DS DISPATCH

Over the last few months we have been creating a new feature for TMM.io that will allow our websites and those of our partners to have live chat.

We are testing it live on Issues I Face and The Life now. This story is from the very first chat I (or anyone) had with a person other than one of our tests with a staff member.

James, our Technical Director who wrote the live chat program, was following my conversation with Jen. He wrote this soon after to send to his ministry partners.

My boss Sheldon (the director of our ministry) was the first to give it a try as a mentor. In less than an hour Jen (not her real name) popped up asking “i cant get in control of my life”.

Sheldon introduced himself and invited Jen to share more about the issues she wanted to talk about. As they chatted, Jen was able to open up about some of the struggles she is facing. She shared that she is in Botswana and found our site because she went to the Internet searching for help.

Throughout the hour and twenty minutes they talked, Sheldon was able to turn the conversation towards faith. She shared that she was a Christian but hadn’t been to church in a while. She allowed Sheldon to pray for her and to offer some suggestions for dealing with the issues she was struggling with.

This was such a cool conversation to have as our very first chat interaction. Near the end Jen shared “i really love this website, its the first live chat that was really helpful”

As we continue testing this system, we are evaluating every aspect of it, from the user interface to the latency between our systems. The thing that we really love however is that these conversations are able to help people know Jesus and experience his power to change the world.

Even though my conversation with Jen helped her confidence and encouraged her, the most exciting thing for me was helping her understand the role of Holy Spirit in her life.

Interested in having conversations with people in Botswana? Bolivia? Bangladesh? Many of the same things we struggle with in life are global issues. Being able to offer some guidance into her life helped me realize why I do what I do, and why I think you should all consider becoming a mentor!

One of our mentors recently shared this summary of a recent conversation with someone in Europe:

Annie* wrote in as a new Christian seeking assurance of forgiveness. Several months pregnant, she was finding it difficult to bond with her expected child. Memories of 2 abortions she had nearly forgotten were haunting her. She asked why she was finding it so difficult to receive God’s forgiveness and to forgive herself.

In the course of our conversation, we talked about how guilt (feeling bad for the things we have done) is different from shame (how we feel about ourselves because of things we have done). Guilt finds its solution in Christ’s death for us. Shame finds its solution in God’s view of us as his beloved children.

I invited her to discover more about her identity in Jesus by studying Ephesians with me. Every day, she would send in observant and poignant summaries of how God was freeing her from both shame and guilt. After Ephesians we studied the Gospel of John together.

In the course of a few months, she went from being weighed down by guilt and shame to worshiping God with a heart filled with joy.

In mid-November she gave birth to her first child. The birthing was difficult, but she was able to rest in Jesus and trust that all would be well. She continues to grow in Christ, seeking to show his love to her child and to her husband.

*name changed to protect confidentiality