This is something I picked up 3rd-hand, so unfortunately I can not properly credit the source – but he (The Source) was brilliant!
Picture this: He was speaking to a large youth event, probably 500 or so teens. Just after he is introduced he takes the microphone and says: “Everyone, please get your cell phone. Once you have them in your hands, go ahead and open them.”
[You know what’s coming next, don’t you? As sure as you know that before you see a movie at the theater you will see an announcement to “please silence your cell phone,” you know that he is about to say, “Please turn off your cell phones so nothing will interrupt your attention while I talk,” right? Well, hold on…]
So once everyone has their cell phones out, the speaker says, “OK, now be sure your phone is ON. If it’s not on already, please go ahead and turn it on. Now, when you hear something about Jesus in my talk that you’d not heard before, or something especially interesting about Him, please text 3 friends about it, will you? Just tell them something like, ‘I heard the coolest thing just now! Ask me about it tomorrow.” Then tomorrow you will have 3 opportunities to tell your friends about your Lord. And hopefully you will hear more things that turn you on about Jesus today than just 3, and you will text more friends than just 3!”
Wow, so why didn’t I think of that? Guess what sort of sermon I was listening to? No, not a Teen-Oriented one. It was a, “How to reach today’s culture for Jesus” one. And the point was that we need to engage the culture where it is at. [Sorry about that dangling preposition.] And if you know anything about teens today, you know they are “at” texting. [Please don’t grade this post for grammer!] And they are “at” Facebook.
Use the technology they use to help them “hear” what you say.
Oh, here’s one more: Set a recurring alarm on your phone to 3:16 PM daily. When it rings, say a short prayer and ask God to help you see – REALLY see – 3 people who need to know God loves them. When you see them… TELL them.