How Can We Help AllAboutGOD.net Grow?

[Greg, TheNET Coordinator]

I'm interested in finding out what we can do to help TheNET grow faster both in terms of numbers of members and the number of people interacting online at the same time.

On average we see 7 new members every day and about 8 online at once.

Is there something we should change or do that we aren't doing now?

Is there something we are doing that we should stop doing?

New members or visitors, what are your first impressions of TheNET?

[Greg, TheNET Coordinator]

An excellent suggestion, Callie. Thank you!

[Carla]

Hi All,

The Power in Prayer! I have added aag to my prayer list over the past week. God Bless~Carla

[Greg, TheNET Coordinator]

Yes, please remember to pray for TheNET everyday.

[Greg, TheNET Coordinator]

I think the idea of adding an AAG "signature" to your emails is an AWESOME idea. We should also check into the idea of AllAboutGOD.net gear too. Thanks for your suggestions.

[Jonathan McLatchie]

Toby - Personally I do not think it is in our better interests to shut this entire network down and start afresh as you suggest.

There are pages and pages of pages relating to Biblical doctrine, theology, science, philosophy etc which examines each discipline from a strictly Biblical worldview - these are to be found at http://www.allaboutgod.com and http://www.gotquestions.org.

I think theNet does a superb job in gaining and maintaining numbers, and I am sure the numbers will continue to increase steadily. I also think it is a great resource and useful for equipping Christians (discipleship) and has also been instrumental in people's salvation which I think we should praise God for.

Perhaps it would be a noteworthy suggestion to make the link from the main AAG page to theNET website more obvious - perhaps bigger and nearer the top so people see it.

Just a thought or three...

Hope this helps.

Jonathan

[Jonathan McLatchie]

Toby - can you please clarify what you mean by your statement that we detach the fundamental teaching of the message of Christ from anything else?

I have been on this site almost since it opened, and I have never come across one unsound doctrine - perhaps you could clarify this also? There are numerous forums and groups on theNET dedicated to Bible teaching and study. I intend setting up a Bible study group when I finish my exams next week.

I do not think this site teaches anything close to the "health, wealth and prosperity gospel", or has an emphasis on helping people 'feel good' as you seem to be implying. Granted, myself and others try to encourage and build up people on this site, but I do not think it is fair to contend that we detach that from the true message of the gospel. I think most people here are very open about telling people about the reality of sin, judgment, eternity, hell, need for a Saviour etc etc.

I am still not sure I follow what you are saying.

I am genuinely very sorry to hear about Jack and Mark leaving theNET. Jack, for one, made an invaluable contribution to theNET in both his activity on the forums (and elsewhere) and his warm greeting to new members. I am still not sure I follow the reasons why they left either. :-(

Jonathan

[Jonathan McLatchie]

Toby - it is not my intention to engage you in a debate. However, please keep in mind that there are people of varying backgrounds here. I think there is a widespread misconception among evangelicals today that catholics cannot be saved. However, this is simply not true. Anyone who has made a personal decision to invite Christ to be Lord of their lives is a Christian - regardless of denomination. Period. I do, however, agree that the catholic church teaches poor theology and one adhering to every doctrine thereof cannot be saved because they expect more of a person than simple faith. Needless to say there are certainly genuine Christians involved in the catholic church. I will say they are logically inconsistent - of a level similar to professing Christians believing in both the Bible AND evolutionary ideas or compromising the book of Genesis in favour of the popular philosophy of the day.

With such people I would respectfully and lovingly help them to see the error and inconsistency in the doctrine to which they adhere - the way Jesus would.

To be honest with you I see no substance in your "blasphemy" charge. Perhaps you could provide some quotes?

Jonathan

[maria joseph]

I completely agree wid u. Praise the LORD!

[Greg, TheNET Coordinator]

Toby,

Thank you for the suggestions about moving TheNET to a different platform. I certainly agree with the need for some different features, fewer bugs, less lag and less downtime. At this point, we are held back from doing more due to lack of funds and staffing. To manage our own source code, I think we would need to add a full-time staff programmer. Since we are not in a position to do that, I think we will have to rely on Ning for a while yet. Your offer to provide volunteer help is most appreciated!

Concerning growth in number vs. growth in spiritual maturity. I don't see the need for a tradeoff. I believe both are possible at the same time.

The primary reason we created TheNET was not for mature Christians but for new believers and newly recommitted believers. Over 90,000 people visit one of AllAboutGOD.com's websites every day. Of these 300 or more people profess faith in Christ for the first time and that number is growing. We created this social network as a way to provide some follow up for them and get them connected with other Christians and hopefully into a real-world church at some point. So...

It does make a difference to me that the numbers keep increasing because as the number of those that make professions of faith increase, the number of those joining here should also be increasing by at least the same ratio, but they are not and I'm trying to find out why.

Yes, I believe strongly in the need for discipleship and growth in maturity in Christ. However, this site is not necessarily meant for Bible-college trained believers, seminarians, or people that have been Christians for decades. Such are welcome to join, but they need to remember it is not a doctrinal debate site, nor a theological training site. There are lots of other Christian websites to do that. It is a nursery for baby Christians or maybe a preschool for them. It is a place to provide "milk" and encouragement, grace and love to help them grow. We'll let other organizations provide the "meat".

This network is meant to encourage brand new believers and to help them do some basic things like have a quiet time, be baptised, and learn to enjoy Christian fellowship in the hope they will become part of church and take some initiative to start growing in Christ. Your efforts to encourage new believers toward that end are appreciated.

The name "AllAboutGOD" is not so much about the network itself, but that OUR LIVES are to be "All About GOD". You may find Greg Outlaw's testimony (the founder and president of AllAboutGOD.com) under VIDEOs to be helpful in understanding what we are about here. Look for "In the Red Chair"

By the way, we do have a category in our forums on theology and doctrine. Were you proposing something in addition to that?

[Kellie]

I wish there was a way to send comments to all my friends easier without having to open each of their individual pages. That is very time consuming especially when you have dial up internet.Like for instance , when i click on view all my friends, on that page i wish there was a link under their names that said send comment individually or to send a group comment. I know you can send a group message to them but to be able to send comments would be great.

[Greg, TheNET Coordinator]

Hi Kellie,

More good ideas. Unfortunately, these kinds of features are under the control of Ning and we cannot add them ourselves. You can go to www.ning.com and somewhere there you can request them to add features that may show up sometime down the road.

[Sylenda]

My 1st impression of this site, was WOW the people here are friendly and really in love with God. And I did find this site by accident. I think that we may need to use the members we already have in order to get more members, with some type of link in our outgoing emails. I also think that we need to find areas on the web with free advertising and as always pray that God will increase the territory of this awesome site.

God Bless! Continue to pray for our Troops!