The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) has released a new version of its Web site mormon.org. This fresh new version of the site includes a new video channel with a library of Church videos that can be watched online, embedded into blogs, or shared through e-mail or social networks.

A cutting-edge feature of the “share” and “embed” functionality is the option for the viewer to crop a video clip to a specific section and then share or embed just that piece. (Just drag the beginning and ending arrows to mark the section you want.) This is a great way to do missionary work online.

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Three weeks ago, some 600 young single adults converged on Boston for the LDS Education Conference. Missionary work was the theme. The speakers were David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways; Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School; and Elder M. Russell Ballard.

Brother Neeleman spoke about sharing the Gospel on the Internet and the More Good Foundation. (Disclosure: I previously worked there.) Elder Christensen taught several great principles for sharing the Gospel in person. Elder Ballard called David and Clayton some of the best member missionaries in the Church.

The day included a “science fair” for missionary ideas. Each table of 10 people brainstormed ways to better share the Gospel and then created a presentation using large notepads and colored markers. During the “fair”, we circulated among the presentations, voting for our favorites with paper tickets.

Here were some of my favorites:

• WhyIBelieve.org (hypothetical) — Give each Church member a page and unique address for posting a testimony and photo. Offer easy-to-use templates. (More Good Foundation operates a similar website at mormonsbelieve.org.)
• AskaMormon.com (hypothetical) — Visitors pose questions to everyday members. (They can already pose questions to missionaries at Mormon.org.)
• Custom pass-along cards — Members pick their own picture, message, language, and size (wallet size or larger). Available for physical printing, or as a blog widget. The card could link to a specific testimony page, e.g. www.mormon.org/john-doe instead of www.mormon.org.

• Facebook app — Indicate that you’re a Mormon on your Facebook profile page. Post your testimony. Allow friends to ask questions anonymously and read your previous answers. (More Good has a similar Facebook app called The LDS App.)

• iPhone app — Basic beliefs, “find a Mormon”, meetinghouse locations, events, and videos all on your iPhone.

• Sacrament meeting agenda on LDS.org — Allow visitors to see upcoming sacrament meeting schedules in their area and bios of the speakers. For example: “Next Sunday, Sarah Smith, a sophomore at Palo Verde High school, will speak about faith in Jesus Christ. She’ll be followed by Tom Jones, an orthopedic surgeon in the area, who will speak about forgiveness. The meeting begins at 11:00 at 9011 Hillpointe Road.”

• Ward blogger — Who will keep the sacrament meeting schedules on LDS.org up-to-date? The ward Media Missionary Correlator, of course. Each ward will call its own specialist to manage their portion of LDS.org and do online testimony drives.

• Gospel sharing at work — How can you better share the Gospel at work? Post quotes on your cubicle or a picture of the Savior as your desktop wallpaper. If someone asks what you did over the weekend, don’t shy away from where you were on Sunday for 3 hours.

• Mormon.org email addresses — Give each Church member his/her own mormon.org e-mail address (e.g. john_doe@mormon.org) to drive interest in Mormon.org. The footer of each transmitted email could optionally include quotes or scripture citations.

• The Mormon Challenge — Challenge people to walk in a Mormon’s shoes for 14 or 30 days. (One group suggested 14 days, another suggested 30.) Try living the law of chastity and Word of Wisdom. Can you do it? (Reality TV show?)

• Give away Mormon Tabernacle Choir music, and other beautiful music, for free. Invite the Spirit through music.

• Several groups emphasized the need for training programs to teach members about social media.

• Likely due to Elder Christensen’s comments on service, several groups suggested websites for coordinating community service projects with members of other faiths.

• A few other ideas:

You can watch David Neeleman’s talk here:

David Neeleman 2009 LDS Education Conference

Clayton Christensen’s talk here:

Clayton Christensen 2009 LDS Education Conference

And watch presentations from the top ten groups here:

Team Presentations at the 2009 LDS Education Conference

Read more about this conference in the Church News.

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MormonTabernacleChoir.org is the official site of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It contains all the latest information on events, tickets, and recordings related to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Temple Square Chorale, the Orchestra at Temple Square, the Bells on Temple Square, and the Organs on Temple Square.

While visiting the site, be sure to check out the following:

• Sign up for the Choir’s weekly e-newsletter.
• Find links to the latest on-line stories about the Choir.
• Look for Choir music on a searchable database and buy or download Choir recordings.
• Biographies of Choir leaders, music directors, and staff.
• Ticket information about upcoming concerts.
• Detailed calendars with upcoming activities.
• Audition information for the Choir and other other music groups mentioned above.
• A video press kit with interviews of Choir leaders, members of the Choir and Orchestra, and key staff.
• Links to the Newsroom with press releases, downloadable high resolution photos for press use, and other background information for both media and individuals.
• Information about the Choir’s Music and the Spoken Word broadcast and links to the Music and the Spoken Word site for streaming of the broadcast.
• Detailed information about Choir recordings including latest release information, a full listing of all choir recordings with a searchable database by album title and song title with links to purchase CDs and downloads.
• Frequently asked questions and answers.
• Contact us information.

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If you’re going to be in the DC area this Christmas or have friends who will be, check out the Festival of Lights. Click on one of the share buttons on the web page to invite your friends or link to it from your blogs!

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For nearly a decade, the Newsroom Web site has provided journalists, and the public at large, with news and information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Read about the progression of the Newsroom site from 2000 to today in an article on the Newsroom Blog.

At the end of the article, they invite your suggestions to improve the LDS Church Newsroom site.

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DVDs and audio CDs of the October 2009 LDS General Conference are now available at Church distribution centers or online at LDSCatalog.com.

Last month, we reminded you that you can subscribe to get the general conference DVDs and audio CDs mailed to you automatically as soon as they are available. If you had subscribed, you would have already received your DVDs or audio CDs.

Of course, you can also access all the same audio and videos files online at no charge at generalconference.lds.org.

Read about more ways to access LDS general conference.

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The LDS Church’s Mormon Messages channel was just named the “Best Use of YouTube” at the 2009 Utah Social Media Awards.

The Utah Social Media Awards recognize excellence in social media practitioners and practices throughout the state of Utah.

The judges said this was a great use of a very accessible media medium for an organization with a growing global audience. They praised the channel’s more than 24,000 subscribers and 1.5 million channel views as a great example of sharing inspirational video content in a social media environment.

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The Church Music site on LDS.org (music.lds.org) contains links to all the music and music-related resources that the Church has placed online. Along with sheet music, resources include an interactive music player to play, read, or transpose hymns and children’s songs. Access learning materials on conducting music, accompanying others, teaching songs to children, adding variety to singing, and learning music symbols and terms. Site visitors can search for songs with a variety of keywords, and songs can be downloaded as MP3 files.

Visit the Church music site if you want to

• Learn parts to the hymns
• Download Church music from the Hymns, Children’s Songbook, or other Church-related music
• Prepare talks and lessons using the music
• Learn basic music skills (conducting and keyboard)
• Assist in learning your Church calling
• Listen to music while working at the computer
• Manipulate hymns (transpose to different keys, speed up and down, print sheet music)
• Sing together in Family Home Evening
• Search hymns for words, phrases to use in talks, lessons, and FHE
• Links to music in Church magazines
• Simplified hymnbook in languages (Hymns Made Easy)
• Reference organ manuals

From the News of the Church article which introduced the Church music web site in 2004: ‘The most important benefits of the new site will be spiritual. As the First Presidency teaches in the preface to our hymnal, music has the power to move us toward greater spirituality in our homes and families.  Whether or not members have a background in music, the site will help them in studying doctrinal principles, conducting family home evenings, serving in Church callings, and teaching the gospel in many settings.”

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Have you seen the new catalog Gospel Resources for the Home?

This 8-page mini catalog shows basic materials you can use at home to teach the gospel, such as scriptures, general conference products, magazines, music, gospel art, books, manuals, pamphlets, videos, and CDs.

In addition to viewing it online, you can also order a printed copy of the Gospel Resources for the Home catalog.

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See the new LDS Church page Finding Hope at lds.org/topic/finding-hope. With text and multimedia, it addresses the questions “What does it mean to have faith in Christ?” “How does faith in Jesus Christ affect my life?” and “How can I increase my faith?”

This is one in a series of new topic pages on LDS.org. See an index of the new topic pages on LDS.org.

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