{"id":80,"date":"2011-01-19T10:54:30","date_gmt":"2011-01-19T10:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/activistfaith\/2011\/01\/got-questions.html"},"modified":"2011-01-19T10:54:30","modified_gmt":"2011-01-19T10:54:30","slug":"got-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2011\/01\/got-questions.html","title":{"rendered":"Got Questions?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Activist Faith<\/a> co-founder, pastor, and author Daniel Darling<\/a> shares a moving interview with S. Michael Houdmann. Houdmann’s website GotQuestions.org<\/a> 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!
<\/i><\/p>\n

-Dillon <\/i><\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>L<\/span><\/span>ast year, while attending the annual gathering of the IFCA<\/a>, I stopped by a booth and met S. Michael Houdmann, a graduate of Calvary Bible College and Seminary<\/a>. He
\nintroduced me to his powerful website, gotquestions.org. I remember
\nthinking, “Why hadn’t I discovered this before?” Since that time I’ve
\nregularly visited gotquestions.org. Its a unique ministry idea.
\nEssentially they answer Bible questions every week, not just easy
\nquestions like “Who is Jesus?”<\/a>
\nbut tough theological questions. And every single question is answered
\nwith Biblical precision and accuracy. I can’t tell you how many times I
\nwas preaching or counseling on a narrow theological idea and just needed
\na sort of launching point in Scripture and turned to gotquestions.org.
\nThey have an archive of thousands of questions and even have a page of
\nFAQ, what they consider their most important questions about God and the
\nBible.<\/p>\n

By the way, Got Questions is now available as an iPhone app<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think gotquestions.org is one of the most profoundly useful tools to the Christian today<\/strong>. Today, we have the privilege of talking about gotquestions with its founder, S. Michael Houdman.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

1) When you first started<\/strong> <\/strong>gotquestions.org<\/a>, did you have any idea at <\/strong>how big it would become?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

When my wife and I launched www.gotquestions.org<\/a>
\nin February of 2002, we thought it would be a “hobby.” We had no
\nintention of growing it into a ministry, and never dreamed that it would
\neventually become a ministry at which I was employed. We simply wanted
\nto provide a place where people could anonymously ask any
\nspiritually-related question that they had and receive
\na biblically-based answer in response. God took our simple and small
\nidea (actually it was God’s idea) and exploded it into something far
\nbeyond we ever imagined. In the past 8+ years, GotQuestions.org’s
\ntraffic and impact have grown exponentially. We were recently informed
\nby an independent internet traffic site that GotQuestions.org is perhaps
\nthe 2nd most heavily trafficked Christian website in the world. It was
\nseveral months before we received our first profession of faith through
\none of the Gospel presentation pages. In recent months we have been
\naveraging over 10,000 professions of faith per month! If even 1% of
\nthose are genuine first-time decisions to receive Christ as Savior, that
\nis still an amazing number. To God be the glory!<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) Do you think this is a reflection of people’s desire for spiritual answers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Studies show that after pornography (sadly), the second most
\ncommonly searched for topic is spirituality\/religion\/faith. People are
\ndefinitely seeking for spiritual answers. And while it would be best if
\npeople would seek answers from solid, Bible-teaching churches, that
\nsimply is not the case today. The internet is often the first place
\npeople begin to look, so God has called us to fill that void with solid,
\nbiblically-based answers.
\n3) Gotquestions.org doesn’t shy away from tough, theological <\/strong>questions. I’m sure that has gotten you some grief at times. Why tackle the tough stuff?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes I wish we could avoid the tough and controversial issues.
\nThe amount of “hate” we receive can be discouraging at times.
\nHowever, controversial and difficult topics are the ones that most
\npeople have questions about. And, controversial topics are the ones that
\nmost need a solid, biblically-based answer. God has called us to speak
\nthe truth in love on any question we receive, not just the easy ones.<\/p>\n

4) I think what makes<\/strong> <\/strong>gotquestions.org<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>such a valuable resource is the <\/strong>thorough
\nBiblical treatment of each question as well as the solid doctrinal
\nfoundation. How do you evaluate your answers? Do you have a team who
\nlooks them over?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before any answer is sent out to a questioner, it is reviewed
\nand approved by at least one of our editors. Also, we have a fairly
\nstringent interview process before a person is approved as a writer.
\nThat guarantees the answers will be of a high quality even before they
\nreach the editor. If an answer is chosen to be published online as a
\nFAQ, it is reviewed even more closely, to make sure it says everything
\nit needs to say and is worthy of publication for the world to see.<\/p>\n

5) What do you think is the future of the internet, ministry, and the church?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Technology is growing\/changing so rapidly. It is difficult to
\ndiscern what direction it is going and what platforms will be leading in
\nthe future. As the speed of the internet gets better and better, more
\nand more things are possible. It seems like the world is heading more
\ntowards being connected all the time. Having a computer at work and at
\nhome is not going to be the norm much longer. Smartphones, netbooks,
\ntablets, etc. are making the web more mobile. As a ministry, we are
\nseeking to find ways to make GotQuestions.org content easily-accessible
\nin all of these venues. We always have our eyes open to new possible
\nways to reach people for Christ online.<\/p>\n

+++
<\/i>
DILLON
\nBURROUGHS is an author, activist, and co-founder of Activist Faith.
\nDillon served in Haiti following the epic 2010 earthquake and has
\ninvestigated modern slavery in the US and internationally. His books
\ninclude Undefending Christianity, Not in My Town (with Charles J.
\nPowell), and Thirst No More (October). Discover more at DillonBurroughs.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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  +++ Last year, while…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-in-action","category-faith","category-worldview"],"yoast_head":"\nGot Questions? - Activist Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/activistfaith\/2011\/01\/got-questions.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Got Questions? - Activist Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Activist Faith co-founder, pastor, and author Daniel Darling shares a moving interview with S. 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