Dear Internet Church Family,

I tuned into the online Bible study at the AME HERALD chat room last night and I found it to be very educational. We discussed Acts 2: 2-19 which is about the Holy Spirit enabling the disciples to speak in foreign languages and enabling members of the church to do God's will. I will admit that the Internet technology is frustrating when trying to conduct a Bible study in a chat room because one cannot type as fast as he can talk. Nevertheless, I am going to pray that we continue our study of the Holy Spirit. I will also admit that I found Rev. Rogers questions to be very systematic and thought provoking. Quite frankly, I have not felt like a student in a long time. Thank you Rev. Rogers for conducting this Bible study and I look forward to subsequent lessons on the Holy Spirit.

Jazzman

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2003

Answers

Jazzman, thank you so much for coming to the chat room and we will have more scheduled chats. We may actually move our bible studies to a forum on the Herald, which would give people more opportunity to think about the questions and it will provide more opportunity to get the historical information out. It was a lot of fun just getting together and talking about God.

Licentiate Danielle Rogers the co-editor of the Herald enjoyed the chat a lot and wants to continue. We will continue our discussion on the Holy Spirit next week June 17th at 9 PM. Eastern standard Time and we will also have some bible studies in our AME Herald Forum.

Jazzman thank you for suggesting that we do this and you have a great mind. Thank you for your encouraging words!

-- Anonymous, June 11, 2003

I enjoyed the bible study chat room on Tuesday evening. It was I believe an historic AME first in which parcipants from FL-VA-MT where able to study the Bible thru the benefit of chat room technology. I strongly favor retaing the chat room format despite a few technical glitches which delayed the start. The primary benefit of chat rooms is the ability to participate in 'real-time' dialogue with expedited feedback. Hosting a Bible Study in a BB or Forum is OK but you lose the ability to have real-time exchange and quick responses. As I stressed on Tuesday evening the key is to type quickly and don't worry about perfect spelling. Most of us can figure out what you mean when you use syntax shortcuts (e.g. 'cause for because or Prez for President). Chat rooms can accomodate a large meeting and functions like a collective Instant Messaging (IM) service. Several years ago I was in a chat room with the late Rev. John Fisher and he had the technology to allow for audio in the room. Upgrading to audio expedites exchange even more and could serve as an appealing attraction for future use. QED

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2003

Well, Bill since you are on staff of the Herald your input means a lot. And before I forget we already have audio capabilities on the Herald website and video. So we do not have to upgrade, it is included in our hosting package from "Ourchurch.com" I am planning to have an interview from convo or the Bishop's council on the site.

As you know one of the goals of the Herald is to report news in a timely fashion and to also provide new avenues for our denomination to exchange ideas. We also have private chat rooms, which means organizations can have meetings and discussions without the top leaders having to spend a thousand dollars. This is a brand new set up and we will use it to it's full potential.

On tuesday June 17th, we will have a discussion on the "Holy Spirit" 9 PM EST. Adjust your time accordingly. Also next week we will have a Bible study in our Forum room.

My hope is to have different topics for discussion in the chat room. The good news is that we got the chat room officially launched!! And in July we will have audio and an interview. God is good!

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2003