November 27, 2008
Serendipity is the discovery of something good when expecting something else. This happened when Jonathan Towell and Colby Blaisdell installed Version 2 of the WEI teaching website. The improvement we expected with Version 2 did not include the 10-fold increase in the registration rate that resulted, nor did it include the percentage of registrants who returned the Introductory Test increasing from 15% to 30%.
WEI’s Internet Program had set a goal for 2008 of 500 people per month answering the Introductory Test. With Version 2, that goal has been reached and exceeded to 900 new students per month. A brotherhood-wide appeal was made for additional Internet teachers. Many responded. Some of these have already started teaching, and some are still preparing to teach.
Because of the huge increase in students without a comparable increase in the number of active teachers, the Google advertisements of the website were suspended for 2 weeks in November and 4 weeks in December. These ads will be resumed after Jonathan and Colby finish writing the code that will automate much of what we have been doing manually to get new students assigned to teachers.
Our Lord Himself commanded us to “go into all the world and teach the Good News to everyone.” For the first time in the history of the world, the Internet has given us the ability to teach everywhere without physically leaving our homes. WEI’s Internet Program can attract as many students as there are Christians to teach them.
Remember, in the Lord’s story of the talents, the servant with the least ability is the one who didn’t work. Maybe you can’t go to another country on a short or long term mission, but please don’t use what you can’t do as an excuse for doing nothing.
What will you tell the Lord when He asks you about how you used your time and money to teach the Good News?
— Bob and Jan
