Bill Tober shares the gospel with thousands of people each year, including Muslims, Hindus, and atheists – without ever leaving his home.
ADAMS, Tenn. – Bill Tober shares the gospel with thousands of people each year, including Muslims, Hindus, and atheists – without ever leaving his home.
Tober is an “Internet chaplain,” fully endorsed by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board, based in Alpharetta, Ga.
The offerings and gifts you give your church help support missions through the Cooperative Program across North America through NAMB, and throughout the rest of the world through the International Mission Board.
The Internet is the “new frontier in missions,” the cyber-chaplain says.
While many senior adults shy away from the computer, Tober, who will be 75 in September, embraces the computer and the ministry opportunities it presents.
Following retirement from the naval chaplaincy in 1992, Tober and his wife, Sally, moved to her homeplace in Adams, Tenn. While doing supply preaching in area churches, Tober began exploring the Internet, and quite frankly, he says, did not like what he was seeing, even in the early days.
“I began going into chatrooms and saw them for what they were,” Tober related. “Even then they were sleazy,” adding that they have become worse today.
Tober, a member of First Baptist Church, Clarksville, began as a “chaplain” in chat-rooms in order to provide a Christian perspective. “It was learn by doing,” he said.
A few years later Tober began going on chatrooms in Yahoo, an Internet service that includes chatrooms and other online products and services, and made his presence known as “Chaplain Bill” or simply “Pastor.”
Tober makes it clear to all he communicates with that he is a Christian. “People know up front who they’re dealing with. I don’t hide anything.”
He has ministered to thousands of people each year.
On any given day Tober will converse with people in India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, China, and many other countries. In many places, Tober can share his Christian faith with people in countries where missionaries are banned.
“We cannot send missionaries into China, but I can communicate with them daily on the Internet,” Tober says.
Tober noted that once contact is made they can enter a private chatroom where confidentiality can be maintained.
Tober is free to answer questions, share his faith, and, on occasions, even does counseling. Many times, people online just ask for prayer.
Tober says it is not unusual to have three to five people weekly accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. If the person who makes the decision lives in the United States or Canada, Tober will refer them to a Baptist state convention. If the person lives outside the U.S. and Canada, he refers them to the International Mission Board.
He also follows up with those who make decisions via chatrooms and e-mail.
Tober said he spends anywhere from six to 12 hours a day communicating online. Because of different time zones, he always can find someone to visit with online.
Tober acknowledges that he gets his share of “hate” correspondence as well. “You find people online who hate you with a passion because you are a Christian. They literally curse you and God.“
But instead of becoming discouraged, “you must learn to deal with it,” Tober stresses. “You have to be prayed up when you go online,” he adds.
Tober says that he prays daily for the Lord to show him the people that he is to have contact with.
For those who might consider such a ministry, Tober warns that a person must be well versed in doctrine.
“You can’t be shallow in your beliefs. Some of the non-Christians you will talk to know the Bible more academically than most Christians do.”
He observes that Muslims are trained to evangelize Christians. “They know the Bible.”
In addition to everything he does online, from witnessing to counseling, Tober most of all simply tries to show the individuals love through his communications with them. “I have to accept them as a person. I don’t have to accept his or her beliefs.”
Ultimately, Tober knows that he may be the only pastor some of the people will ever have. And, he knows he is making a difference. One person sent him an e-mail, telling him that if he had not been online two nights earlier, the individual would have committed suicide.
Tober has a desire for other people to join him in his role as an Internet chaplain.
He especially sees it as a viable ministry for a retired minister and he is willing to train anyone interested.
“I have been doing this for 15 years. I will hold their hands and guide them through the process of learning how to reach people for Jesus on the Internet.
“I will give them the resources they need,” Tober adds, noting his resources can be found on his Online Christian Ministries website (www.OLCM.org).
Tober feels that this ministry is perfect for retired pastors who feel they have “been put out to pasture.
“This is something they can do and could do effectively,” he insists.
Tober is convinced that a retired pastor could have as productive a ministry online as he had in the pastorate.
“There are more people to be won in chatrooms than we find in most Baptist church revivals,” he predicts.
Again, he cautioned that there are pitfalls and you have to learn to deal with them. There are people who “curse you and God. But if you’re willing to make a difference in people’s lives, it is worth it.” The Internet provides an audience for Southern Baptists to witness and share their faith, Tober concludes.
“We need to take advantage of it.”
For more information, contact him at 615.696.8142 or olcministries@OLCM.org.