Activist Faith co-founder, pastor, and author Daniel Darling shares a moving interview with S. Michael Houdmann. Houdmann’s website GotQuestions.org is reshaping how people find answers to their spiritual questions. He is one guy making a huge dent in this world through the use of emerging technology. Be informed and inspired!
-Dillon
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Last year, while attending the annual gathering of the IFCA, I stopped by a booth and met S. Michael Houdmann, a graduate of Calvary Bible College and Seminary. He
introduced me to his powerful website, gotquestions.org. I remember
thinking, “Why hadn’t I discovered this before?” Since that time I’ve
regularly visited gotquestions.org. Its a unique ministry idea.
Essentially they answer Bible questions every week, not just easy
questions like “Who is Jesus?”
but tough theological questions. And every single question is answered
with Biblical precision and accuracy. I can’t tell you how many times I
was preaching or counseling on a narrow theological idea and just needed
a sort of launching point in Scripture and turned to gotquestions.org.
They have an archive of thousands of questions and even have a page of
FAQ, what they consider their most important questions about God and the
Bible.
By the way, Got Questions is now available as an iPhone app.
I think gotquestions.org is one of the most profoundly useful tools to the Christian today. Today, we have the privilege of talking about gotquestions with its founder, S. Michael Houdman.
1) When you first started gotquestions.org, did you have any idea at how big it would become?
When my wife and I launched www.gotquestions.org
in February of 2002, we thought it would be a “hobby.” We had no
intention of growing it into a ministry, and never dreamed that it would
eventually become a ministry at which I was employed. We simply wanted
to provide a place where people could anonymously ask any
spiritually-related question that they had and receive
a biblically-based answer in response. God took our simple and small
idea (actually it was God’s idea) and exploded it into something far
beyond we ever imagined. In the past 8+ years, GotQuestions.org’s
traffic and impact have grown exponentially. We were recently informed
by an independent internet traffic site that GotQuestions.org is perhaps
the 2nd most heavily trafficked Christian website in the world. It was
several months before we received our first profession of faith through
one of the Gospel presentation pages. In recent months we have been
averaging over 10,000 professions of faith per month! If even 1% of
those are genuine first-time decisions to receive Christ as Savior, that
is still an amazing number. To God be the glory!
2) Do you think this is a reflection of people’s desire for spiritual answers?
Studies show that after pornography (sadly), the second most
commonly searched for topic is spirituality/religion/faith. People are
definitely seeking for spiritual answers. And while it would be best if
people would seek answers from solid, Bible-teaching churches, that
simply is not the case today. The internet is often the first place
people begin to look, so God has called us to fill that void with solid,
biblically-based answers.
3) Gotquestions.org doesn’t shy away from tough, theological questions. I’m sure that has gotten you some grief at times. Why tackle the tough stuff?
Sometimes I wish we could avoid the tough and controversial issues.
The amount of “hate” we receive can be discouraging at times.
However, controversial and difficult topics are the ones that most
people have questions about. And, controversial topics are the ones that
most need a solid, biblically-based answer. God has called us to speak
the truth in love on any question we receive, not just the easy ones.
4) I think what makes gotquestions.org such a valuable resource is the thorough
Biblical treatment of each question as well as the solid doctrinal
foundation. How do you evaluate your answers? Do you have a team who
looks them over?
Before any answer is sent out to a questioner, it is reviewed
and approved by at least one of our editors. Also, we have a fairly
stringent interview process before a person is approved as a writer.
That guarantees the answers will be of a high quality even before they
reach the editor. If an answer is chosen to be published online as a
FAQ, it is reviewed even more closely, to make sure it says everything
it needs to say and is worthy of publication for the world to see.
5) What do you think is the future of the internet, ministry, and the church?
Technology is growing/changing so rapidly. It is difficult to
discern what direction it is going and what platforms will be leading in
and more things are possible. It seems like the world is heading more
towards being connected all the time. Having a computer at work and at
home is not going to be the norm much longer. Smartphones, netbooks,
tablets, etc. are making the web more mobile. As a ministry, we are
seeking to find ways to make GotQuestions.org content easily-accessible
in all of these venues. We always have our eyes open to new possible
ways to reach people for Christ online.
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DILLON
BURROUGHS is an author, activist, and co-founder of Activist Faith.
Dillon served in Haiti following the epic 2010 earthquake and has
investigated modern slavery in the US and internationally. His books
include Undefending Christianity, Not in My Town (with Charles J.
Powell), and Thirst No More (October). Discover more at DillonBurroughs.org.
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