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At Have you born your testimony on YouTube yet? Jane shares a concern about sharing the Gospel online:

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.

I recently did a Google search and saw the following notice above the search results:

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”