“Want to meet me on Halo in the lobby at 7pm tonight for a Bible Study?”
If you have no idea what XBox or Halo is, don’t worry. Your kids or almost any of your friends aged 25 and younger probably do.
I love technology but I have yet to even touch an XBox – a video game which can connect to your TV, a computer and the Internet – allowing you to play video games competing live against other players on the Internet. It even allows you to talk with other players through a headset.
Halo is a very popular game for the XBox which features futuristic “special forces” teams of warriors doing battle together. For the very competitive gamers, there are even Halo tournaments with prizes. Before the game starts, players and their “avatar” (a computer generated representation of themselves as players in the game) can talk informally online.
Tyler Mann – now a college student in New York state – became a tournament winner and sought after Halo expert. When he first began developing his skills, he was an atheist. Belief in God was far from his mind and he even “had a problem with” Christians who talked about how great God is.
But then Tyler met Jesus. Grace-filled gamers on the Internet reached out to him. See Tyler’s story here.
Please pray for Tyler and others who now actively look for opportunities to engage other gamers in conversation about Jesus. Using the video conferencing technology available on the XBox, they even conduct regular Bible Studies for gamers.
Watch the video interview conducted by Ryan – a friend on staff with Cru.