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.

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.

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!

Tools for the Olympics

Read stories and testimonies of athletes, view video clips, and explore a personal relationship with God at Struggle and Triumph, a website from the Athletes in Action ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Struggle and Triumph is also a DVD that you can share with your friends. (The DVD is available in 36 languages).

Another website, Beyond the Ultimate, changes seasonally with whatever is the biggest sporting event at the time. Naturally, you will find Olympians on that site right now. If you read one of the testimonies and want to share it with someone, click on “Share This Story” in the right sidebar. You will have several choices, including sending an email with a link to the story, or posting the link on your Facebook profile. (I recommend adding a personal note in the email. Send one to yourself first to see if you like how your email looks.)

The Go for Gold website has links to over twenty country-specific “Looking for God” websites to help people begin their journey with God.

The Olympians continually challenge us all to run the race God has given us. You might like to use this moving video of Derek Redmond being supported by his father to communicate the Gospel to a friend. Your main point could be: we are weak, but our Father is strong and will help us finish the race.

JWs

I am not an expert, so I am just putting some links in this post today. I may be able to add to this list later.

Read a real story about witnessing to JWs.

Suggested Links:

• A chart of Watchtower beliefs compared with the Bible.

• Tips on Witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses.

• The 10 Most Important Things You Can Say to a Jehovah’s Witness

• Why is Creation the best place to start in witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses?

• How to talk creation with a Jehovah’s witness

• How can God be three persons?

• Is Jesus Christ God?

Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments of this post.

World Series and More

If you or your friends love baseball, you might be interested in Reversing the Curse, with stories from the Red Sox during their comeback in the 2004 season when they won the World Series. You can also order a companion DVD on the site.

You can find more than baseball on sports DVDs from Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ’s sports ministry. If your friends like soccer, football, basketball, and more, they will enjoy these DVDs with stories from accomplished men and women athletes. These DVDs are also available in other languages and in PAL versions.

Athletes in Action is also offering some great booklets with changed-life stories from athletes. These could work for almost any age group at any time of the year.

You can give any of these items as gifts or use them in an outreach to sporting events and clubs.

PS: Click here to find more stories and ideas about reaching the sports fans in your life.

Rapid Deployment Kits for the Military

Campus Crusade for Christ’s Military Ministry has many resources you can use for reaching men and women in the military and their families. Be sure to visit their website to discover more than I have time to mention here.

To highlight a few, the Military Ministry sends:
Chaplain’s Boxes with books and videos
20, 000 New Testaments and Bibles in Rapid Deployment Kits every month.

If Properly Led is a great leadership conference held in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

You might also enjoy reading my story about sending DVDs to my cousin serving in Baghdad.