The Future Of Internet Ministryby John Edmiston

The BIG Changes…. The Internet has moved from computers to “devices” People want to “own” content not just read it. Billions entering from the developing world Niches: Languages, cultures, local searches, zip

codes Still many low-tech areas / people simplicity Validation online comes before interaction offline Everything will begin online! (Even offline ministry) Social networks integrated with everything online and

offline to create a vast pool of opinion and “mood” Information online, relationships offline Discipleship via real-time interaction / chat

The Immediate Future Currently 1.97 billion Internet users and about 5 billion

mobile phone subscribers and increasing 3G penetration ranging between 87% (Japan) to 4% (Philippines)

Almost universal coverage by 2015 mostly on mobile devices

Africa will open up as fiber-optic cable is rolled out and French & Arabic sites will grow greatly

1 billion plus “Internet new users” to come online as 3G rolls out and as connectivity efforts such as O3B take effect.

FM and even short-wave radio chips in mobile phones may lead to a resurgence of short-wave radio (which is largely in Christian hands) on mobile devices. DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) chip. HUGE gospel opportunity & prayer point

However there will still be a big need for simple technologies for the last, least and lost, and those in very remote areas and for educational computer centers and icafes.

Keep It Simple Most people hate technology but will have to use it

and they don’t want to feel confused, helpless or stupid so keep it simple and helpful.

Billions of new users: High usability / clarity / support Customer service will be a winning factor esp. as new

users and seniors come online. Live chat ( the text chat box on websites) will be very

popular. People want instant interaction with you! Some of the “old will become new” : email, search,

straight text web pages, chat rooms, IM and easy to use download sites etc. You must connect with their Inbox, FB page or Google / Bing (the 3 places they will go to)

Devices Will Dominate Internet now includes many “non-computer” devices 5 billion internet connected devices now,

22 billion by 2020 – will include TVs, cars, phones, e-readers, tablets, computers, peripherals, machine-to-machine connections etc.

Content needs to be able to go from device to device Distributed – same content on many different devices –

format wars for the foreseeable future, need to be able to convert content into many different formats.

USB3.0 and Intel’s new Light Peak technology will enable v. fast data transfer (3 to10 GB/sec +) between devices

Unlocked, free & out-of-copyright content (e.g. Matthew Henry’s commentary) will be preferred in majority world

MegaVoice and other MP3 players for developing nations Solar-powered and easily recharged devices preferred

Language & Location People search on websites within

their own language universe As new areas get connected HUGE

opportunities to be among the first websites in a minority language

Be Unicode / UTF-8 capable Local search: 20%-30%+ of all

searches contain a city or zip code 7% of searches contain a map. Have your zip code, address and

MapQuest info on your main index page

Join local social networks and get a “feel” for your city /urban networks

Relate to GPS equipped devices!!

Top Ten Internet Languages

The importance of local search

Small business and local search

Local search statistics

The Power of Opinion Social networks, ratings & reviews will define credibility:

“93 of your friends like Bro. Joe’s Ministry”. People validate a product / person /doctrine online first Recommendations Website Purchase / Action Social network Content Site Response / Form Under-promise and over-deliver: meet expectations so

you always get 4 star to 5 star ratings Avoid failure /disappointment, do not launch until ready.

One disappointed person can blog/tweet/FB you into oblivion.

Build a brand, a following, people who will blog, tweet and FB message about you. Create passionate fans of your ministry and get them to post rave reviews.

Online Before Offline Things begin ONLINE before they become OFFLINE People search online then buy locally. The decision of

what to buy (including church) is made on the Internet

People search for a church, bible college, Christian concert online before actually attending – the process begins online

Recruitment happens via Facebook and social networks Doctrinal questions & answers to personal problems

are now investigated online FIRST before asking the pastor,

The Internet is no longer a tool which is used to increase offline “brick and mortar” ministries, instead it is the ocean in which all ministry (both online and offline) must either sink or swim.

The Internet Experience…You can get saved online at a websiteYou can get discipled online via SkypeGo to church online & find great sermons onlineStudy and do your theological degree onlineMeet a Christian wife/husband onlineGet ordained online and become a ReverendStart an online ministry & get 501c3 status for itWrite a print-on-demand book and also get it on

Kindle and become famous….Send money to orphans in Africa by Paypal andHave an online bible college and issue diplomasWithout ever going to a local church.

The Future Is DEPTH!

The Internet presents deep, specialized information well and can supplement Church by tackling sensitive, personal, controversial or highly theological topics.

The Internet will provide the solid content side of discipleship (Truth) while the Church provides the affective and relational / cultural context (Love / Grace)

Online education for church members (say via Moodle) Leadership & stewardship training modules online “Ask the pastor” online forums using Simple Machines

Forum Discipleship curriculum that people move through at

their own pace in easy, ordered stages Specialized prayer communities online Church FAQ – the 100 most asked questions (Cain's wife

etc)

Downloads For Devices Think DOWNLOADS not pages Think PRODUCTS not donations Turn articles into EBOOKS Turn blogs into MP3s / Podcasts Transfer-ability / Portability Viral / Interesting / Useful Multi-platform / Great Content Use file-sharing culture for God Follow-up a contact with a link to

a download, even on FB PRC / Kindle, Mobi, Android applications PDF, PowerPoints, zipped HTML Torrents, Videos Use other people’s bandwidth

Useful Programs How to create Torren

t files µTorrent Audacity (for MP3 file

s)

Tutorials / Links Building Android app

s

Android developers guide

W3schools How to create an

iPhone web app

Repositories Many Christian organizations are trying to create

content repositories.MOAD – “Mother Of All Databases” approach“Let’s just link all the databases together” approachGoogle custom Search Engine + many URLs

approachMetadataNarrowdata onlyMAF-LT: Greenstone + Ibidum (metadata tagger)How secure does the repository need to be?What are the data entry requirements? Funding?

Cloud = Other People’s ResourcesBlueHost – unlimited bandwidth and storage for

$83 per year (makes $ by law of averages)Getting lots of into back from the field –

OpenOffice to a free Wordpress blog with one click , put blog URLs in Google Custom Search Engine of your own. Now all your testimonies / reports are searchable. Costs nothing, easy for non-techie partners to publish material and for the org. to find it. Develop multi-language teaching resources etc.

Host your media on YouTube, iTunes, or whoever else will give you free space and run the media server - and just link to it!

Internet Radio / TV The success of Hulu, YouTube,

Live 365 etc. Internet radio should equal

conventional radio in Nth. America by 2016: stats here

IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is beginning to get some traction

Specialized programming is the key – offer something that generic bland local commercial radio does not offer but which still has fans

Get listed in the specialized search engines, directories, Itunes, YouTube etc

Create a fan page on FB for your content

Icecast (MP3 server software for Internet radio)

Shoutcast Live 365 radio stations Starting an internet radio s

tation iTunes podcasts, How to submit a podcast

to iTunes Podcast Alley Livestream.com (launch

your own free Internet TV channel)

Any Video Convertor Free Creating a YouTube channe

l

Ebooks & P.O.D. Ebook sales up 200%+ in 2010 from

1.5% to 5% of market, start of take-off in adoption Next Big Thing….

Turn your articles into PDF file ebooks and thus into products

Hard copy format via a print-on-demand publisher

Order goes straight to the print-on- demand publisher who then sends the book out to the customer (as little as one copy) , you don’t have to worry about inventory, shipping etc. Don’t have to go through mainline publisher editorial acceptance/ rejection process

Often 30% author royalty Great for manuals/ textbooks/ course

material/ seminars and specialized theological / missiological topics

CreateSpace (Amazon)

Lightning Source

Xulon Press (Christian)

List of P.O.D publishers

MobiPocket Creator

Calibre Ebook Converter

Webinars, Conferencing & LMS Webinars are now a standard

industry training tool and bandwidth is now sufficient for many end-users to benefit from them.

Much more user-friendly and affordable

Desktop sharing of files, PowerPoints etc.

Huge potential for personal evangelism, discipleship, apologetics, question and answer format etc.

Leadership meetings and even church board meetings!

Project presentations & fundraising

Free conference calls Talking Communities (C

hristian) GoToMeeting Microsoft Live Meeting WebEx Moodle (LMS w.

plugins) DEScribe (simple LMS)

Chatty Discipleship Chat/ Group Chat/ Instant

messaging / Skype is becoming a preferred tool for serious discipleship issues and discussions

Combine with Google docs that can be edited collaboratively as they I.M.

Small group size is good for team meetings, prayer groups, discipleship groups

Some debate about security but seems generally moderate to OK.

Skype Oovoo (video chat) Google docs Pidgin (Instant messaging) Digsby (I.M.) Miranda (I.M.) Meebo (web based I.M.) Groupboard (web-based

free group chat plus whiteboard for your website or server)

Chat4Support (commercial) StrongDC++ (live chat +

files)

Email & SMS Most of the Next Billion will

start by using: a) email and b) SMS text especially on smartphones at least until the web surfing experience improves.

We must move from the known to the unknown and deliver solutions that they can intuitively use (at first)

A revival of simple email based solutions e.g email based distance education (e.g. 1990s)

Email to text (and vice versa) as a follow-up tool

Egroups / lists / discussions PDF & HTML attachments

Gammu SMS gateway (free)

Text Magic (email to SMS) Mailman (email list

manager) MailChimp.com Email templates in Gmail HTML Emails with CSS Creating HTML email PDF Creator

“Last Mile Technologies” Encrypted USB drives and SD cards Internet on an intranet, rig up a

couple of 1.5 Tb HDD containing a mini-Internet / document library to a server in a computer center

Thin clients in a computer center running via LTSP

Store and forward email via ham radio (HF radio)

Asynchronous technologies – lists, discussion boards, SimpleMachines

Poodle – portable moodle and other portable apps

Harvestime “bible college in a box” - instant institute.

Poodle TrueCrypt

USB encryption MAF products PortableApps.com LTSP Thin client icafes Harvestime (2 yr bible

college) Simple Machines Forum Email Relay Store and forward email v

ia HF CRMF (Papua New Guinea

) Faith Comes by Hearing

Questions To Ask Which platforms can we be on and excel in?

(web, mobile, internet radio, IPTV…) What devices can we be on? Which formats? What languages can we be in? Which niches can we occupy? How can we reach the billions of new users? How can we create simple, positive, un-confusing user

experiences and give world-class real-time support? Which social networks should we be part of? How can we “amaze” these social networks? What are our downloads / products? Where are our discipleship conversations happening? How can we multiply / leverage our very best content? Who are we leaving out? (That we can reasonably

include...)

Contact DetailsCybermissions John Edmiston (Chairman/CEO)www.cybermissions.org (Internet evangelism

etc)www.globalchristians.org (bible training)www.phronema.org (search engines)www.newtestamentprayer.org (prayer)www.biblicaleq.com (counseling)Based in Carson CA johned@aibi.phdigitalopportunities@gmail.com