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Technorati"There seriously were people who stayed up all night waiting in line to get it, and most stores sold out of it in minutes," stated Lane Palmer, Director of Equipping of Dare 2 Share Ministries International. "Now four months later it is still flying off the shelves."
Screenshot of popular XBox game, Halo 2
Palmer, talking about Xbox's popular game, Halo 2, teaches youth how to use the game as a vehicle to testify the faith.
According to a November 10, 2004 press release from Xbox, "Halo 2 broke entertainment retail records in its first 24 hours on store shelves." Microsoft Game Studios announced that the highly anticipated game sold 2.4-million units in the U.S. and Canada, grossing $125-million and breaking all records in the gaming and entertainment industry, generating more money on day one "than any of the biggest movies in box office history, including Spider-Man 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and The Matrix Reloaded."
Recognizing that this "culture is out there," and not fighting the tide, evangelical youth ministries are using XBox and Halo 2 for outreach. What's Next has used the online gaming capability of XBox to fund world media missions through a national tournament to be held April.
Another ministry, Dare 2 Share is educating the youth populace through its national website, with an article titled, "How to Witness Using Halo 2."
The article discloses that Dare 2 Share is not trying to promote the game. Halo 2 is "an extremely violent game with plenty of cussing, so PLEASE understand that as a ministry we are not saying 'everyone run out and start playing this game as soon as possible!' "
"The point is that almost everyone already has run out and played it, so we think this is an awesome opportunity to take something hugely popular in our culture and turn it into a way to share the most important message," states Palmer.
"What we need are people who approach their Christianity with the same passion and concentration as they do with video games. Will you plug in and take action today?"
He begins his article with the storyline - a hero trying to save humanity from aliens.
"Don’t you just hate it when a bunch of outer space freaks get together and decide it’s their mission to torch humanity?" Likening the "outer space freaks" to Satan, he states, "In fact, the Halo storyline is remarkably like a major theme of the Bible."
"God created people in a perfect world in a perfect relationship with Him, which made Satan and his angels very jealous. So since the beginning of time, they have been on a mission to destroy all humans. Here’s what Jesus said."
"A thief (Satan) is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. (John 10:10)"
Here, the article goes into detail on Jesus as the hero in the Bible, analogous to the hero of Halo 2.
"Jesus came to this planet to save the planet from a group much worse than the Covenant (the aliens) and from a fate much worse than physical death."
"Satan’s goal is to make sure people have a miserable and short life that stays as far away from the gospel as possible so he can have company in hell."
After teaching this basic precept, he writes, "Remember this: for the Christian, this life is the only hell we will ever experience. For the non-Christian, this life is the only heaven they will ever experience." Continue »
