A Christian webmasters Journey!

It’s easy just being a Christian web user! When you don the title of Christian webmaster, then that is a totally different story! I really don’t like that word “webmaster”. It infers superiority, when
really, I feel inferior in the realm of Christian web users. So for
this article I will call my title a Christian website creator. I think
that is far more descriptive then webmaster.

Just as a quick side note, I have found 4 different types of Christians in the online community:

• Christian web users
• Christian content creators (i.e. bloggers)
• Christian web site creators (i.e. GODSurfer.com)
• corporate Christian web site operators (i.e. BibleGateway.com)

That is all I want to mention about these types for now. I may write about them sometime in the future…

Now back from my tangent…. As many of you know I am the creator of GODSurfer.com. This week I finally released the newest version of GODSurfer. Instead of calling it GODSurfer
version 2.0 I decided to call it “GODSurfer:AlphaProject”. Jesus said:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” in Revelation 1:8. I was going to name
it the AlphaOmega project but that was kinda long so I shortened it.
Maybe it was a little presumptuous to call it the AlphaProject.
However, I’ve always dreamed of GODSurfer being a gateway to your
personal journey with God. Just another way, a non-traditional way, a
web way to become part of Gods family.

Just to back up some, I’ve been asking myself how I can describe GODSurfer. Basically it acts as a news feed of Godly based content. Users can add content to the site that other users of the site might
find interesting. Many of the users currently are bloggers or other web
creators. To back up even further… GODSurfer.com
didn’t just come out of my mind on a whim. I admit that I am a web site
creator and that is my passion, but there was a lot of prayer prior to
GODSurfer. I was asking God for a direction. One day I was visiting a
site called Digg.com and I was reading an article about God and trying
to vote it up so that it could get on the main page. The article was
great, however, it had too many “down” votes. After reading the
comments I found that the web community is very anti-God. That article
and many others like them would never see the light of day on sites like
Digg. It was after reading the comments that the answer to my prayer
came. Create a site solely devoted to Godly content.

Sometimes God takes you on a path and it is paved in gold and everything is real easy, but sometimes that path is rocky and full of obstacles and slow. Creating GODSurfer.com was easy, releasing it and
getting it to the masses is slow and full of obstacles. What I’ve
learned so far is:

• The web sphere is a dark place. Seekers of God get blasted with anti-God material way more than with pro-God material.
• The Christian web community is still new. Churches are used to face to face contact. Although I believe people can have an online relationship with God, right now the mindset is still very much in the
  face to face realm. Just for further clarification for now I don’t
  expect the web to be your only source of a relationship with God. The
  face to face contact is very beneficial. However, there may be a time
  when we are all separated and it will be very difficult for us to meet
  and worship together. The web will be an option then…
• It is tough to be an internet Christian: web creator, blogger or evangelist. Remember what I said about the anti-God material. Well it affects even the most Godly of people. Most
  non-internet Christians go through their ups and downs in a normal
  fashion. However, the internet Christians are going into the “Den of
  Sin” and setting up shop and living there. Personally for me there have
  been very dark and very long periods of my life where it was difficult
  for me to be a “Christian web creator”. I am finding out that I’m
  probably not the only one. Case in point, I sent out 125 e-mails to old
  Christian contacts about the re-release of GODSurfer and just about
  30% of them were returned. Meaning they were no longer in existence.
  30% is a very high number.
• Lastly, it appears that the Christian community is either fragmented or scared. I’ll admit I haven’t been able to put my finger on the exact issue yet. There is no question about it that a site like
  GODSurfer will contain content that you may or may not agree with. I
  have found great reluctance with Christians to get past some of those
  things. So either they are fragmented in a way of being defiant
  (meaning if they don’t agree they don’t participate) or they are scared
  to see a different perspective (I’m not talking about radical
  perspectives). I suppose they also could be scared because the Internet
  is a dark place. However, if we are all stuck here when the world is
  going through the “End of Days” before Jesus returns this issue will
  have to be resolved. I imagine it will be when the time comes

So there you go, is this list finalized yet? No way! This is just what I’ve learned in the last 6 years! The path I’m on is not one that will find quick success. God is guiding me to something greater than
quick web fame and glory. I just don’t know what it is yet. I believe
that He will eventually show me where He has been leading me.

Please don’t let the last bullet upset you, I’ll admit that this post was originally born out of a little frustration, but as I re-read it I see that God is letting me set a guide post for other Christian content
or web site creators that come along in the future. This post screams
patience. I have been doing this for 6 years and patience is the only
reason why I’m still at it. As I described above the name AlphaProject
came about from Revelation 1:8, in next verse John describes a “patient endurance through Jesus“. I found this next verse in Colossians 3:11-13 that really stands out to me:

¹¹Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. ¹²Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

I should rename the title of this post to: A Christian webmasters Journey of patience!