My Thoughts
Hi, I’m Vince and welcome to “The Disciplers”, my portfolio of godly wisdom.
Ever since I started in my full time ministry, I always desire to share God’s goodness to people whom I minister, and even to those people whom I do not know. God has inputed in me lots of things in my mind to share it to people who may need it in proper time. So I thought of writing it documenting all those things.
I am not a writer by profession but documenting things that God gave me is worth writing, compiling and sharing. Furthermore, writing my own pastoral experiences might help other pastors when they are down and even in times of rejoicing.
Pastoral work is a noble work. Some times we feel down because of Church problems, false accussations, and insults. In contrast to what other websites have been publishing as recoveries from “Church Abusers” which focuses on negative things against the Church and Pastors, The Disciplers want to focus on things that helps and edify workers of the Lord.
Living a life with the focus in Christ and desire to become a blessing to other people is a life worth living. A life filled with hope, joy and peace is a life worth grasping. The Disciplers does not and will not focus on negative things but on positive things that edify, encourage and builds spiritual lives.
And I will use the internet to spread the good news.
How Exactly Can We Use the Internet To Spread The Good News
There are several avenues that you can use the net for your ministry.
Correspondence – Email is the most common use of the internet in the ministry. And perhaps this is one of the most personal thing that we can do in our days now to communicate with our friends. The biggest advantage of our age now in comparison before is the time of delivery. Emails can be read only after splits of seconds after sending it.
In addition, with the development of Chat Messengers and video phones like Skype and Yahoo Messenger, you can instantly have a meeting or a forum live over the net.
Blogging – Email is a good form of communication while blogging is more like journaling over the net. This has been a great tool in reaching people with interactivity and frequent and continous updating.
Website – This is a more formal internet publishing than blogging. However, today, with the invention of Blogger of Google and WordPress, blogging and website making is almost the same now. Blogs can be more like a website.
On the other hand, almost all websites now have a blog in itself.
Whether, you are using a blog or a website your goal is the same, to reach a wider group of people and publish your work.
Why Have A Website?
Perhaps some of you are asking, why have a website? Is it really necessary for our ministry? Is it really helpful?
To answer these questions, we need to look and define our world today. This is the only way to explain its importance.
Our world today is a world of information and technology. Millions and millions of people now uses the internet to get tons and tons of information each day. Millions and millions of people are engage in chatting and millions and millions of people are engage in social networks like Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Christianster, etc. And millions of millions of people look for information each day.
Yes, there are millions and millions of people without Christ who uses the net. Our generation today are the solid users of the internet. Facebook alone has about 90 million registered users and only a handful of those were Christians.
Websites and blogs can be a good medium to cater users of the internet. Just try to look at this in this way. Websites and blogs are like “virtual offices” which has about 90 million prospect audience, people seeking for information, people who needs spiritual encouragement, and people who needs the Lord.
Here are some of the benefits of having a website:
- Most members (especially those in the US and Europe) have internet connections in their own homes and utilizes it as tool of knowledge. Having a blog or website can help those people to reach them in those terms.
- Blogs and Websites can be a good tool in presenting your Church and your Ministries to the world, fully automated, 24/7.M
- Blogs and Websites can be a good medium of communication. It can remind people of your focus of your Church or Ministry. There is now “Shout Tool” for websites and blogs. And you can also help encourage your audience to browse godly sites instead of browsing filthy sites.
- You and your ministry have a potential of millions and millions of readers. Today, we can now integrate our websites and blogs to other social networks like facebook. Not to mention the raw traffic coming from searches in the internet.
- Can help your Church and ministry raise funds for your projects. I am not simply talking about asking money, I am talking of some other ways of monetizing your website like selling something to support Mission and Outreaches of your Church, or helping sick people in the hospital, and most importantly paying for your expense in your internet connection and website host.
- Your website and blog can give you a lot of friends and connections. Within the first few months when I decided to make my website, I have increased my friend list to over 100%. I made friends with other pastors from other places, to younger generation who are potential leaders, and even to those who are not engage to Church.
In the end, I cannot say if having a website is really necessary for you, but it can definitely give you a good deal of benefits.
How Do You Make A Ministry or A Church Based Website?
Maybe you are wondering the “how” of making blog or website for your Church and Ministry. Well, I have seen Ministry and Church websites that really looks good. But what was lacking is the exact presentation. Lots of them have really nice graphics and have very nice media presentations, but they lack content and does not deliver what people really needs.
The main purpose of blogging and website making is delivering the content, and it cannot be delivered by just a bunch of pictures and bunch of media presentations. It needs communicable words accompanied by those pictures and presentation.
In summary, a good blog or website has a good content. It should be a user-friendly and search engine friendly.
There are still lots of things that is involve in website making.
If you need help in setting up your own website for your Ministry or Church, I am here to help you. I can give you tips and advices to start your own just as I did. And the best part is that I do it for FREE, no charge at all. Just remember, I am a fellow minister who just want to help other ministers and fellow brethrens in the Lord.
You can reach me by simply emailing me through this EMAIL FORM, and I will respond to you the best I can.
If you have time, also feel free to browse my tech blog: www.wsmuniversity.blogspot.com .