Global Media Outreach CEO Mark Weimer discusses the role of the internet in spreading the gospel (Click here for video)

"... hundreds of people each day indicate decisions for Christ."

"We recognize the need for connecting new believers to local Christian movements and have created a church partner program to strengthen our local church network."

"You click into a web site and there will be a small group of 5 to 15 people who all share questions and discuss truths about Christ."

"Our long-term goal is to present the gospel to 1 billion people in every nation of the world through leading edge communication technologies and trust the Lord to see 100 million people indicating decisions of Jesus Christ."

6 Reasons for Faith
by Mark Weimer
(click here for more info)

6 Keys to Christian Growth
by Mark Weimer
(click here for more info)

Why Your Most Recent Visitors May have Found You through a New Global Outreach

It is very possible that the most recent visitors to your church were driven there by the internet. And not just the internet. A specific internet evangelism strategy brought to you by Global Media Outreach, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ based in California that specializes in using the medium of the internet to evangelize people looking for God.

A recent interview that Inspired Outreach conducted with Mark Weimer (Chief Executive Officer) and Michelle Diedrich (Communications Director) of Global Media Outreach brought us the following information:.

Inspired Outreach: Give us a summary of Global Media Outreach's mission.

Mark Weimer: Our mission is to reach the world for Christ using the internet and technology. Our goal is to accomplish the core principles of Campus Crusade (winning people for Christ; building believers in their faith and sending them to win, build and send others) using leading edge communication technologies.

IO: What is the process by which GMO accomplishes its main objective?

Michelle Diedrich: We present the gospel over the internet to thousands of people each day through over 30 different websites in many languages, and see hundreds of people each day indicate decisions for Christ. Every day we receive emails from people all over the world who have visited our evangelistic websites. Whether they have decided to become a follower of Christ, rededicated their life to Christ or still have questions, we can provide prayer, guidance and discipleship through our online ministry response centers. Using the Campus Crusade traditional model of WIN-BUILD-SEND, we then can offer online Bible studies, websites with next steps for the journey and links to local church communities.

IO: Describe the common traits of the target audience of GMO’s outreach efforts.

Michelle Diedrich: People are searching for God. Our goal is to make it easy for people to find Him. The people who come to our sites include all ages, genders, religions and locations around the world. Their common trait is that when they come to the sites, they are often ready to make a decision. Because our sites are typically evangelistic in nature (rather than apologetics type sites), many people tell us they wanted to follow God but they just didn’t know how! We provide the answers for them.

In order to do that, our sites give easy-to-understand, straightforward presentations of the gospel. Some of our sites are just one page long, sharing through the Four Spiritual Laws how someone can become a Christian. Others focus on one aspect of a person’s relationship to God or appeal to people who have special interests.

IO: What technologies does GMO employ that are unique compared to other Campus Crusade ministries?

Mark Weimer: Our ministry response system is unique in both Campus Crusade and unique from any other ministry. We don’t just answer emails – we provide a trackable, safe, anonymous environment for both our visitors and responders to begin a dialogue and connection to God. This email system allows us to respond quickly to the hundreds of emails we receive each day, monitor the responses (and store them), and provides a tiered system for our community leaders to manage the responders in their community. The system provides training, online resources for our volunteers to use in answering questions and a process model for escalating emails up through a chain if needed.

IO: Describe in more detail how GMO’s efforts help its audience plug in to the local church?

Michelle Diedrich: GMO provides both an online directory of US-based churches as well as connections through our volunteers and Campus Crusade staff members throughout the world. We recognize the need for connecting new believers to local Christian movements and have created a church partner program to strengthen our local church network.

IO: Describe the impact of GMO’s two newly published resources: The 6 Keys and 6 Reasons.

Mark Weimer: These two resources are excellent tools for the Always Ready program for local churches to use in their evangelism efforts. Churches may use them in an ongoing evangelistic program or for special events to hand out to new believers or people that are seeking God.

One church in California gave one copy of 6 Reasons for Faith to each of their members to give to an unbelieving friend. 6 Reasons for Faith is designed to be an excellent outreach tool for church members to give to people who may not know Christ; 6 Keys to Christian Growth presents the basics of the Christian faith for new believers based on the time-tested principles of Campus Crusade.

IO: Describe GMO’s new and future strategies.

Mark Weimer: GMO has started two new programs to assist in the Build and Send strategy: 1. Our Always On church partner program (see above) and 2. Our discipleship programs – Chat Bible Study and Online Bible Studies.
A chat session is like a small group over the internet. You click into a web site and there will be a small group of 5 to 15 people who all share questions and discuss truths about Christ. The identity of the participant is protected and each session has a leader and co-leader. You can learn from others, grow in your faith, and maybe share your own thoughts that can help others. Each week there is a different topic.

Our online Bible studies are sent out weekly through email to someone who indicates a decision for Christ. These short emails provide a good start in the basics of discipleship focusing on subjects such as prayer, Bible study, finding a local church, assurance of salvation, the Holy Spirit, etc.

Over the years, Campus Crusade has developed discipleship materials to help Christians grow to maturity. We are pleased to make these available to Christians worldwide, and are also currently involved in developing more discipleship resources. Here are some of our discipleship websites.

www.GrowingInChrist.com
www.KeystoChristianGrowth.com
www.Greatcom.org
www.10BasicSteps.com
www.TransferableConcepts.com
www.Evangelism.com

We want to present the gospel in the top internet languages covering 85% of the 1 billion people using the internet – in English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Korean, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Arabic, and Russian with volunteers who speak those languages.
Our long-term goal is to present the gospel to 1 billion people in every nation of the world through leading edge communication technologies and trust the Lord to see 100 million people indicating decisions of Jesus Christ and at least 10 million people connected to other local Christian movements. To do this, we must train 50,000 volunteers and continue to increase support for advertising the websites.

For more information on the resources mentioned in the article, click here