In December 2007, Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, gave a talk to students who were graduating from BYU-Hawaii. The talk is titled “Using New Media to Support the Work of the Church.”

I would suggest that LDS people (whether they blog or not) should read through the entire talk carefully. I can’t really do it justice or say things any better than he did.

In this talk, Elder Ballard discusses the history of technology and mass media and the tremendous power and influence these developments have had on individual freedom, knowledge of the scriptures, etc. He speaks about the invention of the printing press and what that meant for printing the Bible and making it available to the common man. He mentions radio, newspapers and television and then provides significant discussion of what he refers to as “new media” and its potential impact upon the world.

Here are some excerpts:

“How different your world is today. If you read newspapers, the chances are you read them on the Internet. Yours is the world of cyberspace, cell phones that capture video, video downloads and iTunes, social networks like Facebook, text messaging and blogs, hand-helds and podcasts … This is your world, the world of the future, with inventions undreamed of that will come in your lifetime as they have in mine. How will you use these marvelous inventions? More to the point, how will you use them to further the work of the Lord?”

“Today we have a modern equivalent of the printing press in the Internet and all that it means. The Internet allows everyone to be a publisher, to have their voice heard, and it is revolutionizing society. Before the Internet, there were great barriers to printing. It took money, power, or influence and a great amount of time to publish. But today, because of the emergence of what some call New Media, made possible by the Internet, many of those barriers have been removed. New Media consists of tools on the Internet that make it possible for nearly anyone to publish or broadcast to either a large or a niche audience. I have mentioned some of these tools already, and I know you are familiar with them. The emergence of New Media is facilitating a world-wide conversation on almost every subject including religion, and nearly everyone can participate. This modern equivalent of the printing press is not reserved only for the elite.”

There is perhaps no other time in its history when the Church has received more attention from the news media and on the Internet than right now. Obviously, that is being driven by the fact that one of our faith, Mitt Romney, is seeking the office of President of the United States. It’s as if a national conversation is going on about the Church. The Church, of course, is politically neutral. We do not get involved in politics. Still, because of this attention Public Affairs is making a concerted effort to define the message of the Restoration rather than letting others define our beliefs. That word conversation is important. There are conversations going on about the Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches. While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the Church are established one conversation at a time. The challenge is that there are too many people participating in conversation about the Church for our Church personnel to converse with and respond to individually. We cannot answer every question, satisfy every inquiry, and respond to every inaccuracy that exists … , may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet, particularly the New Media, to share the gospel and to explain in simple and clear terms the message of the Restoration. Most of you already know that if you have access to the Internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. You can download videos from Church and other appropriate sites, including Newsroom at LDS.org, and send them to your friends. You can write to media sites on the Internet that report on the Church, and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports. This, of course, requires that you understand the basic principles of the gospel.”

Personally, on my own blog, I want to make more of an effort to bring the Church and its meaning into my posts. The LDS Church has played a wonderful and positive role in my life and I’ve always wanted to help answer questions people might have and encourage others to learn more about the Church.