The remarkable success of evangelist Billy Graham's Crusades for Christ did not come from his
preaching alone, but also the immense amount of preparation and follow-up that went into planning
each revival.
Now, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is taking that experience and harnessing it to
save souls through the Internet in a way that perhaps only such a large and established
organization can.
The basic premise is simple: Use search engines to find people who are looking for answers to
life's big questions and direct them to a website,
http://www.peacewithgod.net
. From there, seekers are led through a series of readings and videos loosely tied to John
3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life."
At the end of the series, they are offered a chance to pray and to accept Jesus. Those who do
become a little point of light on a Google Earth application, showing more than 476,000 souls
around the world who have been saved through the site since it went live last year.
But that's not where it stops.
"People don't make decisions and then show up in church the next week," Director of Internet
Evangelism John Cass said. "These same people who are hurting in this world are still walking by
churches on every corner."
Although the site has been running in a beta mode, it is expected to be fully functional
within a month. At that point hundreds of volunteers will also be online, doing everything from
answering basic questions about God and Christianity to leading interested visitors through a
5-week online discipleship course.
Those new Christians will be encouraged to join local churches that are cooperating with the
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on the project.
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