As with nearly everything else in today's society, options are also available when it comes to learning more about God. Between October and December of 2004 an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people in Switzerland and Germany were able to choose how they wanted to learn more about God. They did this by tuning in to the second Youth Satellite Evangelistic event orchestrated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The eight-night event, better known as "Link2Life," (L2L) allowed young people to physically attend the live event at the Marienhöhe Adventist Church in Darmstadt, Germany, or watch from satellite downlink sites or over the Internet.

With a theme of "Trust," the programs appealed to today's media-driven culture with titles such as: "I'm @live!," "Be a Star!," "Backstage," "Delete," and "Sex Sells."

"We used entertainment lingo that youth would understand to explain a spiritual topic," said Stephan Sigg, the youth director for the German-Swiss region of the church who spoke all eight nights. For example, he explained, "Be a star" paralleled the recent glut of reality talent shows.

"You have to give a good performance in order to get noticed and to get enough votes," he said. "This is even true in our daily life. But there is no [audition] for heaven, no performance to deliver ... Jesus accepts and loves you just the way you are."

Another topic, "Delete," spoke of God's anti-virus program. "As users of the Internet we need virus protection, firewalls, updates and so on in order to be secure and to prevent our computer from a system crash. Jesus is God's anti-virus program that saves and protects us from the consequences of sin," Sigg said.

"The program was very different from the normal church experience. The music was better ... and the message was understandable for young people," said Martin Mainka, a 14-year old student.

The setting mirrored an Internet café, with sofas, tables, a live band on one side, and young people sitting on stage during the program. Each evening there were three young people who moderated the program, performed music, and conducted interviews with young people. There was a segment which showed photos, homepages and comments sent in by other young people. These were followed by quizzes. There were also short episodes of a soap opera played every night that matched the topic of the evening.

One youth pastor described the diverse group of people who came to watch the program at his church as: "pierced, long-haired, old, children, trendy ones, [bare bellies], whole families, and all of them feel comfortable together, although they are a mixture of people and some do not understand yet what it is all about, this Jesus."

Link2Life is a biennial evangelism event organized by the Adventist Media Center in Germany, which produces the "Stimme der Hoffnung," broadcast. Its aim is to reach youth -- especially those who do not go to any church -- live via satellite. The first Link2Life was in 2002 and was organized by local regions of the Adventist Church in Germany and Switzerland. That program led to more than 70 baptisms. This year nearly a third of the people that attended the event were not members of the Adventist Church, said Sigg.

The main purpose of Link2Life is to accompany young people and their friends to Christ -- to build bridges to the kingdom of God, said Martin Knoll, who coordinated the program. Knoll, a youth pastor for 15 years and also the youth director for the church in North Germany, received 1,000 feedbacks via e-mail -- proof that the program is on track to reaching those who have not made a decision for Jesus, he said.

"L2L has been an invitation to get connected or to link one's life with the One who is the Life, (John 14:6)," Sigg explained. He said the Adventist Church in Germany and Switzerland, have wanted for several years to engage technology to reach youth. They were also hoping that this outreach would involve and motivate the youth in their churches for "friendship-evangelism."

Among the 175 youth groups in Germany and Switzerland that registered and took part in Link2Life was Mainka's youth group. Mainka said he brought two friends to the program, one of whom is not sure about the existence of God. "He had a lot of questions." Mainka noted. "The program gave him a lot to think about."

"For me it was a kind of confirmation that it is good to believe in God," Mainka said of his Link2Life experience.

Twenty-year old university student Andreas Doliwa and his brother helped with the technical aspects of the program after going to the first one in 2002.

"I invited two dear friends of mine," Doliwa said. "In the beginning they were so shy and I know they were planning to go right after the event. In the end of that night, my friends were [some of] the last people who were left."

Doliwa said members of his youth group enjoyed talking with guests after the program in a no-pressure environment. Some may even call Doliwa and his friends friendship evangelists. They have already planned activities to invite people who attended the program.

"A lot of people are looking for a youth group like ours where they can talk a little bit about their spiritual life," Doliwa said. "I hope Link2Life was just a start of something very big." .... [Editors: Taashi Rowe and Gabi Ziegler for ANN/APD]