“Picture a teenage girl in a school cafeteria…. She’s slouched in a chair popping bubble gum. The whole world passes her by, yet she doesn’t even notice. Why? Because she’s tuned in to that little thing in her hand—a cellphone. Most likely she’s texting, instant messaging her friends, or browsing Facebook. Picture a young man on a computer in an internet café somewhere in a third world country. Or how about a young college freshman browsing the web on a laptop? The new generation coming along is radically different from you and me. I’m a young man myself and can barely recognize or connect with this new generation. But what if we could present the gospel to each of these people through their medium of communication? ….We can!” (~Jared Rowe)
This is the need Jared Rowe saw, and the vision God gave him. When most people saw a predicament—a problem of the modern generation—God showed Jared a possibility. All his life, he had been intrigued by computers and set out to learn their inner workings. As the world of the web was opened up to him, he saw potential for the Gospel, and an idea was born—to “reach the masses right where they are”.
Together with his brother-in-law, Marlin Zimmerman, he created the iMissionaries website, designed to enable you to evangelize through the internet. With 16 major social media sites around the world and 1.5 billion active users on Facebook alone, it’s an open mission field that reaches into the places most people can’t go with the Gospel—from American schools to closed Muslim nations. iMissionaries walks even the most basic computer user through a simple process to place Christian ads on Facebook and other social networking sites. People around the world can click these ads and read Christian material in their own language. In the short time these ads have been being placed on Facebook, thousands of people have clicked and viewed these materials in such countries as Algeria, Iraq, Thailand, Ukraine, Indonesia, and Singapore.
However, while we do encourage you to check out iMissionaries.org and get involved in placing ads around the world, iMissionaries is only a product of a deeper motive. A greater challenge—a more far-reaching action—is that of thinking outside the box. Climb out of the rut of the typical perception of missions and use what tools you do have—no matter how unconventional—to reach out with the Gospel. Ask God, “What can I do?”