During July 2016, I read a chapter from Proverbs everyday on Facebook Live.

Why did I do this?

Let’s start off by saying, I didn’t do this to show off. I’m not an incredible reader. I have no special talents for reading. I didn’t do this to say, “I’m holier than thou.”

I did this cause God convicted me to do it. Plain and simple.

Everyday I try to convince ministers that sharing the gospel online is easy and important. Then I realized I wasn’t doing everything that I could to share the good news myself. God convicted me about this and I chose to read scripture online.

Being a digital missionary is becoming more important and relevant with each passing day. Your social media audience needs to hear the good news. You can do that.

I chose to use Facebook Live because I have a pretty engaging audience on Facebook. I chose to use my personal Facebook profile rather than my Facebook fan page. I knew the viewership on my personal profile would be higher.

Why Proverbs?

Why not Proverbs? It was 31 chapters and July was coming up so I thought it would be perfect.

Was it perfect? Nope. Proverbs is hard to read. It’s hard to understand. I decided not to try to break down the scripture after reading it. Actually, I didn’t read it all before reading it live. I sometimes turned red when Solomon went off the deep end about promiscuous women, but nevertheless, there’s a lot of good advice in Proverbs.

So what did you learn?

Lessons 1-22 are what I learned from the book of Proverbs. Lessons 23-27 are what I learned about reading scripture on Facebook Live.

1. Promiscuous or immoral women will probably kill you. (Proverbs 2:16, Proverbs 5:3, Proverbs 5:20, Proverbs 6:24, Proverbs 7:5,Proverbs 7:8, Proverbs 7:10, Proverbs 22:14, Proverbs 23:27, Proverbs 30:20)
2. Wisdom will keep you safe. (Proverbs 2:16, Proverbs 2:2, Proverbs 2:12,
3. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 3:7, Proverbs 9:10)
4. Fools hate wisdom. (Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 14:33, Proverbs 24:7)
5. Don’t be an annoying wife or your husband might write a proverb about it in a book that will be kept forever. (Proverbs 21:9, Proverbs 21:19,Proverbs 25:24, Proverbs 27:15)
6. Listen more, talk less. (Proverbs 12:15, Proverbs 15:31, Proverbs 18:13)
7. Obey your father and mother or you will have a rough life. (Proverbs 1:8, Proverbs 4:1, Proverbs 6:20, Proverbs 10:1, Proverbs 15:20, Proverbs 17:25, Proverbs 19:26, Proverbs 20:20, Proverbs 23:22, Proverbs 28:24, Proverbs 30:17)
8. Don’t gossip. (Proverbs 11:13, Proverbs 16:28, Proverbs 17:4, Proverbs 20:19, Proverbs 25:10, Proverbs 25:23, Proverbs 26:20)
9. Be generous with your money. (Proverbs 3:9, Proverbs 11:16, Proverbs 11:24,
10. Work hard. Don’t be lazy. (Proverbs 13:11, Proverbs 6:6, Proverbs 10:4, Proverbs 13:4, Proverbs 15:19, Proverbs 18:9, Proverbs 19:15,
11. Proverbs 20:4, Proverbs 21:25)
12. There’s more to Proverbs then being a “Proverbs 31” woman. I know, Proverbs 31 is cool and all, but listen, if that’s the only bit of Proverbs you know, you have to read the rest.
13. Wisdom was created before God created anything else. (Proverbs 8:22)
14. Spare the rod, spoil the child. Let’s chat about that for one second. I’m not a parent, but I’m going to agree with John Blythe’s blog post on this.
    What Solomon was trying to stress in these verses is the point that, “to not discipline your child, is to spoil your child.” There’s a clear understanding we should discipline our children. Also, Solomon made some mistakes in his life too (a whole chapter of the Bible talks about that). (Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 19:18, Proverbs 22:6, Proverbs 23:13, Proverbs 29:17)
15. Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a beloved member of your family. (Proverbs 7:4)
16. You should love discipline, correction, and constructive feedback. (Proverbs 12:1)
17. It’s better to eat vegetables with people you love, than to eat steak with someone you hate. (Proverbs 15:17, Proverbs 17:1)
18. Eat honey, but don’t eat too much of it. (Solomon literally changes his mind a chapter later. (Proverbs 24:13, Proverbs 25:16)
19. Don’t lean on your own understanding, trust that God in everything. (Proverbs 3:5)
20. A little love can cover a multitude of wrong. I think in the workplace it’s easy to be hard on people, especially if you find them annoying, but the more I learn, the more I know I have to choose love. I don’t have to like, but I have to choose to act in love. (Proverbs 10:12)
21. We need true friends. (Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; 27:17)
22. Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age, but with experience and with listening.
23. I am surprised by who watched me reading scripture. Facebook Live doesn’t tell you each person, but by who came up to me in person saying they’ve been watching. I’ve had people all the way back from elementary school watching my broadcasts.
24. People will have questions. Why are you doing this? What does “that” mean? Get ready to have an answer for those things.
25. People are thirsty for knowledge of God online and for people of God to share it. If you have the Good News, preach it with every tool that you have!
26. It’s really not hard to do. This was an easy way to share the bible with my friends. But it’s so important that we do it!
27. I prayed after every broadcast. I think praying online is really important. I was a little afraid it would come off like “Hey, look at me!” But so far, I don’t think the reaction was that way. I think the next “great awakening” will be in part because of the internet. We have this awesome tool to share our prayers through. Let’s not be shy about it!

I almost didn’t post this blog because I felt like I needed to share more (“31 lessons would’ve been better!” I would tell myself), but when are you ever ready to share?! That’s why I did this experiment. The point isn’t to be perfect, it’s to be willing!

Podcast Interviews Where I Discuss Facebook Live

• YM Sidekick – Social Media and Communication trends Churches should be aware of
• ProChurchTools – Facebook Live for Churches
• UnSeminary 
• Seminary for Hard Knocks

Wanna watch? Here’s a few select entries.

• July 1
• July 5
• July 20
• July 31