Why a Website?
Why a Website?
Communication
Consistency
Reduce overall work
Clarity
I have found, for myself, that work piles on work.
This work builds out what I do in a rather organic and unstructured way, from:
- Need.
- Work.
- My Location
- My Country.
- Ministry.
- Goals.
- Vision.
It’s not necessarily a good or even useful list, and it’s order may cause more problems.
It’s like walking seven energetic dogs on long leads.
With out a plan, the order above may vary, but generally, it is haphazard and forces action.
In having these things in poor order, we work to our own harm and weaken our relationships with others.
We lead with our needs.
And everything else flows from this.
We serve ministries that are not eternal, burning people up as fuel for this ministry machine.
Ministry, services, schedules, and buildings are all means to the end but become ends to themselves. (An Idol!)
A Vision, if we have one, is about things, not people, processes, and not the King of Kings.
Our Vision comes out of the need rather than from the Person who captured us.
How do we escape being pushed by Needs and operate from Vision?
This would be a plan...
I start with Vision and then build out from there.
-
- Vision
- Someone has captured you.
- Now, Why do you do what you do?
- And what are you?
- Who
- captures you?
- Why
- did they capture you?
- What
- keeps you with them?
- How
- did they capture you?
- Where
- is all this happening?
- Vision
Hopefully, the person is Jesus.
This would help to get the plan in order.
I am a disciple.
I am a follower of Jesus.
He is risen.
I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus.
And I am being equipped to do the work He has for me.
Every day, I have enough hours to do everything He has for me.
If I don’t have enough time, have I said yes to things that are not from God?
How does this relate to a website.
A website can become a hydra, chop off one problem, and three more grow out of the stump.
A website is meant to be a tool, yet it can become consuming where it, the website, forces us to serve it rather than it serves us.
A website, like a ministry, is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
The plan
- Hosting
- Development
- Design
- Content
- Learning / Training
- Information, informativeness
- Capture: Prayer Partners, Students, Staff, Partners, Donors, Participants, Donations
- Newsletters
- Donations
- Applications
- Discipleship, Training, Qualifying
Your Focus
- Content – Vision – Jesus – Information –
- Prayer
- Discipleship
- Newsletters
- Applications for Schools
- Applications for Staff
- Applications for Outreach Teams
- Capture People as Partners
- Grow giving to come from Vision, not Need.
My focus
- Hosting
- Security, Dependability, Speed
- Development
- Deployment
- Design
- Training
- Tools, plug-ins
My Philosophy
If you do not lead with your vision, what you capture and who you capture will have difficulty enduring.
When you work with people who become staff, students, and people partnering with you, their capacity to endure and grow is linked to you as you pray for them, communicate with them, inspire them, and lend them your vision.
Do you inspire others from vision or need?
90% Vision. 10% Needs.
Tell stories that encompass your vision; they can secretly show your needs.
For example:
You are working with young people who are living on the fringe, who are vulnerable.
You can tell the story of God acting in these people’s lives.
You are also showing what is needed to make this happen.
Don’t lead with the need.
Learn how to express your vision first, with your needs expressed in your vision as opportunities.
Give opportunities for people to give, but make them slightly hidden on your website; make them a click away from where you are expressing your vision so that it take a bit of activity to find.
It is there for them to give, but you do not lead with it.
Be aware that there is such a thing as donor fatigue
If you focus on the need, you may get support, donations, and participation for a time, but the need alone will wear them out.
If you focus on vision, people will see God at work in your story, see people you care for transformed, and understand the purpose of why you do what you do.
They will join you in your journey, which can also become their journey.
They are coworkers.
You can also share failure; you can get help, encouragement, prayers, advice, and mentoring from the people who have joined you in your vision.
Your vision becomes their vision; their giving is not linked to your expression of the needs, but their giving is a joyful investment in your vision —that has become their vision.
How?
Well, that is what we will do together as we build out your website.
A Seminar at your Place.
We are coming for YWAM Together in September (2024).
If you are interested in hosting us, we would like to hold a seminar at your base for your staff and for your base’s website.
There is no cost for the seminar, as a base you may need to charge a fee for the use of amenities, but we leave that up to you.
Please follow this link for more, or contact me directly.
Tony Arcus
tony@ai.net.nz ~ tony.arcus@uofnkona.edu
Is your website here? Let’s do some training.
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One-on-One Online
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These times represent from 2 PM till 5 PM Hawaii Time, and you can book up to an hour before.