Accelerating ministry through technology.
blue sky nine will be performing on Saturday, 3/13/2010 at 7:30pm eastern, and you can participate online! Liesl and I will be busy at other places, but hopefully you will be available.
You’ll be able to watch at www.keynote.org/blueskynine/live
Hey, y’all! We’ve told you a bit about how our bands and artists go to college campuses and help the Campus Ministry. We’ve told you how we partner with the Military ministry as well. But I’m not sure if we’ve told you how in the last couple of years, we’ve been able to partner with ministries outside Campus Crusade for Christ who work with inmates. Here are a couple of great stories from those times.
blue sky nine (bsn) played in Ellsworth Correctional Facility (a medium security prison), in Ellsworth, KS in April 2009. While there, Laura (bsn’s lead singer) got in a conversation with one of the inmates, Tom (name changed). He kept talking about how he was 28 and hadn’t done anything with his life. She could sense that he really wanted to turn things around. Laura encouraged him to press into God and ask him to help to stay away from the friends that steered him towards the life he didn’t want to lead anymore. Then she and other band members prayed with him and encouraged him to take steps towards God. After they returned home, God led Laura to pray for Tom every day.
This past fall, bsn returned to Ellsworth. Tom was still there, and he was surprised when Laura remembered him and their conversation in April. Before the band left, Tom handed Laura a poem he had written about his relationship with God.
Fastforward to Christmas: Laura received a card in the mail from Tom telling her about how things have been getting better for him. He’d been able to mend some of the bridges he burnt with his family — they even came to see him on Thanksgiving. He said he wanted to write and let her know how much blue sky nine and our conversations helped him.
David Pendleton & Co. (David uses ventriloquism and comedy to share with people)
David Pendleton performed at an Indianapolis prison as an outreach for the Indy Christmas Conference. After his performance, the students spent time sharing one-on-one with the inmates. Here is a story from a student at Miami University (Ohio):
I have shared my testimony several times, but I have never really told someone how they can accept Christ. Before Christmas conference I didn’t really know the words to say. I had the amazing opportunity to witness someone being led to Christ first hand. I went on a prison outreach during conference. I was extremely afraid and was highly doubting my ability to share the gospel to an inmate…. I ended up with an 18 year old kid … I was completely overwhelmed….I tried reading the cards they gave us but it wasn’t going anywhere. Then a staff guy named David Pendleton sat down with us. He saw that I was struggling and ended up sharing the gospel with the kid. It was absolutely amazing to see the Spirit speak through him….David made a great illustration. He told the inmate, “It’s as if I were to walk into the prison and change clothes with you. You would walk out and I would stay here and serve your sentence for you.” It was at that moment that I saw in Robert’s eyes that he truly understood.
I love how David not only led the prisoner to Jesus in a way he could understand, but also opened the student’s eyes to how he could learn to share his faith better. God is so good! Praying we’ll all see the opportunities to reach out to others around us. God bless you!
Do you desire to have an online ministry?? LifeWidget.com, a new online ministry tool, is a dynamic library of life-giving resources for your online world. LifeWidget.com is a resource developed to help you share Christ with the people in your life, specifically your online community. Like art on your wall at home, widgets (mini websites contained in a small box) add color and interest to your website or blog. Whether videos, podcasts, other blogs, or a daily picture, they are great spiritual conversation starters and a fun way to offer hope and help to your readers. LifeWidget.com offers widgets that help your friends know God, grow in their relationship with Him, and develop their life skills. Many of the widgets keep up with the fast paced world we live in by updating their own content so that you don’t have to!
The widgets are easy to install; it takes less than two minutes. Watch this video to see how easy it is.
Whether you already have a website or not, help by…
We’re always adding new widgets to LifeWidget so check back often.? You can also follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/lifewidget or sign up for the newsletter at www.lifewidget.com to be the first to hear about the newest widgets.
Be sure to also check out www.MediaForMinistry.org, a new blog filled with tips and tutorials devoted to helping you maximize your online presence through social media and other online tools.
Karl and Ryan
I’m excited to let you know that the Information Technology team is now a team of two! Ryan Menzer was the percussionist for blue sky nine and was ready for a change. Everyone agreed that he would be a great fit in IT, and it’s working out well. He’s already finished some projects that I hadn’t been able to focus on.
Even with Ryan, though, we know that there are more computer needs at Keynote than the two of us can handle. Our plan is to train a person in each Keynote team or department to be the “level 1 tech” for that team. Please pray that we can communicate clearly and encourage people throughout this process. Please also pray that I lead and teach Ryan well.
In addition to being Keynote’s IT Director, I’m also part of a new team called “Keynote New Media Labs”. Our purpose is to help other Campus Crusade for Christ ministries use the Internet more creatively and effectively. We are starting to build a library of resources at www.mediaforministry.org. We’ve also helped the ministry at the University of Iowa create a new web site so that students, leaders, and even alumni and parents can stay more connected:
One of the staff from Iowa wrote this to Sam on our team: “to say thank you doesn’t even begin to express how thankful I am to what you have done for us. The site looks amazing and you’ve given us the tools to maintain it as well. Sam you have been so giving and helpful to us! Thanks for setting us up for a huge win on our campus in reaching students more effectively online at iowa!”
Please pray that God would lead us to the best tools and strategies, and that we would be able to connect people in the wide world of Campus Crusade for Christ who are also developing new ideas.
Personally, Liesl has had a hard time as the allergy doctor has made major changes to her diet. No more dairy, sugar, vinegar, or a bunch of other things. We’re hoping for health benefits eventually, but for now it’s been very difficult with no apparent benefits. We appreciate your prayers!
Each year Open Doors releases the World Watch List, a detailed analysis of Christian persecution worldwide. In this free resource, countries are evaluated and ranked according to the severity of persecution that occured in the past year.
Watch an introduction video below, and find out more at www.opendoorsusa.org.
