Would Jesus Tweet?

Why Videos, Websites, and Tweets are more than a Passing Fad

Doug Bender

Doug Bender is the writer behind much of what is seen on the I am Second website, blog, and social media pages. If you don’t follow I am Second already, click here and see what the buzz is all about: www.facebook.com/iam2nd and https://twitter.com/IamSecond.

Published at www.GlobalMissiology.org, October 2013

Main Copy:

Would Jesus Tweet? Would he launch a YouTube channel or website? Would Jesus leverage videos, social media, and the world wide web to spread the world’s most important message? With nearly six hundred thousand social media followers and over twenty million film views the I am Second media ministry (www.iamsecond.com) believes online is the new “ends of the earth.”

Mass Communicator

Jesus had the twelve, but he also had the crowds. He spoke on hillsides, and lakesides, and synagogue platforms. No matter how big or small the mass that follows you, communicating to that mass is a necessity. Jesus used the natural acoustics that a hill provided and the social networking that a synagogue offered, it seems he gladly would have taken up the microphone, loudspeaker, and tweet, had it been available. Most will forget our speeches before they leave the building, or our sermons before they leave the parking lot. But social media reaches into the homes, phones, and computers of followers everywhere. Within the first month of launching, I am Second spread the gospel to nearly 100 countries through their website. Today, viewers have viewed these films from every country on the planet. While still just a small portion of the billions of people on our planet, I am Second has found reaching the earth may increasingly happen through a computer.

Short and Sweet

The longest of Jesus’ recorded speeches never broke the 15 minute mark. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech ran about the same at 17 minutes. Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address came in under four minutes. Clearly, length does not a great speech necessarily make. Jesus was master of the short answer and mini-speech, a talent perfectly fit for media ministry. While a website and a film can never replace the teaching found in a local church, it does help reach a world in which clips and sound bites are the new langua franca.

Of the People

Marketers spend gobs of money planning the introduction of any product, program, or personality. Jesus spent his introductory night in an animal feeding trough. And his first miracle? He provided extra wine at a family wedding. Jesus was a man of the people. You can’t always share the simple or mundane parts of life in a sermon. Surprisingly, the most popular posts on any Facebook page are pictures of babies, weddings, and silly jokes. Why? Because in an age where leaders too often come off as unreal superheros, social media allows you the chance to be personal, raw, and a bit more human, a chance, we think, Jesus would have jumped at. Some of I am Second’s most popular films are from people you have never heard of but who chose to be raw, authentic, and a bit more human. See what we mean: Annie Lobert [www.iamsecond.com/annielobert], David McKenna www.iamsecond.com/davidmckenna], and Whispering Danny [www.iamsecond.com/whisperingdanny]

Visual Teacher

A few short years after Jesus, the Jews would lead a doomed revolution largely over taxes- think Boston Tea Party turned bloody failure. Until the time of the Romans, no Jew had ever directly paid taxes to any other king but God. They paid a temple tax and from that came all government expenses. But the Romans demanded direct taxation. Someone dared to ask Jesus what he thought about the issue. Should Jews pay or not pay taxes? Any answer he gave would make him a traitor, either against Rome or against the Jewish people. So how did Jesus answer? He simply shared a picture, or at least the first century equivalent of one. He had his disciple grab a fish out of the nearby lake and produce a coin from the fish’s mouth. The picture on the coin answered in a way words never could. Jesus knew how to craft a speech, but proved equally adept at illustrating truth via visual aid. NASA has long been a bastion of scientific advancement. But not until Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, sang songs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo] and talked about toilets [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj-WgWLdiG8] did the love of space exploration reach beyond nerd-dom. Check out some of our own visuals and read the comments below them to see the kind of spiritual conversation a picture can muster: www.facebook.com/iam2nd

5. Social Networker

Jesus met and then healed a crazed tortured soul on the banks of a place called Gerasene in Mark 5. Jesus then sent the man back to his home with a simple set of instructions, “Tell your people what great things the Lord has done for you.” When Jesus later returned to this region, instead of being asked to leave as he was before, he was swarmed by people asking for healing. The spread of a single story changed a whole region. Social networking may seem like a buzzword today, a thing sure to fade with time. But while the mechanisms for how we network may change, social networking itself will always be the most powerful way to spread a message. Whether you are thinking about building a website, launching a blog, or jumping into social media, remember that the Jesus who preached the beatitudes also told stories, inspired scriptural writers, and fished coins out of the sea. Jesus may not have tweeted but I think he might have had it been around.