The Future Of Internet Ministry
by 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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The Power of Opinion
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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
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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 website
You can get discipled online via Skype
Go to church online & find great sermons online
Study and do your theological degree online
Meet a Christian wife/husband online
Get ordained online and become a Reverend
Start an online ministry & get 501c3 status for it
Write a print-on-demand book and also get it on
Kindle and become famous….
 Send money to orphans in Africa by Paypal and
 Have an online bible college and issue diplomas
 Without ever going to a local church.
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The Future Is DEPTH!
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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
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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 Torrent files
 µTorrent
 Audacity (for MP3 files)
Tutorials / Links
 Building Android apps
 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” approach
 Google custom Search Engine + many URLs approach
 Metadata
 Narrowdata only
 MAF-LT: Greenstone + Ibidum (metadata tagger)
 How secure does the repository need to be?
 What are the data entry requirements? Funding?
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Cloud = Other People’s Resources
BlueHost – 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!
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Internet Radio / TV
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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
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Icecast (MP3 server software
for Internet radio)
Shoutcast
Live 365 radio stations
Starting an internet radio
station
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 channel
Ebooks & P.O.D.
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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-ondemand 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
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CreateSpace
(Amazon)
Lightning Source
Xulon Press
(Christian)
List of P.O.D
publishers
MobiPocket Creator
Calibre Ebook
Converter
Webinars, Conferencing & LMS
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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
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Free conference calls
Talking Communities
(Christian)
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.
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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)
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Email & SMS
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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
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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”
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Encrypted USB drives and SD cards
Internet on an intranet, rig up a couple
of 1.5 Tb HDD containing a miniInternet / 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.
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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 via HF
CRMF (Papua New Guinea)
Faith Comes by Hearing
Questions To Ask
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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 Details
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Cybermissions
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.ph
 digitalopportunities@gmail.com
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