DVDs for Your Non-American Neighbors

Probably every American can now say they know a neighbor or co-worker from another country. We need to take this opportunity to take the Gospel to the nations just by befriending the people who have come to live and work among us.

Check out these ten DVDs to see if you find a DVD in the right language group for your friend and their family. The DVDs are grouped by regions of Asia, Africa, and more. If you work on or near a campus, you might be interested in the All Nations JESUS DVD for International Scholars. This one DVD has the “JESUS” film in 16 languages: Arabic, Cantonese, English, Farsi, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Latin American), Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Subtitled in Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), English, French, German, and Korean.

You will want to come back to Reaching the Nations Among Us in the future to see what more they will have to offer.

Using Web Addresses

I had forgotten my tracts that morning, so I thought I would not talk to anyone. However, a conversation naturally opened up with Lindsay and I jotted down a web site address for her. Read more…

I have often written a web address on a slip of paper when witnessing to people, especially if English is a person’s second language or I do not have a tract with me.

Some easy-to-memorize web addresses you can use are:

For evangelism:
everystudent.com for college students

For discipleship:
growinginchrist.com for learning how to walk with Christ

These will work without the http:// and the www. Try it first, if you like, and then visit Global Media Outreach for a partial list of their ninety-plus evangelistic and discipleship web sites which you could memorize.

You can also make addresses easier by using tinyURL.com. I made one for the video presentation on my web site, which you may use:

tinyurl.com/whyjesuscame for a complete video Gospel presentation

and also two more:

tinyurl.com/whoisjesus-really for the Good News in dozens of languages

tinyurl.com/watchthejesusfilm for a film of the Gospel of Luke in hundreds of languages

If you just want to send a really short link by Twitter or texting, try using tr.im, which will assign a random shortened URL. (If you create an account at tr.im, it will keep track of your shortened URLs for you. With tinyurl.com, I have had to make my own list so I will remember them.) Of course, these really short URLs from tr.im will not be meaningful and will be harder to memorize, but not impossible.

Here’s one, ready to go for texting or Twittering:
Who Is Jesus – Really? tr.im/yboN

If you write an evangelistic blog on WordPress.com, they automatically provide short links now (wp.me), so you can send your evangelistic post easier as a text or a Tweet. Just click on “Get Shortlink” under your post title when you are writing or editting your post.

You could also write these shorter addresses on the back of tracts or make a business card with web addresses if you wanted to.

Please add your suggestions of websites you would use.

Rate These Posts

I discovered I could add ratings to my posts, so I decided to do that. You can help me know what posts are most useful to you!

Reaching Urban Communities for Christ

“In the Bible, the word poor includes the weak the elderly, the mentally and physically handicapped, the refugees, the new immigrants, the working poor, the natural disaster victims, the unemployed, the single-parent families, and the orphans.” – Tim Keller

On Wednesday, July 22, Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan, joined Campus Crusade’s inner city ministry (Here’s Life Inner City) to discuss “The Gospel and the Poor: A Case for Compassion.” Tim and his congregation have a very successful urban ministry. In this video, he offers many suggestions about reaching diverse urban cultures.

You can be equipped and challenged by this interview.

Another blog with good tips

EveryStudent.com has a new blog with great help for sharing your faith. I just read the first post and liked the creative and culturally relevant idea they are trying this summer in Chicago.

Creative Evangelism Ideas for Groups

I was impressed with the wide variety of creative evangelistic ideas at Evoke Ministries. Most of the ideas presented were on a large scale that a church or a campus ministry could try, but they also encouraged individuals to witness when they attend, or participate in, large events. See more…

Internet Evangelism Day website

Even if you are not planning an event on Internet Evangelism Day (April 26, 2009), this site has testimonies of people who have come to the Lord through the internet, stories from internet evangelists, advice on how to make your church web site more effective and more. Check it out.

Volunteer Opportunities

I am starting a list today of Christian websites letting you know how you can volunteer your time and reach people for Christ in a practical way. I will add to this list when I find more. Please include your comments if you have worked with any of these groups or know of other opportunities to share your faith through volunteering.

Here’s Life Inner City, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ
Prison Fellowship
Rescue Missions
Salvation Army

I found a very useful directory at ChristianVolunteering.org to help you find more volunteer opportunities.

Other places to volunteer could include:
• food banks
• pregnancy counseling centers
• adoption centers
• foster parenting
• hospitals

Modern Parables

A friend directed me to Bible study videos of Jesus’ parables. The videos and extra materials are available to purchase on disc or as downloads.

Modern Parables is allowing us to view all six of their films in their entirety for a limited time. I particularly liked The Widow and the Judge and The Sower. I enjoyed the others, too. For more thoughts about The Sower video, go to the post at the main Sower site.

These videos could be used for evangelistic purposes and are of high quality. In fact, I sent the link to Modern Parables to a non-Christian. He wrote back that he will watch the videos on his plane flight today!

If you use any of these videos evangelisticly, please share your experience with us in the comments on this post. Thank you!

Passing Along a Blessing

“What are you reading?” The young man behind the fitness center counter asked me. I was holding a mailer from a Creation ministry that I had read while using the treadmill. Especially since he asked about it, I left the material with him. That particular mailing did not have as much content as I would have preferred, but maybe this young man looked up the website after he got off work.

Do you have Christian tapes, video, music, books, and magazines that you don’t need any more? Take the time to find a good second home instead of holding on to these things or tossing them in the trash.

Good places to donate your things may be:
Libraries
Homeschool groups
Nursing homes
Prison ministries
Inner city ministries

Through Google I found a number of ministries that will use your books to bless prisoners and third world pastors and believers. If you are unsure about donating to an unknown organization, look for:

1. A Biblically-based statement of faith
2. Disclosure of their financial status
3. An approval by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

I found only one ministry that had all three of these on their website, Christian Resources International. They have also been in ministry since 1956, which tells me they are not some fly-by-night operation. I have not donated to them so I cannot endorse them from personal experience.

Read a story about offering magazines for a waiting room.