Modern Evangelism
By Apolinario Villalobos
The onslaught of modern social technology that has somewhat shrunk the world and made different races closer to each other should be treated as a blessing, rather than a bane. Although, some sectors claim that to some degree, it has contributed to moral decadence, its positive contribution should also be given due recognition. No less than Pope Francis, himself, makes use of the technology in reaching out to the Roman Catholic flocks, especially, those wayward souls.
There are many things that can be done to make use of this cheap technology to spread the Words and with visual innovations for the messages to be directly and easily grasped. Some facebook users make use of this approach by framing the biblical passages, complete with colorful background. Inspiring messages of this sort sometimes find their way to thousands of facebook and twitter pages. Others enhance their presentation by providing it with music when displayed. Still others provide a line or two of their own as confirmation to the message that they have shared. This effort is exerted via the internet.
The simpler way of evangelizing is via text messages sent through the cellphone. Unlike in the internet in which the effort involve copying and pasting, with the cellphone, passages have to be diligently copied from the bible, enhanced sometimes with short interpretation. I am among the lucky beneficiaries of this kind of evangelism. Every morning of every day of the week, the first messages that my cellphone receives are two spiritual messages from text evangelists, one is from Deo Escarilla, former airline executive who is based in Davao and who sends out messages in English, while the other one is from Recy Aniversario, a police retiree, who is based in General Santos City and who uses Filipino. Both are from the island of Mindanao, south of the Philippines.
I would like to presume that the two evangelists would painstakingly check the pages of the bible days before to choose appropriate messages for the coming days. They must have felt that their messages that we receive at the first hour of the morning help perk us up, energize us for the whole day. This is true, as how can I not feel blessed with the spiritual reminders all the way from the far southern island of the Philippines, just before I start my day? They may not be physically around to boost my spirit when I am down, but their ingenuity to reach out to me is more than enough to let me know that care knows no distance…thanks to modern technology.
penpowersong 