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The Five Authors You Meet on the Internet

My purpose in writing this e-book is to help churches and para-church ministries develop a process for using the Internet to create "virtual communities."  I believe that these virtual communities can be used to strengthen, encourage, and build up the body of Christ.  As an introduction to Finding Community, I have written the this first section I title "The Five Authors You Meet on the Internet". As you read this introduction to my e-book, I’ll introduce you to the plan for this book and why I believe you will benefit by reading and applying the lessons it contains.

	Feel free to download, print and/or distribute this chapter. In doing so, please leave the source information and reference to this site and the book, Finding Community: Building Connections on the Frontier of Online Ministry, on the document. Five Authors (PDF, 162K)	Don't have Acrobat Reader 5.0? You'll need it to read the document on this page. Go to Acrobat's site and download their reader. Here's the best part: It's free! Get Acrobat Reader

	The Living Room As we enter the Living Room, we notice at once that there is no one here.  Imagine, as if on queue, from the hallway a man enters to greet us- a man by the name of Robert Putnam.  He is the author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. View the Slide Show (4 minutes)	The Kitchen As we enter the kitchen, a man turns from the coffee pot to offer us a fresh brewed cup of coffee. Imagine that he is George Barna, the author of Growing Your Church from the Outside In.   View the Slide Show (4 minutes)

	The Study Walking into the Study, we see a man in his early thirties sitting at a computer. Imagine this is Andrew Careaga, author of E-Vangelism: Sharing the Gospel Online. He talks to us about how ministers and key church staff people use the Internet, and tells us there's a better way. View the Slide Show (4 minutes)	The Library We are welcomed into the Library by two gentlemen, whom we imagine to be John Hagel III and Arthur Armstrong. They are the co-authors of Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities, and begin to explain their concepts about building virtual communities online. View the Slide Show (4 minutes)