In 1995 I started building and marketing Christian-oriented websites. That makes me one of the veterans of the net. I was still in my teen years and saw the Internet as the mature version of Nintendo. Besides, the excitement of my learning permit lost its glow after the third or fourth drive with my parents.

My parents, by the way, would occasionally become frustrated with me and tell me to "Get off that computer and get in bed! It's 1 A.M.!" I eventually obeyed, but I don't regret those late nights of learning and building for the future. Today I simply tell them that I was preparing for my career.

Most churches did not have a website in those days. In fact, the idea of a church having a website was actually being debated by some churches and denominations. "Is it scriptural?" is something I remember hearing several times. In fact, even as late as the year 2000 I was actually reprimanded by a self-appointed church leader for making a very basic website for a church where I ministered to youth. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but I had done something too new for his taste -- and that just had to violate some scripture, somewhere.

We've matured beyond that now except for extreme and absolutely silly situations that aren't even worth mentioning.

"So webmaster, hurry up and tell us something useful!"

So you want to use the Internet to reach the lost?
Okay, but remember that just because something is new and trendy doesn't mean it's effective. However, through my work on the Internet I have come to believe that it can be very effective in reaching people. One example is what happened to the movie Gigli that featured mega stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. The marketers spent a jaw-dropping amount promoting the movie, and with expectations of being the "movie of the year" it had a very large opening weekend.

Then the teenagers and twenty somethings struck.

They blogged and posted in forums with statements like, "Overrated." "Stay at home." Or "Watch anything else."

The movie flopped.

"In the old days, there used to be a term, 'buying your gross,'" Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax, told the Los Angeles Times. "You could buy your gross for the weekend and overcome bad word of mouth, because it took time to filter out into the general audience."

Those days are gone with blogs and message forums that allow the "average person" to act as movie critic.