It takes a lot for me to dance, especially in front of someone. But there is just cause for all of us to put on our dancing shoes, and with a flourish or two, kick up our heels in celebration of the totally new, www.lifetime.org!
First, let me brag a moment. This was a massive project. Our development team at Caliber Media Group—the folks you have been praying over lately—delivered this project on time and on budget! That is remarkable for a technology project. Terry, Andrew, John, Mark, and about fifteen other folks are testimonies to Father hearing your prayers and guiding their hands, talents, and minds.
At first blush, you might say of the new site, “Looks kind of like the old one to me.” But with a closer look, I think you will discover stuff you did not know existed. Lifetime.org is almost 800 pages of ministry material, 1200 audio files, and enough product to demand a state-of-the-art store. All of that was simply not accessible to you in our old site unless you are a world-class, web spelunker. Now the site is flatter and more obvious; more intuitive regarding how to find what Father brought you to lifetime.org in order to get.
Not only this, but now Father can have ministry delivered to your Inbox as it occurs. For example, once you subscribe, we will send the daily devotional to your Inbox every day. You don’t even have to come to lifetime.org. And the same is true with the weekly and monthly ministry content we create. I’m talking about RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. You will see RSS feeds throughout the site.
Speaking of fresh content, we have streamlined our descriptions and schedules for the regular ministry material we produce, and nearly all of that is available via subscription. In other words, once you give us permission to do so, we will deliver the new stuff to you and save you the hassle of finding it…or remembering to surf over and look for it.
What happens when you come to lifetime.org searching for encouragement, perspective, guidance, etc. and God answers you? You want to tell someone what He said, don’t you? Well, you can now do this a couple of ways. You can tell everyone about it by posting your story—“Testimony”—on the website. Or additionally, you can “Tell a Friend” about what you have found with a simple click or two.
This is the greatest thing! You can send a link, or a resource, or a comment via email or text message to anyone anywhere in the world. Whatever Father shows you or encourages you with, you can share that with someone else right away. So we have empowered you to share your story and minister!
Foreign language capability? Got it covered. As the next weeks unfold, you will begin seeing Lifetime resources appearing online in translated form. I don’t have space to tell you the whole story, but the initial conversation on languages at lifetime.org was $40,000 per language. Well, with a little innovation and genius from Father, lifetime.org has the capability for unlimited language resources. “The cost,” you ask? $9,000, and it is paid for and in place. Wow! So, watch the translated resources begin appearing as they are created.
Of course, the standard stuff is still present as well. The daily devotional, the audio streaming, the FAQ’s, pages and pages of archives, etc. Podcasts are coming, but have a price tag on them. (If you want to hurry our podcasting ability along and have a few extra bucks, that would grease the skids considerably. You can make a designated gift for that online if you wish. How cool is that?)
Read carefully now: lifetime.org is a platform for Father. It is a resource for Him to do His deal. It is a destination for you to come to and discuss with Him the essential and important matters of your identity and His resource in you. And, it is a resource from which you can minister as well.
Father, you have answered our request. Lifetime.org is live and active. Would you find in this place a solid launching pad into our hearts and lives. Most of all, would you please prevent lifetime.org from being a static site? Rather, enable it to engage us with regularity concerning who you are, who we are, and what you envision. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Bless you,
All that is left is for you to poke around at the new, lifetime.org and see what you think. Let us know what you think, and by all means, pass the word.
