Last year I was an interim Freshman Bible Teacher at a local high school. Our students were reading through a book, and I thought it would be awesome to finish out the project by doing a Skype Q&A with the book’s author. The classroom has a smart board in it (which is basically a 6-foot iPad on the wall). That never panned out, but my dream… wouldn’t… die. Are you inspired yet? 😉
Years ago I flew in an incredible apologist to come and speak in my High School Ministry. After paying for the flight, hotel, food and honorarium it got a bit expensive. It was worth it, but it was expensive. I wanted to bring him back right away.
And then it hit me… why not Skype him in?
No flights. No meals. No time away from his family.
We have the technology available (laptop, strong internet connection, mics). SO WHY NOT?
And it’s working out. It looks like we’ll lock him in at about 1/4th the cost! He’ll have to do some prep and do two 30-minute Skype sessions, so I want to honor his time with an honorarium… but he’ll get to speak from his house, with all his resources right there in his lap, his family down the hall, while getting piped into our youth room hundreds of miles away.
Is anyone else utilizing this kind of technology in a ministry setting? It seems like such a win-win!
ryanguard.net 
Glad you posted on this Ryan. I use it weekly for a Bible study and time with a mentor of mine. I am thinking of some ways I can use this with the youth at our Church, too. Meeting with the students I disciple from time to time, doing Skype Bible studies over Spring Break/Summer business, etc. I think we’re going to try to Skype with our youth from Guatemala, too!
Those are some great ideas Tom!
We have used Skype before for a student who lived too far away to make it to our weekly home Bible study. We just gave him a spot in the circle of kids in our living room.
Kristen Trueblood
Kristen that’s a great idea 🙂
Great stuff…
Even for the 1v1s, Skype is useful. I had two or three troubled kids that preferred to reach me that way when things got tough.