How do you know if your web ministry is effective? Well, one measure is that you’re following up with people effectively. One that I’ve recently gotten involved with is the one that TruthMedia is using. I’m a bit partial to them since I’ve spent good time with them!

I wanted to share some from an email I had with Doris, Interactive Manager of TruthMedia explaining how anyone can get involved with them. The following is our email conversation…

Rob: I am considering becoming an email mentor. What should I do?

Doris: In order to actually become a mentor, you need to fill out the Mentor Application…Our Mentoring Coordinator handles everything to do with Mentoring…..right from the application coming in, making sure that the Pastoral Reference is filled out, welcoming the mentors to the team, and matching the requests that come in with the mentors.

Rob: Where on your site is the best place for someone to start?

Doris: I would actually send them to this link first because it gives the big picture about mentoring.

Rob: So how many people are writing in?

Doris: In January we received close to 3000 e-mails. The number on our stats sheet is 2,724.

Rob: How many do you have who respond to those 3000 emails?

Doris: We have 324 registered mentors who respond to e-mails that come to the sites. We also have about 800 volunteers that we have working with us total, which would include more than just people that respond to e-mails, people such as our prayer partners who pray for our requests(different than prayer mentors who actually reply to the requests by e-mail), chat moderators, etc.

Rob: What should one expect if they volunteer with TM?

Doris: Good question! They should expect to have a ministry that is without borders, impacts people from around the globe, and is incredibly rewarding as people move forward in their personal relationships with God. They will be stretched in their own walk with God as they trust Him to minister thru them. You can read testimonies of volunteers that work with us, and they are quite amazing!

Rob: Do you have a great story about email mentorships you could share?

Doris: There are lots of stories that I could tell, but one of the most recent ones is a great example of how God uses our volunteers in the lives of other!

While at the gym one night in 2001, ‘Caleb’ saw an ad for Power to Change featuring Olympic Gold Medalist Catriona LeMay Doane. Back at home, he remembered the link, visited the site, and was matched with an online mentor. Over the next three years, the mentor continued to correspond and share the Gospel with ‘Caleb’ who was slowly warming up to surrendering his life to Jesus. On December 31, 2004, ‘Caleb’ sent this e-mail to our mentor: “you are the first to hear this, tonight I went right to the Powerto Change website, found the prayer, and yes, finally, did invite Jesus into my life!”
Our mentor writes, “What an honour to be a part of this man’s journey to faith! Since then everything has happened really quickly . Caleb left his consulting business to go to Sri Lanka to help with the tsunami relief. I helped him to get in touch with Global Aid Network, the humanitarian aid organization that partners with Campus Crusade. Caleb has stayed in the home of the Campus Crusade National Director for Sri Lanka, and is now staying with one of the other staff members in the area. He is helping with the relief effort there for the next 90 days. What an awesome story!”

Rob: Wow! Thanks for sharing!

Doris: You are most welcome! I am excited about working together in this way!

Would you consider answering being involved in an online mentorship? Can you do at least answer just one email a week as an email volunteer?