Texas Doctor Behind 'Jesus Daily' Facebook Page Says Christ 'Was Master of the Viral Message'; Lauds Network for Creating Longest 'Roman Road'
Tabor explained that he wanted to design a devotional book that encourages readers to be "doers for Christ versus thinkers of Christ," unlike the numerous devotional books he said he has encountered. "Right now, unfortunately, most devotionals are just about reading and thinking. There's not a lot of doing," he said.
"That's why I included that daily step mission which in 30-60 seconds per day you can develop a habit over the course of a year of actually going and spreading the Gospel through loving others as Jesus loved them," Tabor explained. "I think once people do that for a year, it's not something that you can just quit cold turkey on. Imagine doing something for Jesus with an intent and purpose every single day for 365 days where you're reaching out and loving a neighbor or spreading the Gospel. That's not just something you're gonna be able to spiritually or psychologically cease and feel good about yourself as a Christian. That is the number one hope of the devotional, that it energizes Christians to, as Christ said, to go and do and spread (the Good News)."
The doctor has learned over the years curating Jesus Daily on Facebook that people will do what you ask them to — whether it is to "click," "like," "share," or "leave a comment."
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As he explained, "That same psychology is brought over into the book, where we ask them to specifically do something every day. It's a very specific little Web mission that they can do and really develop that daily habit of doing."
In this video excerpt, Tabor illustrates how quickly Facebook users engage with a post on Jesus Daily:
The devotional book not withstanding, one might be tempted to dismiss the Jesus Daily brand as shallow — after all, how profound of a spiritual experience can one have by watching cat videos, or by typing "...YES if you will open the door to Jesus in 2015?"
Upon closer look, however, the Jesus Daily Facebook page possibly penetrates countries around the world at a rate that not even the likes of Billy Graham, Luis Palau, or Benny Hinn have reached, despite these evangelists having traversed the globe for decades spreading the Good News of God's kingdom.
Facebook reports that as of Sept. 30, 2014, there were 864 million daily (and 1.35 billion monthly) active users on average using the social network, with approximately 82.2 percent of daily active users located outside of the United States and Canada. Jesus Daily has more than 91,000 followers in Saudi Arabia and nearly 110,000 in Pakistan, two countries listed on watchdog Open Doors' World Watch List of countries that persecute or oppress Christians. There were about 2.3 million Jesus Daily Facebook fans living in countries whose data were not publicly disclosed, according to social media analytics service Social Bakers.
The Jesus Daily Facebook page's largest fan bases, however, were in the United States (21.8 percent) and the Philippines (21.6 percent), the later viewed by Tabor as being "on fire for God."
"About half the country is on Facebook, and about one out of every six people in the Philippines on Facebook are a fan of Jesus Daily. There's no one in the Philippines that doesn't have a friend that is a member of Jesus Daily. Through the liking, commenting, and sharing, we're pushing the Gospel out to essentially all of the Facebook-connected world of the Philippines," said Tabor.
When asked by CP how evangelistic the Jesus Daily Facebook was and whether moderators dialogued very much with seekers, atheists or people with serious questions, Tabor stated that there were "literally millions of messages" sent via email from people wanting to know more about Jesus, and ranging from "claiming that they are going to commit suicide, to women asking for breast cancer prayer, to men and women desiring prayer for their marriage to be restored." Those emails, he said, were being handled by Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) volunteers. A Cru staff member informed CP that an organization "not necessarily" affiliated with Cru and located in Canada has been helping to answer Jesus Daily Facebook emails.
Tabor explained, when speaking on the popularity of Jesus Daily, that "people like that they can have a personal relationship with God and the mind-blowing fact that God came in flesh to express his love for us and that Christ is here when he said come unto me ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
"Fans (of the Jesus Daily Facebook page) can be reminded on a daily basis that, hey, if you have health problems, if you have financial problems, if you have relationship problems, if you need guidance for your life and career, that Christ promise to be there for us to help us. That's a big reason the page is popular — we're simply reminding people that that's what Christ said and that we can ask him for the guidance and for that comfort and receive it," he added.
Tabor, described by the aforementioned Cru staff member and "good friend," Marilyn Adamson, as "very very smart" and "an amazing person...in his heart for the Lord," told CP that he plans to soon launch an "online church." Adamson, director of Cru website Everystudent.com, also developed for Tabor's Jesus Daily community free discipleship tools in the format of email teachings made available on Jesusdaily.org. Tabor said he was "excited" about both ventures and that he hoped "to be able to encourage people and keep them discipled and eventually start training people to be home pastors and teachers as well in many areas of the world where it's dangerous to openly operate a church or too expensive to build one."
The online church, Tabor emphasized, was not "designed to replace the local church." He explained, "I think when the Bible says do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, there's something real and human that God designed us to have that fellowship together."
But, he added, "We see an ongoing need for people who are home-bound or people that are taking care of loved the ones that are home-bound or people with their schedules that they may want to get their church service in on Tuesday night.
"And this is just an online video platform where people through any device in the world, as long as they have Internet access, would be able to tune in on their own time frame, in addition to going to their own local church, and learn from some of the best teachers and preachers in the world."
The discipleship tool, titled "Super Grow Pack," is the 7-part email series developed by Cru's Adamson that presents teachings meant to inform believers in their new-found Christian faith. For example, part one of the "Super Grow Pack" series discusses, while referencing several Bible passages, forgiveness and God's grace, or justification and its benefits.
"Aaron and I were talking about could there be a way to help those people grow further in their relationship with God," Adamson told CP. "So I wrote an email series which he's offering on the Jesus Daily page just to help believers grow. It's free, nobody pays for it. It's just a series of emails to help them grow."
Adamson informed CP that she was the director for Everystudent.com, a website she started that caters to seekers and curious Christians alike. Its parent organization, Cru, is the interdenominational Christian nonprofit that has a presence on many U.S. college campuses. Adamson acknowledged that Everystudent.com "has a different look and feel than the Jesus Daily Facebook page" and that "they're quite a bit different."
