I want to say first Thank you for whoever is reading this. Numbers can be misleading and numbers can be a bit confusing. A big problem with the church today is we are driven by numbers. A 3,000 member church must be more spiritual and have the blessings of God on it 300 times more than a 100 member church. However, God is not impressed with numbers. Little is much when God is in it. We sing it. We just don’t believe it.
However I do look at visitor details, and from what I can tell there has been a huge spike in viewers since I started putting my blog on it. Note I am not cutting and pasting my articles. I say that because I can’t really explain why so much writing is pouring out. I was online for a brief time last night when we were up with our newborn daughter and went online to read my last article. I tend to find errors and grammar problems and points that aren’t clear when I can read it on the blog and not in the edit form. I couldn’t even read through the entire article. If you think it is too long, I agree! I am the writer and I think my writing is too long but before I know it I have written my fifth blog book this week! I am actually writing all new articles on this so far though I have probably repeated themes and phrases hundreds of times. I still have 100 of other articles on another blog (keepAmericafromhell.blogspot.com) and some of the same and some different articles on my first blog, etvfc.blogspot.com. These posts sometimes make me feel like Aaron in Exodus 24. He is basically saying, I don’t know how it happened Moses, the people gave me gold, and “I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.” So these blog posts may not be this wonderful thing that I think!
But I say all that in my usual long windedness to say this. Hang in there. I just recently set up a PC computer in our bedroom. I have only used laptops the past couple years and the PC will prove I believe to give me better organization and better posts. First, I now have word up there, so I can either start there so say my latest novel can perhaps be broken down into 7 chapters so in one week you are getting more organized posts. I also will have my powerbible cd up there which for 1 has a great concordance and where I can cut and past scripture. I want to have more God in my posts and less of me and I can get more scripture in this way. I also want to get pics in there and more images in these posts.
Down the road there is a great vision for this website. Basically I want to have 4 websites in 1. When someone clicks on ETVFC.org, the first thing you would see would be basically 4 links or so. Details are sketchy but this is one option. Link 1 you would click on if you would consider yourself to be an agnostic and looking for more information on knowing how to find God. It would be maybe an entirely new website or a new page of just articles and presentations, videos, etc of articles about apologetics, etc. Link 2 would be for evidence and proofs of how the Bible is the word of God, and how the new perversions are not of God. Link 3 would be for new Christians and basically a discipleship course. Link 4 would be the ETVFC.org website for saints that want to serve.
ETVFC is not a bunch of rebels doing their own thing. The vision for ETVFC is for each local church to have their own “soulwinning volunteer fire department”. The ETVFC vision is 1. Rescue the lost and 2. Equip the Saints. Mostly evangelism is just go and grow as you go, so it really is geared to encourage someone to jump in and get their feet wet. Come on in, the water is fine! It will have videos of encounters, tips, address the issues on modern evangelism and good resources from people doing a much better job than I am. For example, one evangelist that I highly respect has a website, MarkCahill.org. He has some good books out there and I would recommend his book “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven”.
So this is a work in progress and there is going to be more to come than just long winded blog posts! On my old blogs you can become a follower. I don’t know if you can do that here but I will check. My friends from my church, George and Tom, have a web design company, Intelligent Design, that makes high quality logos and web sites. They designed this and they may be able to add getting followers up. I haven’t had a lot of comments but I have had a lot of spam. If I didn’t post your comment don’t be offended, I just am trying to discern whether it is legit or not. For example I keep getting this strange email from my contact form from someone called liaggerlardods. It will say something bizaare, like “Hello Everyone! Together today to discuss the global consumption of high-quality shoes.”
An evangelist out of my church had some harassing emails on his Twitter I believe. My sister in law logged on and if I remember the scenario, some porn models had joined up on his account to make it look like he had added them. Obviously, God is for the strippers and prostitutes getting saved. The issue is they have no interest in salvation and only want to cause trouble. If someone has a sensual email address or writes something that might be questionable, I likely won’t post it. I am not rejecting anyone, but I am trying to protect the website. Also, this is a gray area because it is the internet but know I will still use the same principals as real person to person ministry. I am a married man, and I have put some hedges up in my marriage to protect it. One thing I will not do is say meet a female that is not my wife out for coffee even if the motive was to open up the Bible. I would send my wife to minister to another female. In the blog world, I will not directly be corresponding with females either but if a female writes looking for God I can refer her to my wife or another lady at the church.
If you are a regular reader, I first ask you to pray for this ministry. The website is not my life but it is one tool I think that has potential. I still preach on the streets, I preach at the prison, we are raising a family for God, we have many church services we get to attend, and I work a job. My ministerial eggs are all not in the same basket but I really see the internet as a tool to really get some quality stuff around the world to people you would never get to meet another way. I believe God can use it.
This website now has a Support Page and soon there will be more info on it. I am not begging for money, but with a lot of resources and a lot of time I can really get the ball rolling. God provides but right now I am in the unique position of where I wanted to be for years. The only door open to me right now as a pharmacist is a part time one. If I go back to full time should full time ever be an option I would be working Sundays and missing a lot of church. I had a great full time job 10 minutes from home and in September 2011 I lost my job. My old boss had left and a new one came in and got rid of 18 of us in a 6 month period. I was fired for something very unreasonable, like everyone else that mysteriously were let go. (They forgot to send an order, I was working the weekend, and I had contacted a store by my mom’s for her to pick up prescription paper and drop it off. They fired me because she wasn’t an employee!) My old boss said the real reason was my stand on the Morning After Abortion pill. I found a new world now in pharmacy as the job field is quickly closing up. It took me 6 months to land a job and it was an overnight position. In January 2013 I had to switch to floating because of my wife’s pregnancy and the toll it was taking on us. (Try sleeping during the day when your wife has a migraine and 4 young boys are running all over the house!) They only had a part time spot, and they still have only part time.
But that is really what I wanted, I am just going though to need God to come through to stay in that position. I am not begging for money, but we give so much and the ministry can use so much more than I can even give when I was working full time, that if anyone feels led to give, know it will be used to make an impact in this world. In February 2006 I thought I was ready for ministry. I quit my job because they confronted me to stop witnessing and felt I was ready to go full time. I had been preparing for that day and had $20,000 saved up in my checking account. I quit and had all the answers. But I found I had money and no message. That March even though it made no sense, I heard God telling me to give that money to missions. I wrote the church a check for $20,000 and from that moment never turned back.
I don’t want to just brag on all that we did. It was God and no matter what I gave it is nothing compared to what he has given me. I just want to say that is the main reason why I am not miles ahead financially. When I had it we gave it away. I would love to have even more to give. I have some small debt, the rest of my mortgage to pay off, and a lot on my heart to use for the glory of God. I will blog the rest of my life if I never get a dime. But when the time comes I believe the Lord will come through when I least expect it. All I am doing is putting my vision out.