DR. SEAN MCDOWELL A few years ago, I wanted to utilize social media more effectively. A friend gave me a copy of the book Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt, and I devoured it.1 Hyatt offers some remarkable steps to help people build websites and blogs and use other social media platforms like Twitter with greater effectiveness. There is good reason his book is a bestseller.
I started the book enthusiastically, but I was completely overwhelmed by the time it was over. As a result, I put it down and moved on. Why? The answer is simple: Hyatt gave so many steps that I simply didn’t know where to start. I didn’t have the time or resources to perform all the steps he suggested; the amount of work to be done simply overwhelmed me and kept me from taking any steps at all.
But later I had a game-changing thought: Rather than feeling the need to do everything, I would simply start by doing something. Doing something, I figured, is better than doing nothing. So I started with a few basic steps and learned to develop my social media presence over time. Rather than trying to hit a grand slam, so to speak, I focused on base hits. And while some people are much savvier than I was on social media, I have had some success and influence.
If you have made it this far in this book, you might be having similar thoughts as I did when first reading Platform: There are so many ideas; where do I even start? Here’s my suggestion: Just pick one strategy that seems most appealing to you, and go for it. That’s it!
Don’t feel the need to do everything. In fact, please don’t try every approach in this book. You will simply overwhelm yourself. But trying one strategy is much better than trying no strategy. Can you imagine the difference we could make if a significant number of Christians simply adopted one strategy in this book and put it to use? I am confident we would see droves of Mormons seriously considering the historic Christian faith.
But rather than imagining what could be, focus on what you can do. So, here’s the question: Which of the strategies seems most appealing and interesting to you? Is it the strategy by J. Warner Wallace, analyzing Mormonism through the lens of a detective? Is it the LISTEN approach by Dr. David Geisler and Brian Henson? Is it the “Impossible Gospel” by Keith Walker? Is it the Internet strategy by Fred Anson? Or is it one of the others? The key is not so much which strategy you adopt, but that you adopt a strategy and go for it.
If things seem to go well, keep at it, and give God the credit. And please let us know about it.2 Lord willing, you will see fruit from your efforts. If things don’t go as you hope and plan, learn from it, and move on to another strategy.
The good news is that God is pleased with our efforts if we are genuinely aiming to bring glory to Him (1 Corinthians 10:31). We are not responsible for the results. But we are responsible to use the gifts and opportunities God has given us to build His kingdom. What better way than lovingly reaching out to Mormons?
There’s no time to waste. Go for it.