It’s a GMO not a GTO…
The World on Wednesday by Jim Smithies, Bethel’s Pastor of WORLDReach
Recently my very good friend, Eric Weir, wrote an article for our WORLDReach Missions Team. It is stunning how powerful, accessible and easy this tool for evangelism and discipleship is. I’ve copied Eric’s article here…with great appreciation. We have one other person at Bethel, Linda, who is also using her computer in these redemptive ways. Pray for them. Join them. Thanks.
Reach the World for Christ…..from your home computer!
How Does a GMO Work?
A great thing about the internet is how the Lord uses it for His good purposes. For example, Campus Crusade for Christ is now using it to reach people around the world. The new ministry of Global Media Outreach (GMO) “casts a net” of various spiritual questions on the web & other media sources. As people show an interest, their inquiries are directed to over 2,000 volunteers who respond with e-mails. During 2008, these sites had over 3 million visitors, with over 500,000 people making decisions for salvation or rededications.
What’s been my experience?
My first contacts with GMO began in Feb. 2008. Their on-line training course took about 30 min. to go through. My first contact was from Thailand, and I was soon amazed at the different parts of the world from which people were responding. You can request how many contacts per week you’d like, anywhere from 3 to 24. I started with 3, but then would pick up a few more each week as time allowed; it takes me around 2 hrs/week! Contacts would usually be people who had just accepted Christ, or rededicated their lives to Him. We send them a response and also suggest several helpful websites they can access. Follow-up e-mails are also important.
The overall response rate from site visitors ranges from 15% to 30%. A friend of mine has about a 40%+ response rate. Mine is a little less than 15%, but I’m ok with that for two reasons. First, He’s shown me how some of my responses are being used. Secondly (and this is true for all GMO volunteers)…your response rate isn’t the total picture of what God does with your e-mails. It takes persistence. A lot of GMO work is sowing spiritual seeds…and doing it by faith. Someday He’ll show us what He did in peoples’ lives with the rest of our e-mails!
GMO Volunteers receive contacts from many parts of the world…I’ve gotten initial inquiries from-
Thailand Kenya S. Africa Phillippines India Ghana
Jordan Botswana Algeria Uganda USA Bosnia Paraquay
Jamacia Vietnam England Nigeria Norway Maldives
Congo Tanzania Turkey Romania United Arab Emerites
Ireland Burundi Mobi Zimbabwe Madagascar Bangladesh
Egypt Finland Iran Zambia Ethiopia Malawi Fiji
Ivory Coast Lebanon Myanmar Guyana Jordan France
Canada Gaza Saipan Rwanda Brunei Hungary Sudan
Senegal Cayman Islands Syria Russia Yemen
Here’s a reply a GMO volunteer received from Ghana - “I want to express my heart-felt appreciation for your help. As you are on a good course, your labor shall never be in vain. May the good Lord bless you and be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit so that you will not be tired of what you are doing. God bless you all.”
A sister from the USA sent this to a volunteer - “Thank you so much for checking with me. Immediately upon receiving your e-mail, I checked out the helpful site and am finding it very useful. I just finished the link “Personal Struggles”…it was so powerful that I emailed it to a friend & will also forwarded it to a family member. I thank God for you and your willingness to be used by Him. God bless.”
How can you learn more?
Visit www.GlobalMediaOutreach.com and/or contact Eric at ericweir@suddenlink.net.
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