I have a friend who is a retired AF JAG officer, retired private atty and former state regulatory administrative officer. He told me that he’d always been impatient with and dismissive of “spam” marketing callers….. until he found himself widowed. A devoted follower of Christ, he told me about the Lord nudging him to “take the calls.” Suddenly he found himself with a new way to serve the Lord and an evangelism opportunity. He sees the voice on the other end of the conversation as a human being created in the image of God and prepares to speak to them from that perspective. He has a particularly engaging approach in taking the call and has had some meaningful engagements with people, including one person who asked to pray to receive Christ and with whom he has had additional communicatlon about finding local discipling believers.
Remembering our conversation again and again since that time, I have thought about him and prayed God would go before him and prepare good ground for seeds.
I decided to take a similar strategy with the potential scam-trolls on FB. Two weeks ago I had felt God nudge me to “engage” with one of those come-on “friend request” approaches on my FB page. It was an interesting few days. I learned a lot. And I think God has used that experience, and my JAG friend’s experience, to change my response. So today I had my first response ready. It didn’t take long. I responded in an open and honest way:
“Thank you for your interest in my page. I do not accept or send friend requests to men with whom I am not personally acquainted. Posts on my page are public and I’m happy to engage on my page with people with shared interests…no private messenger, no chat apps, no texts, no emails. I strive for helpful and uplifting content. All are welcome to contribute the same in friendly and not overly familiar conversation. Thank you for understanding. It is my expectation that anyone reaching out to another for knowing and being known, even in as superficial a medium as FB, is an actual human being created in God’s image who deserves to be treated with kindness. Hoping you find content on my page offers help, inspiration, or just a smile!
❤️😊(“heart smile!”) experiencing God’s BEST daily, Cathy Boyd Byrd”
I guess I broke the algorithm. He deleted all evidence of his presence with no further communication. When you’re up front and set the boundaries as porous but non-negotiable, the other party can decide if it’s worth their time if their “payoff” is only going to be a bit of conversation and the possibility of improved mutual human understanding in a medium rife with wanna-be “influencers” and well formed fallen-world people-users.