lds9999

Another great video by SethAdamSmith about Emma Smith. Please watch, favorite and share this video with others. YouTube - The Nauvoo Willow Tree - Reflections of Emma Smith This website also has more information about Emma Smith--other videos, biography by one of her descendants, etc.

Welcome Kerry! I've really enjoyed your contributions on Youtube and glad to see you here as well.

A great new video from SethAdamSmith:

I just came across this channel on Youtube: YouTube - mormonmissionaries's Channel I couldn't believe how many videos they had of missionaries from all over the world!

Also interested in this explanation. :)

Glad to hear of the success you're having in reaching people online.

You're right that free publicity is definitely the best. I'm not sure whether the Church has scaled back its media efforts or not, but it is a very expensive way to find people. I wonder if we as members are effectively engaging these people who ask questions. Surely the last couple years has brought more publicity to the Church than it has in a while. Have the number of investigators and converts increased as a result? I'm not sure.

Thanks Maya for all your ideas (and for your passion about online missionary work). I too strongly believe that the Internet must play a bigger role in finding people and that members need to be trained how to do it. We have had talks and classes for decades now (180 years!) about how to talk to friends and family about the gospel. It should be no surprise that with a new medium, most members need some clear direction. P.S.--I saw your Finnish translation of the temple video--great job! Make sure to put it up on Youtube with a Finnish title!

I notice a number of people have mentioned the idea of increasing service (both by missionaries and members). I also really like this idea. However, I just found this statistic (realizing that it's nonscientific and small sample) from cumorah.com. "I also surveyed eight-six nonmembers about what was the most important to them when individuals of other faiths shared their beliefs. Thirty-eight percent replied that they most valued the sharer's example of righteous living, while 27 percent cited mutual respect for the belief of others. Twenty-six percent cited the sharer's expressions of how his or her faith has helped him or her in life, and 7 percent noted that service was the key factor. Only 2 percent cited the sharer's ability to clearly explain beliefs as being the most important to them." Would an increase in service have a significant impact on missionary work? I'm not sure.

Lots of great ideas here--thanks for sharing! To me, it's interesting that only a couple people mentioned greater use of the Internet. (Particularly interesting since we are all active lds.net users!) Any other ideas out there?

There have been a number of articles written about how though the Church is still growing, in the US and worldwide, its growth has slowed compared to the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Church growth has stayed about flat since President Hinckley encouraged us to "double the baptism" ten years ago. Most of us have thought about this, at least from time to time. How would you fundamentally change the approach to missionary work? How would you specifically use the Internet, media and other new tools? My questions are aimed at changes or ideas that can bring us significantly closer to doubling the baptisms, not just slightly increasing growth. Looking forward to people's thoughts.

Great new video from the MormonMessages channel:

I think mormon.org is terrific, but I do not think it's the "be-all end-all" that we sometimes make it out to be. President Hinckley talked about how one of the things people need is a "friend". I think every online investigator needs a friend that they can bounce questions off, get information from, and just get to know an active LDS member. There is a lot of groundwork that has to be laid before most people will request anything from mormon.org, visit a meetinghouse, or even do the live chat with missionaries on mormon.org. If someone is interested in the Church, they can google Mormon and go to mormon.org. As online missionaries, we need to do more than that. I realize we all take varying approaches, but I'm fairly confident in saying that we haven't "cracked the case" yet with online missionary work.

I think we need to remember though that sending people there is only the first step. I think too often we are inclined to tell people to visit mormon.org and somehow believe that they will know what to do from there. It would be like the missionaries handing people a Book of Mormon or telling people where the local church is but then never following up. In every case possible, continue the discussion through e-mail, PMs, etc. Help people find the specific answers they are looking for. Invite them to take specific actions like go to church, read the Book of Mormon, etc. Only then will we start to see online missionary work really take off.

I've tried to increase my efforts since Dec. 2007, first on Youtube and now with Greek websites about the Church. I personally think that is a major area where we could focus more--foreign languages. The percent of members who speak a language other than English is high--we should also be creating blogs, websites, etc. in those languages. Frankly, it's easier to get visitors to your blogs and websites in a foreign language than it is in English because there's less competition.