SUNBURY — When he began in ministry 25 years ago, the Rev. Rich Earl used floppy disks on a desktop personal computer with no hard drive.

Now, the 52-year-old pastor of Mountainside Assembly of God in Coal Township doesn’t leave home without his beloved iPhone, which allows him to research and communicate via the Internet, no matter where he goes.

“I’ve become completely addicted to my iPhone,” he said. “I don’t know how I lived before it.”

Determined to always be on the cutting edge of technology, Earl uses Google AdWords to help people find his church more easily online, and earlier this year he joined Twitter, the newest social media craze that allows users to post short memos about what’s on their minds.

“Twitter is a place I can throw out quotes, mostly to challenge and inspire people,” he said.

He has 380 followers, and knows only 10 of them personally, he said. He has made nearly 600 tweets since he signed up.

Earl also updates his Facebook on a regular basis, sharing thoughts and quotes, and counseling those in need.

He is one of many pastors and Christian organizations utilizing online social media and new technology to spread their influence from behind church walls to the World Wide Web.

And people are responding. As of Friday, God’s Facebook page had nearly 3 million fans.



Increasing connections

The Rev. Arlie Davis, pastor of Christ Wesleyan Church in Milton, has approximately 800 friends on Facebook, and gets new requests every day.

“I really love connecting,” he said. “Through Facebook, I’ve been able to connect with teenagers, and people in their 20s and 30s, that I never could have connected with before.”

Facebook messages go right to his Blackberry, and he finds even more ways to connect quickly through texting.

“I do love to text,” he said, and then added with a smile, “I’m pretty fast.”

His church also recently utilized Skype, an Internet phone service with video, so missionaries in Guatemala could talk with the congregation face-to-face during a church service.

On his personal Facebook page, the Rev. Mark Gittens, 36, of Higher Hope International Ministries, based in Sunbury, has 693 friends, and joked that he will have a party when he reaches his 700th.

“I use it all day long, every day,” he said.

He, his staff and board of trustees utilize Facebook to hold virtual meetings, allowing them to handle matters within 12 to 24 hours, as opposed to waiting another month to get together.

“Wherever there’s a Wi-Fi, there’s a way,” he said with a laugh. “We do everything virtual. We learned to be the church without walls, for real.”

Sunday morning services are held at the Cinema Center in the Susquehanna Valley Mall.

Approximately 70 percent of the 300 people involved with Higher Hope have connected with the church online through Facebook.

“We personally have been responsible for tons of numbers to the site,” Gittens said. Many came to the site specifically, he said, because they wanted to connect with Higher Hope.

Earl said he uses social media “to connect with people, to influence, and be influenced.”

Whether one chooses to join the movement or not, it will not change the fact that it is happening, pastors agree.

“This is the language of the day,” Earl said. “If we don’t speak the language of the day, then it’s like we are speaking a foreign language.”

Said Gittens: “We have to be forward thinkers. All of us are in learning mode at all times.”

And Jeremy Smallwood, associate pastor at Selinsgrove Church of the Nazarene: “When Jesus spoke to the crowds, he used acoustical advantages available to him. We use what is available to us to communicate the Gospel of Christ.”

“It’s like putting a jacket on because it’s cold,” added Gary Creely, also an associate pastor at the church. “It’s become a part of life.”

Nearly 100 of the church’s 500 members are on its Facebook group page, used as a discussion board, and to make announcements about coming events.

“People magnetize to you on Facebook,” Smallwood said.



Relevance is key

“It is wonderful to be able to communicate the message of God’s love using new technology,” said Gittens, of Higher Hope in Sunbury. “If we avoid this method of communication, we will lose the opportunity to reach out to current and future generations.”

And right now, people are desperately looking for ways to connect, he said.

“People are lonely,” added Earl, of Mountainside Assembly in Coal Township. “You can tell the lonely people on Facebook.”

While people of all ages are engaging in the social media movement, Dave Jones, co-host of “Get Real with Dave and Jana,” which airs weekly on Christian radio station WGRC, based in Lewisburg, said it is especially crucial for teenagers.

“Teens communicate more via technology than they do in person,” Jones said. “Hosting a radio show geared towards teens means that we need to embrace technology in order to ‘embrace’ our audience.”

“If you want to reach teenagers, you must have a presence in their world,” co-host Jana Snyder said. “Their world revolves heavily around social networking.”

They maintain a Facebook fan page, and also Podcast their shows to be more available to the audience they are trying to reach.

“To the teenager, technology means credibility,” Jones said.

Said Davis, of Christ Wesleyan in Milton: “It’s just reality at this stage. If you’re not connected, you’re not going to have an opportunity for ministry. You’re just not going to be able to be relevant.”

While “nothing substitutes a good conversation over coffee,” Davis said, new forms of social media technology do add significance to relationship-building.

“It should heighten communication,” Davis said. “It’s an opportunity to build better, bigger and deeper relationships.”

These forms of technology are communication devices and don’t replace one-on-one conversations, or holding someone’s hand and praying for them, Gittens said.

“You use it as a tool, but not as a solution.”

It’s easy to become so wrapped up in this social media that it becomes the ministry, but Smallwood said that’s not how it should be.

“We’ve done a reasonable job identifying it as a tool.”

“Don’t get married to this style of doing things,” Creely agreed. “It continues to just be a tool. If it stops working, pick up your next tool. Keep it employed, but keep it in its place.”



The future

“Social media is here to stay,” Earl said. “It has not done what I think it will do. It’s only going to grow. It’s not going to diminish.”

It’s important now, but it will be the primary means of communication in the future, he believes.

“I think it’s here to stay, and it will continue to develop,” Davis agreed. “We’re only beginning to tap into it.”

Creely believes Facebook has more staying power than other current social media sites because of its saturation rate. The number of people on Facebook equals the number of people living in the United States, he said.

“With every advancement there is always a caution,” Gittens said. “It needs to be harnessed with wisdom and a relational frame of mind so we, ‘the Church’, would remain touchable.”