That was an unexpected answer.
It may be because of the Tulsa, Oklahoma Christian church sub-culture I grew up in and the pushback I encountered when asking local churches to help promote the first Christian Gamers Alliance convention (even after clearly explaining that I was not asking for money), but I always find myself surprised when I hear about Christians talking about Tribe of Judah at a local church and not in the context of a youth group.
It shouldn't surprise me, though; the Christian gaming community at large has several pastors and ministers involved at almost all levels. Video games, like any other technology, is just a platform Christians can use to encourage one another, enjoy fellowship, and reach out to others.
It always seemed odd that some of the local churches in Tulsa that didn't seem to want anything to do with Tribe of Judah held Super Bowl parties every year and occasionally arranged youth group paintball parties.
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It's encouraging to me that our most effective means of recruiting, based on this small sample of replies, seems to be word of mouth. As President, I tend to look at things from a "top-down" perspective. When the topic of recruiting comes up, my thoughts immediately turn to posting recruiting calls on outside forums, social media like Facebook and Twitter, and increasing activity on game servers. I tend to forget how powerful word of mouth can be.
The trouble is that word of mouth, to be effective, must be genuine. If I were to offer an incentive for members to talk about Tribe of Judah, the recommendation would lose at least some, if not all, of its validity.
Church "contests" in the vein of, "Bring 10 unsaved friends to church, win a cookie!" never sat well with me. Talking to complete strangers about my personal faith and world view felt more like advertising than an earnest discussion. While I would love to talk about my faith with my friends, Christian or otherwise, striking up conversations with complete strangers to share the Gospel felt awkward.
Even when posting recruiting calls for Tribe of Judah, it feels more like posting a flyer (an activity without direct and personal interaction with the public--passive rather than active) than approaching strangers on the street.
Don't misunderstand me; there's a time and place for evangelism and I don't mean to compare sharing our faith with telling others about Tribe of Judah. I'm just thinking a more personal touch may be in order.
Maybe instead of offering some kind of incentive to "refer a friend" to Tribe of Judah, we could instead just ask members to include a link to our site and forums in their signatures on other forums or web sites? If the member believes in Tribe of Judah and our mission, he or she will add the link to his or her signature (again, a passive rather than an active measure).
If other members go a step beyond and tell their friends about Tribe of Judah (which, judging by this thread, is a fairly common occurrence), then all the better.
TL;DR? If you have a genuine desire to see Tribe of Judah grow, tell others about our community. Don't go calling random numbers in the phone book or posting recruiting calls where that sort of thing isn't allowed.
An important note: If you identify yourself as a member of Tribe of Judah, you represent us--and, more importantly, Christ. Please conduct yourselves accordingly.
