Suggestion #2:
Have some more things to do on the island. The inner tube is fun, but someone might not find it. I was expecting to find some fun things in the kids areas. I dunno, bumper cars or something. Just having things for people to do other than read or watch videos, they might hang around longer, and they might just learn something.
I just thought of another suggestion: I was somewhere (in second life) and I saw a billboard type sign that simply had text messages in a loop. You could have scriptures, inspirational sayings, God’s promises, upcoming events, you name it. I stood and read what was on the sign just because it was looping messages. Keep up the GREAT work!

But I guess if she has no idea what you’re trying to say, that would be difficult.

Quick suggestion - I know that in Second Life, a lot of newbies will look for ways to accumulate a few extra linden dollars. Some of the more popular ones are “Money Trees” and “Camping Chairs”. Perhaps with the traffic we’re getting, we could also place highly on the searches for those items if we had a couple of those on campus. We could put a few thousand linden into the pot at the money tree (about $6 in real life) and probably attract a good handful of people by doling it out 10 linden at a time. If our camping chairs were in front of some on-demand video, people would come for the buckage and be exposed to the gospel, at the cost of about a penny for every ten minutes that someone sits there. (I suppose you could argue that there’s something fishy about paying people to listen to the gospel, but then, if it works, it’s just a good investment.)

Just my $5 linden. (that’s my 2 cents to the rest of us)

-Chris

I just saw that you have your new pic up on your profile. Looks great! It was nice to get to know you a bit and work with you on that.

Hey, quick suggestion, would you be open to putting up a link to our new startup church, Providence Fellowship? It’s http://ProvidenceFellowship.org and you may know the pastor, Jason Gilbow. Great guy.

Glad you enjoyed it. We actually show up very high when you search for “church” under the places tab in second life. We were number one for most of the week because of all the traffic the island is getting.

Nick,
It sounds like you may have not installed the software from second life. You have to download and install thw software before those links in my post will work. If you have done that already…I’m not sure what the problem is, but the folks at Linden Labs (second life owners) can probably help you.

When it comes to expelling or banning people, I think the question will come down to that of engagement rather than intent. If the guest is willing to engage the environment (even in wacky ways) and is willing and able to at least respond to chat attempts, then you’ve achieved what you want with the SL campus–engagement. Even if the intent is to disrupt, I’d allow the guest to stay so long as there is a two-way conversation.

I think you handled it well, Bobby. You threw out some questions and requests for clothing and got nothing back.

She came to visit the site at the invitation of a friend who had heard about the site through the creators of 2nd life (I may be a little off here, but I believe that this is correct). When they arrived on the site they were speaking another language. At the time I thought that it was German and I had a hard time trying to communicate with them, so I tried to find someone else on the site who spoke German to see if we could make contact. No luck there, but later on she and her friend were standing near the screens in the lobby, just looking around, so I triggered one of the screens to start it’s content running. It was an Urban Legends piece about sin. They sat down to watch and she began asking questions about sin and what our church believes. She was truly interested and is obviously seeking for a church that she feels can accept her for who she is, regardless of her past. Eventually we found out that she is in Austria, and wanted to know if we have a real world church there. They sat and listened all the way through the invitation at the end. We had some other spots of conversation before she and her friend left, and I do believe that there was truly a heart seeking. When she is ready to give up sin she will respond, if she has not already.

My point is that although she did not fit the mold of what some may have prefered, she reminded me of the couple that Craig had as greeters at one time (many LC folks will know this story). We need to accept those who are seeking on this site as they come in the door and offer every invitation and opportunity to them that we can. I agree that we can not allow protests in the lobby, and we will have LOTS of them. Chris had some great insight into what we should expect! Given the fact that we have leaped into ministering to a world that thrives on Pornography, there is going to be virtually (no pun intended) no way to stop this kind of thing from occuring, and we do need to police the area carefully. What we need to be careful of is that we do not judge them solely on their appearance. Jesus chose to minister to this type of crowd first. I am excited that we have the opportunity to do the same! Maybe what we should do is find a way to force those who choose to protest in our lobby to have to sit and watch a video that speaks to their situation while they are protesting. I don’t see a reason why we couldn’t share the gospel with someone who has chosen to sit there.

In the last week I have seen a lot of visitors in the small amount of time that I have had to spend there. I have met people from all over the US, and even one from the Czeck Republic, who was also someone seeking for a more relevant relationship with God than Catholicism was allowing him to have in his country. I asked Terry to hop on line after I met him since I had to get somewhere, and he met them before I left, so Terry may be able to share more about him.

One thing that we should also recognize is that we will see a lot of people from around the world who are living in different cultures and different situations, that we can’t predict. Prayer on our end is going to be our best tool to let the Holy Spirit show up how to procede when we don’t know anything about the visitors in this virtual world.

What we need to encourage is that everyone take as many opportunities to share on the site as are available. The late night and early morning hours seem to be attracting others from around the world since it fits their time zones better. We should look for volunteers who can staff the site 24 hours a day to take advantage of every opportunity that walks through the virtual door. I would like to be the first to volunteer some time (if no one has already :).

One thing to note if you try to use the video technique that I stumbled upon above: If you start a video you need to stay there or it will turn off when you walk away (someone in programming correct me if I am wrong, but that seems to be how it works).

One other note on the technical side: discussions can be confusing if you are standing too close to another discussion. Just like in the real world when you overhear a conversation near you, this does too. The difference is that since it is in a chat format you end up reading each others’ conversations mixed in with your own. In real life your brain filters out the other discussions. Proximity is an issue and there is only so much space in the building. I can’t wait to see what happens on Easter if we have loads of people show up. Speaking of which we better plan for the possibility of a protest then as well since we are advertising the experience time. Is there a way to at least limit access to the stage?

Sorry for the length of this. I don’t get time to do this very often, so I tend to unload a lot when I do have the chance.