When we first launched an MTM strategy in Southeast Asia, we had little more than an idea, some theory, and a massive challenge. Everything was new - Facebook pages, Google Ads, and respondents messaging us through cell phones. I believe we had a bank of phones with SIM cards connected to a server where our team could respond via computers. The first two years yielded little fruit, but the team persevered, learning and adapting.
We noticed our team spending hours texting with each seeker, building libraries of apologetics and counseling material to answer common questions. After these lengthy dialogues, seekers would often disappear. Meanwhile, a growing backlog of potential seekers waited for responses, eventually giving up on connecting with us.
Then Zidan, one of our leaders, had an insight. Drawing from John 6:44 where Jesus says, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them," Zidan suggested we focus on finding people the Father was already drawing to Jesus rather than trying to persuade people toward the gospel. His team developed three filtering questions:
- "Do you want to know more about what Injil says about your issue?" (Measuring spiritual seeking)
- "Would you like to meet someone to discuss what the Injil says about your issue?" (Moving from casual to intentional seeking)
- "Are you willing to share your location and cell phone number?" (Measuring commitment level)
The results were transformative. In those early months, we found 12 Persons of Peace (POPs) monthly and saw several become disciples. Now our filtering team spends about 5 minutes per seeker, offering empathetic dialogue and connecting true seekers with field workers. We are dispatching over 250 seekers monthly to the field where the seeker will meet with a local mentor, with about 50% becoming disciples. Many of these seekers have started generational house fellowships, leading thousands to faith.
This connects to our core principle discussed in the first blog post: "Media to Movements strategy is built on the understanding that at least 2½ percent of any population is open to religious change, and media strategy can identify these seekers." By moving away from persuasion and counseling, we better identified those truly open to change.
Some ask, "What about those who never hear the gospel?" We absolutely care about them - but in God's timing. When He draws, we're ready. But if we try pulling people into the kingdom when God isn't drawing them, we're assuming God's role instead of fulfilling ours. Focusing on the non-2½ percent means missing those truly ready.
Consider John 5, where Jesus heals a man at Bethesda's pool. Though Jesus passed that pool many times, the record shows He only healed one man on one specific day, despite many others needing healing. Jesus explains in John 5:19, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing alone. The Son does only what he sees the Father doing." Why not heal everyone? For reasons unknown even to Jesus, the Father chose one man, one day, one place. Jesus simply followed the Father's lead. Filtering works the same way - observing and responding to the Father's work in the seekers' lives.
Want to learn more? The MTM team offers filtering workshops sharing Zidan's insights and the Southeast Asia team's experiences. Contact us for one-on-one conversations or workshop participation - we're here to help.
