	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg01" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-01.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm01" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-01-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg02" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-02.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm02" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-02-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg03" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-03.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm03" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-03-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg04" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-04.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm04" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-04-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg07" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-07.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm07" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-07-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg08" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-08.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm08" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-08-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg09" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-09.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm09" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-09-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg10" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-10.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm10" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-10-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsblg11" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-11.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>
	<a href="http://jesuschrist.lds.org/?cid=wpatsbsm11" title="Visit JesusChrist.lds.org"><img src="http://badges.lds.net/jesus-christ-images/jesus-christ-11-small.jpg" alt="Jesus Christ, the Son of God" style="border:none;" /></a>

Source: Link to JesusChrist.lds.org

Tags: jesus christ jesuschrist

The More Good Foundation recently launched two new websites to coincide with the passing of President Hinckley and the calling of President Monson as prophet:

Gordon Hinckley dot com
Thomas Monson dot com

The Church also launched two new official websites about President Hinckley and President Monson:
Gordon B Hinckley dot org
Thomas S Monson dot org

The quick launch of these two Church websites is remarkable because it involved the coordination of almost a dozen teams. (More Good Foundation is just one team.) Kudos to the Church. The quality shows.

Tags: gordon b hinckley thomas s monson mormon prophets churc

Our beloved prophet President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away last night at 7 PM. Since then, we’ve seen a flood of online interest in him, his successor Thomas S. Monson, how leadership and priesthood succession works in the Church, who current members of the Twelve are, and many other questions.

In the coming days, members of the Church have a great opportunity to answer these questions. If you have a blog, it would be helpful to write something on what President Hinckley’s service meant to you, your thoughts on President Monson, your understanding of how priesthood succession works, and related topics. It would also be helpful if you link to additional information like these:

Gordon B. Hinckley (Mormonwiki.com)
Gordon B. Hinckley (Lightplanet.com)
Thomas S. Monson (newsroom.lds.org)
Thomas S. Monson (Mormonwiki.com)
Thomas S. Monson (Lightplanet.com)

You might also participate in forums like Yahoo Answers or our own LDS.net.

If you have a Web cam or digital camera, you might record your thoughts on President Hinckley and post it to YouTube.

Tags: gordon hinckley thomas monson mormon church leadership

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.
…
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.
…
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.
…
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.
…
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.
…
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.)

There were powerful ideas in the Church Newsroom’s recent podcast about the Truth Restored campaign. Elder Quentin L. Cook and Scott Swofford envision a future in which the Internet is used for finding, and missionaries teach and baptize.

The newly redesigned Mormon.org includes a chat feature which connects interested parties with “missionaries and trainers at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.” Brother Swofford said, “A number of baptisms have resulted.”

We previously mentioned that a virtual world like Second Life could be an avenue for sharing the Gospel. Having had some success with the chat feature, it seems the Church may even consider a “virtual mission”:

“We hope to continue to expand both the hours and the scope of that [chat] program to include perhaps a virtual mission at some point where missionaries who might be disqualified for other health-related or other issues can continue to serve as a virtual missionary.” (Scott Swofford)

In a recent Church Newsroom podcast, Scott Swofford, Media Director of the Missionary Department, said new media and the Internet should be used to find people for the full-time missionaries to teach:

“There’s no way missionaries can do what they do now and shoulder the burden of finding. We’re going to have to do the finding using new media. And then, because new media can’t baptize, teach, convert, and testify, we’re going to have to feed that funnel, the product of that funnel, to the missionaries so they can do what they do best. Wouldn’t it be great if my grandson goes…on his mission…and gets to just teach nonstop because media and the Internet have finally picked up their rightful role and are funneling people who want to know.” (Emphasis added.)

Elder Quentin L. Cook said many people will prefer to learn about the Church through the Internet:

“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…. There are a lot of people who are just not going to call a number…. But they will go to the Internet and look into it and we think that’s happening on a significant scale.” (Emphasis added.)

Faithful Church members who share their beliefs online accelerate the Internet’s “rightful role” in finding people for the missionaries to teach.

Source: “Truth Restored” Campaign [mp3]