As I sat in church recently it occurred to me that a good use for Twitter would be to send short Bible verses out to the faithful. Now while I am not really the audience for this as I don’t attend church regularly and I think Twitter is a bit silly, it still seemed like an intriguing idea. Imagine being able to get a daily scripture reference delivered to your phone; or how about a link to a web page with a whole daily sermon or lesson on it! So I basically Googled the idea and found that there are already a few resources for people of faith. Gospelr has already been created to provide a Twitter outlet for Christians. I also found a Facebook group Called “Christian Men of Twitter” that serves as a networking site for like-minded people.

Like any social networking programs, I think there are marketing opportunities here. It may be as narrow as churches advertising their services or much bigger. People who identify themselves as Christians make up 83% of the population of the U.S according to this report based on the U.S. Census. Fifty-one percent of these households, according to statistics from Changing Times, have incomes of $75,000 or higher. If you create marketing for a company that is either directly consider Christian-related or at least practices what could be considered Christian business ideals these new sites are opportunities that shouldn’t be missed.

Sorry, world. 

Once again some Christians decided that, instead of innovating and creating something of their very own, they’d simply rip off someone else’s successful idea and ‘Christianize’ it. Haven’t we realized yet that separating ourselves from the rest of the world so that we can live safely in a Christian bubble free from ‘the rest of humanity’ isn’t helpful? Nope.  

Today I bring you:

1. Christian Twitter — Gospelr 

The high point of Gospelr for me was reading about Daniel’s problems with diarrhea. Why did you save this for Christian Twitter, Daniel? I’m sure the rest of the pagans on the web were dying to know about your IBS.

2. Christian Guitar Hero — Guitar Praise

The high point of Guitar Praise? It’s a toss-up between including Petra’s “Backsliding Blues” or a song by The Crucified. The Crucified?! Did Mark Solomon really agree to this? I don’t believe it. 

Why can’t we simply use the original Twitter and the original Guitar Hero as creative and worthwhile ministry efforts in the first place? Or simply to have fun with? Sigh. 

I’m off to create a Christianized version of sleep. It’s like real sleep except, uh, better. And it probably will cost more.

Well, as if in response to yesterday’s post, today we have the new website Gospelr. This is a Christian Twitter of sorts, although it is not being billed as such.    It is a microblogging gospel tool according to the creators of the service.

I don’t want to be negative on what the creators are trying to do here.  They have a great mission and idea-I even like some of the features they have made part of their service.  But I can’t help but wonder if this is a ” should we just because we can” type of situation.

Does it just add to the christian ghetto?  Are we really going to reach lots of non-christian friends and unchurches through this website better than we could through Twitter itself?

I think most of the people I know would meet idea with a sigh and a rolling of the eyes.  ”Just another Christian culture copycat.”

I really do hope that this site in some way advances the kingdom, and I admire the obviously large effort that went into creating it.  I just can’t help but question it’s appropriateness or necessity.

Am I being unfair?

Here’s what some other folk are saying

Here’s what Gospelr is saying about themselves

Also, does Gospelr sound like a Dutch word to anyone else?

UPDATE! After discussing our similar mission and views with Gospelr creator Human3error I decided I was a bit harsh with my blog post and I agree I should be encouraging to brothers who have a mission. Forgive me if you read it, I’m still very young and not always the best at communicating my thoughts in a loving way. Anywho, to sum up my views on Gospelr.com, I’m a bigtime promoter of Roaring Lambs and how we should do great things in culture by joining it and not running from it. I actually was turned onto the book by Brian Pirkle and Lanny Donoho when I finished my internship with Bigstuf.

So I hope that Gospelr does great. I think it could be used as a tool for prayer requests and to me that is a great tool, because we can never have enough prayer in our lives.

1. Click the next button on this blog and comment on WHOEVER’s blog you get. Reach out to the lost.
2. Talk to folks on twitter who you know aren’t believers and continue to keep that relationship going.
3. If you are on Twitter, follow more people than are following you. Dive into their lives just like Christ did with us.
4. Don’t blog on just your views on church and Christianity. You can do quite a bit more by allowing non-christians to stumble on your blog and what you can communicate with them. Let people know who you are.
5. If you choose to post on Godtube I would also suggest posting the same thing on Youtube. My hope is that people make really funny, creative videos that can appeal to everyone and make a difference.

So my apologies for judging and tearing down where I was called to lift up. I think in some ways I can be who I don’t want to be the most!

You can also read the suprisingly positive review from Techcrunch HERE