(Image courtesy of www.thedougandjonshow.com)
USA (MNN) ― A typical teenager today spends a lot of time on facebook, YouTube, and MySpace. The Doug and Jon Show from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries is reaching the typical teenager with the Gospel.
"We've seen close to 100,000 visitors to the site," said Doug Hutchcraft -- "Doug" of the show. "And ultimately, through the site, we want a young person to find the relationship in Christ that has changed Jon's life, that has changed my life. And so far, that's happened with a little over 2,000 kids."
Doug and Jon started testing www.thedougandjonshow.com in April and began serious programming in August. They attract visitors by creating a presence for their funny videos, cartoons, and blogs on social networking sites like facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. Kids click through the links to find more fun stuff on the Web site, as well as presentations of the Gospel.
So far, 2,000 people have clicked the Gospel presentation's "Yes I Prayed" button to get in touch with the Doug and Jon Show by e-mail and learn the "5 Secrets" of building a sound relationship with God: talk with Jesus, read what He's written, be with His friends, do what makes Jesus happy, and talk about Jesus. Over half of them did so in the last month.
"The way that the internet works is a real viral kind of a thing, where if one person likes it, they tell another person and they tell their friends, and they tell their friends," Hutchcraft explained. "So it's a snowball effect with more people finding it."
The Doug and Jon Show works hard to run a Web site that communicates with kids in their language. Social scientists are calling this generation of teens "Mosaics, because they get their information in little bits and pieces and kind of string it together," Hutchcraft said. As a result, a great way to communicate with them is through funny media on the internet.
"If we want to communicate the love of God to young people, we need to be sure that we are communicating to them...in a language that they can understand. That language just happens to be the stuff that becomes the biggest on the internet -- the fastest, the funny stuff -- the stuff that strikes a nerve with a felt need: ...the pain of being abused, or parents getting divorced, or you name it," Hutchcraft said.
The Doug and Jon Show is praying that one million more people will respond to the Gospel invitation on the Web site in 2010.
"[This goal] is not about numbers but because we're trying to pray some God-sized prayers here," Hutchcraft said. "Our hearts are heavy for youth to find the God that can give them eternity in paradise, in heaven."
Pray for wisdom and discernment for Doug, Jon, and their team as they interact with teens. Pray that the hearts of many kids will be drawn to Jesus Christ, and that they will find Christian communities where they can grow in their faith.
