That\’s it!

Every day the staff of the Internet department of WBS gets to experience something that is exciting, inspirational, or humbling. Yesterday, we had all three.

Our programmer recently activated the ability for a myWBS user to upload an “avatar”.  An avatar is a little picture that serves as an icon to represent the user.  Traditionally most users post a picture of themselves.  Some use a picture that represents their interests or personality in some way.

During our staff meeting yesterday, we looked to see if any of the WBS web students had uploaded an avatar to their profile.  What we saw excited, inspired and humbled us.  Over 100 students had uploaded images that instantly put faces and personalities with their names and ID numbers.

Yesterday, the web students came to life.  With over 1,000 web students enrolled in the first two months, we were reminded that these are real people seeking God.

Here is what we saw. God is good.

WBS web students – real people.

It’s official. Another historic event has taken place.

Following months and months of careful and prayerful planning, WBS went live with the web-based courses at 11:39 PM, Sunday, February 15th. In less than two minutes of turning on our Google ads for the web courses, we had visitors on the site from China, to United Arab Emirates, from New Zealand to India and right here in the good ol’ U. S. of A.

“Ding dong.” “Ding dong.” A cool piece of technology logs our site visitors, so that every time a new visitor comes to World Bible School, I hear the sound of a doorbell ring.

I listened and watched the logs as our first student enrolled at 11:59 PM – Lisa, from Canada, followed quickly by Dheshni from South Africa, and Melvin from Spring, Texas. I had a variety of emotions as I watched real people in real-time seeking God, reading WBS lessons and taking the quizzes.

I was excited to know that even at midnight on a weekend, people could instantly begin to study the Bible. I was also humbled at how God has equipped His people in these modern times with the method and means of communicating the Gospel in a way that so quickly reaches its arms around the globe. It is not cliché to say that your support of World Bible School makes it possible for us to use technology to reach the lost at no charge to the students.

As we look together down the electronic road to the early summer, we see email and postal teachers beginning to use the new myWBS. Our department is busy getting the teachers pages ready on the new system. Along with keeping your records, you will be able to interact online with your students as well as other postal, email, and web students in the growing web community areas of myWBS.

“Ding dong.” That’s it! Gotta go see who’s just entered the site!

That’s it!

Everyday I see how your efforts are impacting the Kingdom. It matters. It is changing lives, and therefore we dream through faith to do even more in 2009.

This year is going to be exciting. What’s new with technology and ministry? It’s a difficult question to answer because so much is moving so fast. But today I thought, “That’s it! I want to tell you about myWBS 2.0.” It starts with a website called “Facebook.”

Facebook is a 5-year old social utility that helps people communicate with their friends, family and coworkers. Facebook technologies facilitate the sharing of information through real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment. The results?

WBS is keenly aware of the social networking phenomena surrounding Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace. For more than 2 years, WBS has been developing a new system to capture the positive elements of this type of communication and apply them to teaching the Gospel.

WBS is about transforming the world through the Good News of Jesus. When people of common interests converge on the web to learn, share, discuss, and recommend – like a marketplace at the crossroads – the environment is ripe for evangelism.

In 2009, WBS is releasing a series of new tools which will provide you and your students new ways of sharing your common interest of learning about Christ.  These tools are part of the new myWBS, “Version 2.0″.

myWBS 2.0 brings all WBS users – email and postal teachers, email, postal, and web students, follow up workers, churches and staff – into one social network for the purpose of growing in respect to salvation.

WBS is joining evangelism and social networking like no other Christian ministry. Join WBS as we continue to blaze the trail at GodSpeed. We look forward to telling you more and having you join us.

That’s it!