September 7, 2024
MARIETTA – According to Arthurian legend a “knight in shining armor” is a heroic rescuer. In medieval literature knights are depicted as individuals of courage, valor, heroic defenders of the innocent and paragons of virtue. A new and effective ministry called Gloo Connect has emerged as a “knight in shining armor” to point people to Christ and help rescue churches that are looking for a new way to penetrate our increasingly troubled society with a message of hope and life.
While almost every church wants to thrive, for the past two years the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many churches to entrench and strive to survive. Evangelism endeavors, community outreach, home visits, revivals, Vacation Bible Schools, and outreach projects in many cases have been put on hold. Pastors and church leaders have been desperately searching for a way to reach those who need hope, encouragement, peace, and salvation.
Amidst this crisis Gloo has formulated an innovative means to help your church reach your city for Christ with a creative and intriguing outreach platform that should revitalize the family of God, help our churches prioritize the Great Commission and result in many coming to faith in Christ. The ultimate goal of Gloo is to focus the attention of the nation on Jesus Christ and exalt Him above all else.
Gloo was first introduced to Southern Baptists last year when in response to the SBC Executive Committee’s new prayer ministry assignment developed a new technology toolkit devoted to elevating prayer throughout the convention. Steele Billings, Gloo vice president, said the toolkit provides a practical resource to call church members to pray.
At a recent meeting at Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta Christopher Nelson, Kristy Shotwell and Ernesto Marquez, representatives of Gloo, outlined their strategy to help church leaders bridge the gap between “explorers” (those in search of hope and help) and the church.
Through a process born out of fervent prayer and extensive research Gloo has discovered that “people are looking for answers – now more than ever”. They want to know how to conquer anxiety, how to save their marriage, how to pray, how to overcome loneliness, sadness, and a variety of other real-life issues.
But instead of turning to the church for help, people are searching online for the answers to the burning questions in their lives. Unfortunately, Google does not have the proper Gospel-centered answers for those probing questions that burden the hearts of multitudes of people. However, Gloo is prepared to show that the church can provide the answers to those questions that keep people awake at night.
Gloo is solving this problem because they have developed a process whereby those explorers who are asking those penetrating questions can connect with a church that has honest, biblical, life-giving answers.
Shotwell asked the group at Roswell Street Baptist Church, “What if the biggest brand in your city was Jesus? What if He were to receive more publicity or visibility than Delta, Coca Cola or Home Depot. What if we filled the airways and television stations with advertisement and line the highways with billboards that would point people to Christ? According to extensive research completed in 2021 we have discovered that 54 percent of the people in America are open to learning more about Jesus.
“We want to change the narrative, effectively engage people and mobilize your congregation to reach the unreached. So, we want to launch a massive advertising campaign that will transcend the commercials provided by automobile companies, grocery stores and other retail businesses. We have a wonderful benefactor that will fund much of the advertising.”
Nelson added, “There are also multiple donors throughout our cities that have committed to funding this initiative to see their cities transformed for good.
“For the past twelve months, we have focused on Dallas-Fort Worth, South Florida, Kansas City, Missouri and Columbus, Ohio. We recently launched in Charlotte. We also have five other cities in which we are running the “He Gets Us” Campaign. “He Gets Us” will go national by mid- March. The other campaigns we are supporting will start nationally soon thereafter.”
Since July 2021 the Gloo website has received 575,000 visitors and over 16,500 request from people saying they want to talk to someone. These people are referred to churches near the location of the explorer to provide the care, counsel and witness needed by that caller
“By helping churches and people connect to each other, and then powering those connections with the right tools,” Nelson continued, “we extend the church’s capacity to reach, know and impact every person it serves.”
Nelson declared that the advertisements would start running in Atlanta when thirty churches indicate that they are willing to receive explorers in their area. He anticipates that as many as 600 churches may get involved in metro Atlanta.
Roswell Street Baptist’s Michael Lewis, the host pastor for the event, stated, “GLOO is an innovative and trusted partner using internet search technology to connect people with life’s challenges to a local church that has the answers. We at Roswell Street are excited to receive ‘discoverers’ who will be linked with us to provide caring connections which will lead to Gospel sharing. We are utilizing resources from the Great Commandment Network such as ‘Keeping Marriages Healthy’ workshops, and ‘Hope-filled Living in Turbulent Times’ groups to empower us to reach many with the Good news of Jesus’ love.”
Daryl Price, the Associational Mission Strategist (AMS), who convened the meeting stated, “People are hurting! The global pandemic and the world’s doom and gloom response has increased the pain and agony people are experiencing. They are looking at the Internet in search of help, but not necessarily looking to the church. Gloo’s innovations have provided learning opportunities and technology to help the church show up in search engines allowing the church to do what Jesus commanded - minister and make disciples. They are showing the church how to use the digital ecosystem so that struggling explorers see the church showing up to help people who are really hurting and seeking.
“I am personally thankful for the generosity and investment Gloo is making in the church that are producing eternal dividends. Disciples are being made and people are responding in faith to Jesus! I have high expectations for many, many more people following Jesus in the days ahead as we lift his name up— in magnified ways.
Jimmy Kinnaird, the AMS in the Fairburn Association, remarked, “For our Association, joining with Gloo is a no-brainer. The whole idea of running digital campaigns based on felt needs and then offering a connection to local church congregations is an easy sell.
“What makes Gloo different is there are now tools for equipping local church congregations to respond immediately and with confidence to a person asking for help in the digital sphere. This opens the Cloud as a mission field to the local church. If our association is going to be relevant in the digital age, reaching people with the hope of the gospel of Christ in the Cloud is imperative.”
Ray Gentry, the AMS at the Southside Baptist Network, commented,
I believe any church that utilizes Gloo will be blessed with an open door of opportunity to reach people in their community that they otherwise would not be able to reach. Gloo wants the local church to be the hero, not them. They exist to connect people looking for answers to churches who have The Answer - Jesus Christ.
Price added, “Gloo is also helping churches and Christian ministries work in a unified platform providing not only resources, tools and innovative technology to fulfill the great commission but to grow believers in all aspects of life, focusing on five dimensions of flourishing — spiritual, relational, vocational, physical and financial.
“The team at Gloo has been helping me as a leader develop and serve our churches with quality resources and relationships. Gloo is building a technology and platform that is giving church leaders a leading-edge innovation to reach hurting humanity with the needed life changing message of the Gospel. They are also helping churches use technology to teach believers how to abide in Jesus. Many of their tools help encourage prayer, Bible reading, discipleship and evangelism.”
In December 2021 the Pew Research Center reported that Christians now outnumber religious “nones” by a ratio of a little more than two-to-one. The “nones” are people who identify themselves as atheists, agnostics or tied to no religion. This recent statistic is particularly alarming because in 2007 or fifteen years ago the ratio of Christians to “nones” was five to one. These statistics reveal that America is rapidly becoming a secular nation. This trend must be reversed.
If churches will respond to the creative and innovative concept Gloo is offering our cities, God could very well use it rescue multitudes of people from the woes of a faltering existence and give them a new and purposeful life. For more information go to: http://www.hegetsuspartners.com/
