NBC Cancels ‘The Playboy Club’(THANK GOD!!!)

NBC has canceled freshman drama The Playboy Club.

Brian Williams‘ newsmagazine show, Rock Center, will take its place beginning Oct. 31. Until then, repeats of Maria Bello‘s Prime Suspect will air on Mondays at 10 p.m. The move to air Prime Suspect in Playboy Club‘s time slot is a clear sign of Bob Greenblatt‘s desire to make the series, which is closer to his cable sensibilities, work.

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Playboy Club‘s cancellation comes after the drama premiered Sept. 20 to underwhelming ratings, attracting 5 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. The second episode of the series from showrunner Chad Hodge and 20th Century Fox Television, tumbled 19 percent, luring only 3.8 million viewers and a 1.3 in the demo. Its most recent episode dropped even more, attracting 3.2 million viewers and a 1.2.

PHOTOS: PTC vs. TV: 10 Television Show Controversies

The series faced a backlash almost from the start, as the Parents Television Council called for a boycott and urged sponsors to pull out of the show that starred Amber Heard and Eddie Cibrian in a 1960s-set story about the Chicago Playboy Club and the bunnies and men who loved them.

Seven advertisers exited the series in the series’ second week after PTC president deemed the show a “commercial disaster” and called for the network to cancel the “degrading and sexualizing program immediately.”

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The PTC targeted the show from early on for objectifying and degrading women since NBC ordered it to series in May.

Hodge downplayed the controversy after Gloria Steinem called for a boycott and NBC’s Salt Lake City affiliate refused to air it.

“I think there’s a perception of the show that’s false,” he said. “There are different brands of feminism and I don’t think it should be boxed into any one version.”

“I think there was a perception that we were trying to do something politically ambitious or make a statement or make this a show about empowering women, which sounds super boring to me. That sounds like a documentary, which this certainly is not. This is more like Chicago, Moulin Rouge and All That Jazz, Desperate Housewives. This is a fun, sexy soap,” he added.

Rock Center With Brian Williams will feature Harry Smith, Kate Snow and other correspondents and anchors at NBC News, including Meredith Vieira, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, Richard Engel, Matt Lauer and Ann Curry.

“Brian Williams already anchors America’s most watched, honored and respected nightly news broadcast. Rock Center now gives him, and our all-star cast of journalists an opportunity to take viewers on a weekly journey of discovery,” said Steve Capus, president of NBC News, and Greenblatt in a joint statement.

The series will be broadcast from studio 3B in Rockefeller Center and the weekly, hourlong newsmagazine will revolve around the week’s events, interviews and coverage.

Lacey Rose contributed to this report.

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Iranian Pastor Increasingly Likely to Face Death Penalty Under New Charges By Perry Chiaramonte

Imprisoned Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani,  originally sentenced to death for apostasy and refusing to renounce Christianity,  is now in even greater danger of being put to death in light of reports in  state-run media of other charges, including being a Zionist and a threat to  national security.

“The charge of being a Zionist and thus a traitor is  among the most serious accusations that can be made in Iran,”  said Jordan  Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, or ACLJ.  “Unfortunately, we know that this is the charge Iran levies to justify executing  people who were actually arrested, imprisoned and tried on completely different  charges.”

In a ruling from the Iranian Supreme  Court obtained by FoxNews.com, Nadarkhani was sentenced to execution by  hanging for breaking Islamic law by conducting Christian worship and baptizing  himself and others.

Nowhere in the ruling is there a mention of these  new charges, which were first reported by Iranian news agency FARS.

Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, says he  has not received any of these new charges from the Supreme Court, according to  the ACLJ.

“The opinions of these new charges come from the  political branch. Not a single judicial figure, a prosecutor or member of the  court has spoken to these new charges,” Dadkhah said through a translator.

Fox News reported last week that the pastor, who  also held house church services in Iran, was facing execution after being  convicted of apostasy last November.

He appealed his conviction all the way to the  Iranian Supreme Court.

His appeals trial began last month in Gilan Province  and he refused to renounce his religion, according to rights groups monitoring  the trial.

The European Center for Law and Justice, an  affiliate of the ACLJ and an non-governmental organization with consultative  status at the U.N., is looking at taking action at the United  Nations this week.

“We have not seen any new charges from the court,”  an official for the U.S. State Department said. “We continue to seek additional  information.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/10/03/iranian-pastor-has-greater-chance-facing-death-with-new-allegations/#ixzz1Zq0xR7Xo

Police Ask Christian Bikers to Leave Public Fair By Jeff Schapiro

Two members of the Bikers for Christ ministry were told by police to leave a public street fair in Manteca, Calif., for wearing vests that displayed the organization’s colors and patches.

While Billy Rogers and Steve Wilson walked around Manteca’s annual Pumpkin Fair Sunday, they were approached by two officers who told them they weren’t allowed to wear the organization’s colors while on the event grounds.

“Steve took his vest off. I took mine off and turned mine inside out in the presence of the two officers,” Rogers told The Christian Post Monday. He said one of the officers, a sergeant, was okay with the change, so he sent the two men on their way.

After walking around for a while, Rogers and Wilson decided to leave. Walking toward their bikes as they left the event, the two decided to put their vests back on as they would normally wear them. He said they were about 100 feet away from exiting the grounds when the same two officers approached them again, only this time they did so “aggressively” and “abruptly.”

Rogers told the officers that he and Wilson were on their way back to their motorcycles after the sergeant told them they had to leave. He asked the sergeant why, if there was a dress code, there weren’t any visible signs stating it. He also asked the officers why it was an issue for them to wear the Christian ministry‘s colors when there was a beer garden, where people were getting drunk, in the middle of the fair.

After Rogers asked his questions, he said, the sergeant told him he didn’t need to know the answers and the issue wasn’t up for discussion.

 

“At that point his partner put his hand on his gun,” Rogers said. He and Wilson then turned around and walked to their bikes, even though the officer did not take the weapon out of its holster.

Once they arrived at the place where their bikes were parked, they sent a text message to Dave Bates, the Central Valley Chapter Elder of Bikers for Christ.

“I was appalled at the fact that they were asked to leave because of the Christian patch on our vests. It makes no sense to me,” Bates told The Christian Post.

He said though they may not have been discriminating against Christians specifically, singling out bikers with dress codes isn’t fair.

“Discrimination is discrimination either way,” he said.

In a letter to the editor of the Manteca Bulletin, Bates wrote, “It is the purpose of our ministry to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost section of society, the biker world, that society has chosen not to associate with. This ministry has been operating for 21 years with no problems. I was under the impression that profiling was against the law.”

Dave Bricker, chief of police for the Manteca Police Department, said the dress code is in place to prevent gang violence. The event’s rules, he said, have been in place for 10 years.

“Like many cities, Manteca experiences gang violence, including a recent gang homicide,” Bricker wrote in an email to The Christian Post. “The area has also experienced significant violence from outlaw motorcycle clubs including … the recent shoot out in a crowded Sparks Nevada Casino resulting in the death of a member of the Hell’s Angels MC. In order to diminish the likelihood of issues that could result in violence at this event, the dress code was enforced fairly and equally.”

“While I am confident that the members of this Christian Club would have had only the best interest of the community at heart … I cannot say that for the other outlaw clubs that may have seen their colors,” he added. “In the interest of the safety of the community and the event the ‘no colors’ rules were enforced.”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/police-ask-christian-bikers-to-leave-public-fair-57101/

La. Lawmakers Say ‘No’ to Ten Commandments By R. Leigh Coleman

Members of the Louisiana Senate on Wednesday formally rejected a bill that would allow a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state capitol.

The bill, House Bill 277, was voted down 5-2 because of reported concerns that the monument would be considered controversial and potential litigation over the display would be too costly for the state and taxpayers.

Members of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State said in a statement that a government-sponsored religious display, like the Ten Commandments monument, would divide Louisiana residents and possibly lead to litigation.

“We are very pleased that the committee decided not to waste taxpayers’ money on a lawsuit over the Ten Commandments that the state was likely to lose,” said Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The rejection of the bill follows a decision by the Louisiana House of Representatives to support the building of the monument.

Supporters said the measure was modeled on a Commandments display at the state capitol in Texasthat survived review before the U.S. Supreme Court

 

Earlier this month, lawmakers said posting the Ten Commandments was also a statement of historic law, so it was fitting to make such a statement outside the building where laws are made.

“I think we have gone too far with the rejection of this bill,” said John Lawry, a longtime Louisiana resident.

“I have been following this legislation and many people thought it was a great idea to get back to the roots of our nation, which is under God. It is shameful that our lawmakers voted it down because they are afraid of a lawsuit.”

The text of the monument was to be built according to the specifications of Van Orden v. Perry, a Supreme Court case that ruled a Ten Commandments monument in Texas to be constitutional.

In a letter to Sen. Robert W. “Bob” Kostelka, chairman of the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs, by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State President Dr. Thomas J. Hannie, the group wrote, “The factors that were used to decide the Texas case were not specific to the monument itself, but rather to the conditions surrounding it.”

For example, he wrote, the Texas monument in Van Orden had been standing for 40 years before being brought to the court, whereas House Bill 277 would have created a brand new monument in the Baton Rouge capitol.

This, along with other arguments, showed that “the passage of the bill could result in a costly lawsuit, for which Louisiana taxpayers would be forced to pay.”

The letter also stated that posting the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state capitol ”would authorize the government to place a religious text that is sacred for only some religions on the state capitol grounds-a place where tens of thousands of Louisianans come every year to petition their government and learn about the history of the state. By doing so, the legislature would send a message that those who are non-believers “‘are outsiders, not full members of the … community, and an accompanying message to adherents (particularly Jews and Christians) that they are insiders, favored members of the community.”

Hannie wrote in the letter that the Commandments are clearly a religious text. “Thus, government posting of the document amounts to state promotion of religion.” Additionally, he pointed out that Christian and Jewish groups do not agree on the wording or listing of the commandments.

“Our arguments seemed to be convincing,” members of the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs said.

Rep. Patrick Williams (D-Shreveport) spearheaded the idea to erect the religious monument.

He authored House Bill 277 saying the legislature every day opens its sessions in the House and Senate with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

He said his decision to push the legislation was influenced by a recent visit to the Middle East, where he climbed Mount Sinai, where Moses got the Ten Commandments.

Williams said religion plays a part in government.

“All denominations are allowed to pray,” he said.

Williams told committee members that the state attorney general’s office approved the language in the bill.

He also told fellow lawmakers the monument would be on Capitol grounds among the other sites and markers on the 27 acres near the statehouse, which includes the grave of former Gov. Huey Long and a historical marker designating the former location of Louisiana State University.

“This is for historical purposes, not religious purposes. It shows the effect of the Ten Commandments on history and laws,” Williams told lawmakers.

The bill would have used private donations to erect and maintain the monument.

Members of the Louisiana Baptist Convention testified earlier in this week’s session it would help raise money for the monument and defend it against any lawsuit that might be filed.

Williams was asked in a recent interview about separation of church and state.

“When prayer is a part of everyday operations, how do you determine what separation is?” he said.

He said his bill actually puts into action something that was started in 1950.

“The legislature created a law allowing for the posting of such markers on the Capitol grounds, but no one ever asked for it to be done,” he said.

“I’m asking.”

Voting to kill the bill were: Sens. Karen Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans), Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge), Lydia Jackson (D-Shreveport), Rob Marionneaux (D-Livonia), and Edwin Murray (D-New Orleans).

Voting for the measure were: Sens. Jody Amedee (R-Gonzales) and Mike Walsworth (R-West Monroe).

The bill is dead for the session unless Williams can graft it onto another measure that is still alive in the House or Senate. Citizen groups, after hearing about the rejection of the bill, said protests will be held in the coming weeks to convince lawmakers that the Ten Commandments should be posted on the grounds of the state capitol.

On the Web: http://senate.legis.state.la.us/SessionInfo/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/lawmakers-say-no-to-ten-commandments-51238/

Supreme Court Rejects Ohio Judge’s Ten Commandments Appeal By Eryn Sun

After a three-month recess, the Supreme Court returned on Monday to start a new term, rejecting hundreds of cases, including an appeal by an Ohio judge who wanted to display a poster of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom.

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  (Photo: REUTERS/Larry Downing)
  Security guards walk the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, October 1, 2010.

The justices let stand the ruling passed down by the lower courts that the religious document hanging in Richard County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese’s courtroom violated the First Amendment Establishment Clause of the constitution as well as the Ohio constitution.

The poster in question is titled “Philosophies of Law in Conflict,” which outlines conflicts between different legal philosophies, presented in two columns labeled “Moral Absolutes” and “Moral Relatives.” Under the Moral Absolutes column, a text of the Ten Commandments is displayed while the Moral Relatives column is followed by what DeWeese calls “humanist precepts,” according to the lawsuit filed   by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.

The latter includes statements such as “the universe is self-existent and not created,” “ethics depend on the person and the situation” and “there is no absolute truth.”

Explaining that America’s founders recognized the need to ground legal philosophy on moral absolutes, the Ohio judge pens in the poster that he agrees with the founders and joins them in “personally acknowledging the importance of Almighty God’s fixed moral standards for restoring the moral fabric of this nation.”

Additionally, on the lower right hand corner of the frame, readers are guided to take a pamphlet further explaining his philosophy from the court receptionist.

 

DeWeese argued that his poster had a secular purpose, which sought to express his legal philosophy and foster discussion and debate about legal philosophy and the consequences of basing a society’s legal system on relativism as opposed to moral absolutes.

Judge Patricia A. Gaughan of the U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio, ruled, however, that the defendant’s purpose was religious in light of the words written in his declaration, poster, and pamphlet, and agreed with previous rulings by the district court and Sixth Circuit.

This was DeWeee’s second attempt at displaying the biblical commandments in his courtroom. He had previously tried to display the laws in 2000, for which the ACLU also sued him.

In his first attempt to display the religious document in his courtroom in July 2000, a year after he was elected judge, his posters were markedly different from his 2006 posters. Instead of the “Philosophies of Law in Conflict,” he put up two posters, one of the Ten Commandments and the other, the Bill of Rights. He called each “the rule of law.”

Similar to the reasoning by Gaughan, the court found that the original display endorsed religious views and seemed to instruct individuals that the legal system was based on moral absolutes from divine law handed down by God through the Ten Commandments.

In both cases, the judges declared he was violating the separation of church and state and endorsing a particular religion over non-religion, issuing an injunction for the removal of the posters consequently.

Though DeWeese appealed both decisions, the Sixth Circuit affirmed the rulings and denied the display of the posters.

The latest denial of appeal by the Supreme Court justices was his last attempt to display the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. Though he was disappointed, he knew that his effort to get the case to the Supreme Court was far-reaching, he told the Mansfield News Journal.

He commented that he would eventually take the display down.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/supreme-court-rejects-ohio-judges-ten-commandments-appeal-57144/

Online Evangelism Ministry Reaches 687,000 in One Day By Michelle A. Vu

An outreach ministry that specializes in sharing the gospel through online media announced Wednesday that it reached a record-breaking 687,000 people in just one day last year.

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  (Photo: The Christian Post)

Global Media Outreach, founded in 2004 by Campus Crusade for Christ, said that in just one day in December 2010 it reached that ministry-high figure. The 687,488 people that GMO said it presented the gospel to were from all 191 countries, and out of the total number, 56,854 people indicated a decision for Jesus Christ.

The internet ministry’s media representative, Monica Sales, explained that GMO counts presenting the gospel to one person when someone clicks on one of its websites. In total, GMO said it presented the Gospel 112 million times in 2010.

But online missionaries can only respond to questions if someone fills out a request form after making a decision. In 2010, GMO had 2.2 million people fill out the form and follow up with online missionaries.

There are more than 5,500 trained GMO online missionaries worldwide who respond to questions asked by seekers through emails. The online missionaries are volunteers who answer the emails whenever they have time, so essentially any Christian who meets basic requirements can be a GMO missionary.

This evangelismsystem allows Christians to do mission without having to leave their full-time job or relocate.

 

But Walt Wilson, chairman and founder of GMO, clarified that the ministry’s goal is not just to get people to make decisions for Christ online, but to disciple new believers and to connect them to a local church.

“In addition to online evangelism, we expanded our discipleship offerings in 2010 to now include systematic studies on an e-learning platform so that progress can be measured and tracked by the individual new believer,” Wilson said in a statement Wednesday.

Some of GMO’s English-language websites include WhoisJesus-Really.com, GodLovestheWorld.com, 4StepstoGod.com, and GrowinginChrist.com, among many others.

Last April, Wilson said he believes that with current technology there is the potential to share the gospel with everyone on earth by 2020.

“We are the first generation in all of human history to hold within our hands the technology to reach every man, woman and child on the earth by 2020,” said Wilson, a former Apple executive, during the iSummit at Biola University. “Our generation has within its grasp everything that is required to fulfill the Great Commission.”

GMO will go through some big changes soon, including separating from CCC, it announced Wednesday. The two evangelism ministries, however, plan to remain close partners. CCC president Steve Douglass will be a member of GMO’s board of directors.

“Our vision with God’s help remains the same: Giving every person on earth multiple opportunities to accept Jesus,” said Wilson. “We’re proud to have been a formal part of Campus Crusade and look forward to the new possibilities this partnership brings. We are trusting God for a great year ahead.”

The internet outreach ministry will also consolidate its many websites later this year under one source, Godlife.com.

In 2010, GMO recorded more than 15 million people who made a decision for Christ.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/online-evangelism-ministry-reaches-687000-in-one-day-48803/

Facebook Evangelism? Ministry Sees Overwhelming Response By Alex Murashko

Harvest Crusades Going Virtual: ‘We Are Moving Into That Space’

The final number of people watching the three-day Harvest outreach event with Pastor Greg Laurie in Anaheim last weekend has not been fully tabulated, but one thing is certain – social media has helped at least triple the amount from last year.

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  (Image: Havest via The Christian Post)
  The Harvest Crusades staff and volunteers have increased the evangelistic ministry’s online presence by integrating social media tools that make sharing the outreach events on the Internet simple, August 2011.
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  (Photo: Harvest)
  The Harvest Crusades tech team includes nine paid full and part time staff, and as many as 20 volunteers on the nights of the evangelistic outreach event, August, 2011.

1/2

Laurie is calling the preliminary numbers that are coming in a “mind-blowing stat.” Three members of the Riverside, Calif.-based Harvest Crusade webcast tech team talking to The Christian Post Thursday were at a loss to quantify the increased viewership and simply exclaimed, “wow.”

All three nights of the crusade featuring popular Christian musical performers and modern-day evangelistic messages by Laurie were broadcast live over the Internet at Harvest.org. The live streaming webcast could also be viewed on Facebook for the first time, and a link to the webcast page could be shared on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

In Laurie’s most recent blog post he wrote: “Here is a mind-blowing stat: Over the weekend, online viewers connected with the Anaheim Harvest webcast a total of 1,303,332 times. We had viewers from all 50 states and from 63 countries around the world! That is far and away the largest response EVER from online viewers. It is almost triple what we had last year.”

Paul Eaton, who is the pastor of communications and leads the tech team at Harvest, did not want to “go ahead of the numbers,” still being calculated. He said he wants to make it clear that the “one million-plus number does not necessarily translate into individual viewers.” Nevertheless, he is absolutely sure that online evangelism is as strong as ever and is a powerful way to spread the Gospel.

“We are finding that the crusade is as much a virtual as it is a personal presence. It’s becoming a huge component in the outreach of this ministry,” Eaton said. “We’re going to where people are and we are seeing a massive sea change in the way people connect with information. We are moving into that space.”

 

 

A total of 115,000 people attended the Harvest event in person. It was announced on Sunday, the last day of the event, that the previous two nights included 240,000 people watching live online. However, the Harvest tech team is still waiting on Facebook to provide the number of people watching on its social media site. The team said that Laurie’s “almost triple” the amount conclusion is a safe estimate, but may even increase more.

Eaton said that the Harvest tech team includes nine paid full and part time staff and as many as 20 volunteers on the nights of the event.

“People are using different means to connect with the world and this is where we are going,” Eaton said. “A great lesson from Jesus is that he was always where the people were and that’s where he brought the message. He didn’t stay separated from them and that’s what I see Pastor Greg doing. He wants us to go to where the people are and reach them in that environment.”

Internet users on the website page where the webcast from Anaheim was offered for free could Facebook “Like” the page. The action of clicking on the “Like” icon meant that the Facebook user doing so automatically shares a link to the Harvest page to potentially all their Facebook friends. It was the first time this social media tool was implemented.

Harvest webmaster Justin Beasley said that as of Thursday there were 27,000 Facebook “Likes,” which is also a means of promoting the event organically, as some have called the method by which social media spreads without financial cost.

“Among those approximately 27,000 actions on Facebook we saw somewhere in the 12 to 13 million range of page views,” Beasley said. The exponential calculation is based on Facebook statistics that show that the average Facebook user has between 250 to 480 Facebook friends,

Promoting the event by means of social media was something Harvest team members focused on more than last year, they said.

“A concerted effort on our part was to ask people who follow our ministry, who are on our mailing list, our email list, our Facebook, our Twitter, and all our social media to actively help us promote the event. We encouraged them to do that by way of getting the Gospel out to the world in this electronic format reaching new people in new places,” Eaton said. “There’s thousands of believers in the Southern California area who every year make the Harvest Crusade a part of their life so it’s not much of a stretch for us to ask them to help to promote this.”

According to Beasley, Harvest now has a global network of supporters as well that can help promote the event online.

“Now, instead of just being limited to our base in Southern California, there is an action that someone on the other side of the country or the other side of the world can take to share the webcast with their friends,” he said. “They don’t have to be local to participate anymore.”

While the popular evangelistic event has been at Angel Stadium for 22 years, Harvest with Greg Laurie will be making its first appearance at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles this year, on Sept. 10.

“Los Angeles is full of influencers who have a worldwide reach. We recognize that this is not a small thing to go into,” said Eaton, who also shared that the Harvest church in Riverside and the outreach’s ministry supporters will be praying intensely in the coming weeks.

Plans for next year include encouraging churches to broadcast the Anaheim crusade live to congregations and guests. The effort will be called “Harvest America,” Eaton said.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/harvest-crusades-going-virtual-we-are-moving-into-that-space-54179/

God Takes Over Twitter With Love By Christine Thomasos

Mixed emotions hit Twitter on Wednesday as the trending topic “God loves you” took over the social network.

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  (Photo: AP Photo / Press Association, Martin Keene)
  File photo dated August 19, 2009, of the Twitter icon displayed on a laptop.

With singer Trey Songz embracing the trend, many Re-tweeted and put tweets with their own interpretations of the phrase.

One Twitter user seemed in awe of the topic becoming a trend worldwide.

“Wow so profound that God loves you is trending. Many do not believe in him, but he believes in you,” the person wrote.

Another said the popularity of the topic proved that people were leaning more on faith.

“I love that God loves you is trending,” the person tweeted. “Finally some people’s priorities are straight.”

 

While many seemed happy about the topic, some questioned why God’s love was so popular on a social networking website that is known for celebrity and controversial trends.

“God loves you is trending worldwide,” one person asked. “Did Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber or someone say that at an award show or something?”

Others did not understand why the topic was so meaningful to those on the social network.

“God loves you is trending,” another person question. “Why are people so sure of this?”

While some took the time to question the trend, others used it as encouragement. Troy Davis, due to be executed on Wednesday, was the focus of some people’s interpretation of the trend.

“Troy Davis…God loves you,” the person Tweeted. “Give your life to him now please.”

Although he did not take part in the trend, former NFL football player Deion Sanders took time to show his love for God on Twitter after being granted permission to open up a charter school in Texas.

“I’m truly in tears right now tweeting this,” Sanders Tweeted at the time of the Twitter trend. “The enemy tried to kill me but (we’re) still standing and blessing these kids! God is so Good!”

While a number of people took part in the trend on Wednesday, one user made sure to remind users of the social network to maintain the mind state off of Twitter.

“Even when its not a trending topic, know that God still loves you,” the person tweeted.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/god-takes-over-twitter-with-love-56203/

Time for Online Evangelism Is Now, Says Author By Alex Murashko

The time for Christians to be engaged in online evangelism is now, says author and communications expert Toni Birdsong.

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  (Photo: Toni Birdsong)
  The time for Christians to be engaged in online evangelism is now says author and Pastors.com contributing writer Toni Birdsong, October 2011.

Christians who are still reluctant to use social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter need to look no further than their use of email or their phone to realize sharing the Gospel message is “part of their DNA,” Birdsong said.

Birdsong, the co-author of @stickyJesus: how to live your faith online told The Christian Post that she is thrilled to live in a time when people have invited other people, in some cases hundreds or thousands of people, into their lives through the use of social media.

“There’s something really phenomenal going on in the online world right now,” she said. “People assume that it’s harder to break through to see the real person, but what happens when people write is it’s as if they are more transparent. They don’t have those layers that you have to drill through in face-to-face [conversation].”

“In some ways it’s easier (to know people’s needs) because people will share their hearts and you don’t have all those layers to get through,” she added.

The Franklin, Tenn., resident has had careers that included being a reporter and editor of several newspapers, a communications specialist for the Walt Disney Company, and now a partner in a creative marketing firm. Birdsong said she loves to use today’s online tools to communicate her love for God.

 

“I spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in prayer before I allow myself to open my computer,” she noted. “I think in this day and age it’s become imperative to pray and fast and really ask God to be there with you. You may be in a room by yourself, but really you are with the Holy Spirit.”

Birdsong said that she takes social media, this new way of communicating very seriously. She believes other Christians should too.

“This is about a divine opportunity that God has given you and you need to handle that with His word and Scripture,” she stressed. “Every platform that we are on is social and as Christians it’s in our DNA. To not recognize the time that we are in as a relationship era is really neglectful of the time that God has brought you to.”

“We get to peer behind the curtain of people’s lives with their permission. These are the feasting days of evangelism,” she added. “Why not take advantage of that?”

In the book description of @stickyJesus, co-authored by Tami Heim, it states that people now spend over 110 billion minutes a month on social networks like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. “Some are ranting. Some are raving. Almost all are revealing their hearts and minds as never before. This historic social shift is a dream come true for big brand marketers, political parties, and just about anyone who has something to say,” according to the authors. “So how do you – a Christ follower – navigate the noise, dodge the danger, talk the tech, and speak life and hope into the online space? You get sticky. Just like Jesus. You share the stickiest message ever spoken, the Gospel.”

Birdsong is also a contributing writer at Pastors.com, which is an online resource for church leaders. She recently wrote an article about overcoming the fear of evangelizing — in this case, not simply online.

“The need (and want) of those around me for hope and healing is greater than my need to lay out the Gospel perfectly. While salvation is a big deal, it’s God’s deal. Salvation is the work of the supernatural Holy Spirit. Experiencing God daily and sharing that testimony is evangelism,” she stated.

Tips on evangelizing online can also be found at stickyJesus.com where the site is described as “existing to equip you, the Christ follower, to confidently live out your faith in the digital world.”

“We’re here to infuse biblical perspective and daily inspiration into your online time. We’ll help you grow your technical know-how so you can share the sticky love of Jesus Christ with others. We’re teaching, listening, and collaborating with a fired-up community of digital scribes about culture, social media, and the kind of relationship building that will outlive cyberspace. Are you in?”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/time-for-online-evangelism-is-now-says-author-57154/

Self-Focused+Living

Self-Focused+Living.