[Note: There is a bit of Campus Crusade lingo used here. VLM = 'virtually-led movements', a term we use internally to describe how we use the Internet to help build spiritual movements online. And there are others...]

MinistryNet Ideas from Dennis Strellman on Vimeo.

MinistryNet and ‘VLM’ Integration from Dennis Strellman on Vimeo.

Knowledge Cafe at MinistryNet
- photo by Mick Haupt

Here’s what one veteran participant had to say about the MinistryNet Conference last week.

International gatherings are inevitably complicated and expectations are hard to meet, given different cultures and languages. I’ve been in my share of so-so conferences like this over the past four decades. But the buzz here in Antalya is palpable. A fellow from Romania said he was so excited he could hardly sleep. A British colleague has people queuing up to discuss how he could help with transforming their corporate websites into a platform for transformational ministry based on his boundary-busting prototype.

Reports like this convince me that God answered the prayers of many people and made last week’s conference a big step forward for our organization’s ability to integrate the use of the Internet with how we work to tell people about the hope of the gospel.

My boss, Keith, wrote the following summary of the MinistryNet Conference.

I’ve been watching the 166 MinistryNet participants leave today. 37 countries on 5 continents are receiving back some highly motivated people with written strategic plans to implement specific steps to leverage internet communication tools in our win-build-send mission. My prayer is that the world will never be the same. That the kingdom will be impacted for eternity because of our days together.

This conference was a special time for me. God reminded me that when I was asked to step into the Chief Technology Officer role in 2001, I asked God what he would have me work towards. I wrote down 4 things. One was “Identifying emerging leaders with a pioneering/entrepreneurial spirit who are willing to claim a part of the internet world for Christ.” This conference was part of God’s gift to me to see it happening.