Here's Godly glimpse into near future      That tidal wave of the future is breaking over our heads right now. Like it or not, it's time to grab a Godly website and go surfing for souls.      Hi, I'm Rusty Weller, an ordained pastor called to Internet ministry. Please let me share some insights from the Lord. Church websites all too soon will be the village bulletin board or office water cooler of old -- places where people meet and discuss what matters to them. Your website should be their starting point, the site greeting members when they log onto the Internet.      Instead, almost all church and ministry Internet sites are merely yellow-page ads or online brochures, aren't they? Cold, lifeless and lacking interaction, in essence they betray God's power. Such sites really are the opposite of what the Lord expects His people to be.      At last estimate, a third of all Protestant churches now have a web site, as many as 160,000. "However, studies also show most church staff members are dissatisfied with their web page," reports Christian Computing Magazine ( www.ccmag.com ) in its March edition.      "Most have what I call a static page, without any new information, content, or a reason for visitors to return," said Editor-in-Chief Steve Hewitt. "It serves a very basic function as a type of advertisement, but does little to develop community, promote ministry or take advantage of the full potential of the net."      What we Christians in America lack today is vision -- especially about the Internet. God even had to take me kicking and whining to the mountain top and provide a glimpse into the near future. I feel compelled to pass it along to you because -- like it or not -- the Internet already is THE driving force in world culture. Changes are coming fast, too fast since we born-again evangelicals collectively don't yet have a plan.      Want a wake-up call? Consider this: Right now high resolution TVs are being combined with Internet computers to produce one living room screen for home entertainment. What's more, America Online (AOL) is hard at work putting Internet access on your TV's remote control. More than network or cable TV, the Internet will monopolize the family focal point in just a couple of years.    "If you're focusing on web sites, e-zines and email communications," Great Life Lessons editor Erik Van Alstine said, "you're being left behind. Cable, network, Internet -- it's all coming together in the form of the channels on your TV screen. Our plans call for us to be right there with a Christian TV channel."      What do your ministry's plans call for? They at least should call for a life-changing web site, because time is wasting. We must throw off whatever is keeping us from evangelizing the Internet and run the race God wants us to win.      But we need vision, don't we? Well, here's some in the form of potential blessings possible not tomorrow but today from a Great Commission web site:       24-hour prayer rooms featuring automatic replies, notification of enlisted prayer warriors and a hotline number to a crisis center for emergencies. Follow episodes from anxious requests to answered prayers, providing for updates while allowing visitors to add their words of encouragement.      Discipleship study course discussion pages for daily lesson feedback, highlighted with weekly online live discussions. Perhaps have chats hosted a time or two by the course's author him- or herself.      Daily e-zine offering a Christian news links page with its own special articles to bring crucial topics into clearer focus.      Internet start page for going Godly directions and finding Divine destinations, offering search engines, top ministries, e-zines, online Bibles and devotionals, network news, weather, sports, computer mags, online Christian radio broadcasts, etc.      Quiet time page, such as the Sonrise Worship Center's Quiet Corner, with online Bible study materials and daily devotionals for your members to use.      Youth group corner provides special information and encouragement in a design and format most attractive to teens.      Testimony time, such as the one offered by the Sonrise Worship Center, that allows people to give glory to God by saying how they came to the Lord or tell how Jesus has been good to them.      Promise book with members submitting the Bible verses that mean the most to them and why.      Picture pages to show the fun being enjoyed at various functions. Snapshots now can be optimized for successful use on web pages.      Clearing house where surpluses and needs can be listed so God can get the right things to the right people.      Tutorials on how to build and maintain web sites or how to use browsers and search engines.      Freeware or shareware abounds around the Internet that's ideally suited to church or pastoral use, but few know of its existence. Our sites could point the way or even offer it for downloading.      Daily devotionals submitted from members, giving inspired authors a place to share, within tight guidelines, what God has revealed to them. Although perhaps slow in compiling enough for daily display, a year's result might be worth putting in print.      Are you beginning to get an idea of what's possible? Please prayerfully ask God what His will might be for your ministry and then boldly trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. CLICK HERE to request more information.