Trailblazin Ministries Blog

Ministry

Back to Square One (Sort Of)

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Thursday, 13 September 2007
Filed under: Ministry

Well, it looks like I'm back to square one. What am I talking about? I'm speaking of being back to square one in terms of ministry and what it is that I'm desiring to do with Trailblazin Ministries, so let me explain. When I first started doing online ministry back in 1999, it was always my intention to do one thing and one thing only: teach the Word of God (and share the gospel, of course). The name of the ministry was Jesus4Life (kind of corny name, huh? but it fit), and the only thing I did with that site was teach. I wrote devotions almost daily, I was writing Bible studies just about bi-weekly (just about all of which I have since lost). At the time, I had one of the crappiest designed websites that you had ever seen, but it was mine, I had designed it myself, and it was serving its purpose. I shared the Word with many people over instant messenger (primarily Yahoo! IM @ that time) and in the Yahoo! chat rooms. Needless to say, I was having the time of my life and loving "ministry."

Somewhere along the way, I knew that I needed to step my game up and get a better design to better communicate the information that I was trying to give to my website visitors. Now, the redesign was nothing spectacular, especially the logo; but again, it worked, and it served its purpose. I think I went with the design for close to a year. It was also around this time that I realized that there weren't many people, if any, visiting my site (i.e. 10-20 hits in a week or a month). So, I had the idea to start implementing book reviews and the occasional CD review; I even added a message board. Things picked up for a minute and fell back off; mainly due to lack of dedication on my part (I was in college at this time) and not many people being interested in what I had to offer. You could definitely say that my heart wasn't in it, and that I wasn't looking at things with the right perspective.

It was around this time that I got more concerned with design, thinking that I needed something professional and flashy in order to bring in visitors. It just so happened that a friend of mine was great at graphic design and was willing to whip up a design for me. What he came up with worked somewhat, but it was good enough to work for a couple years. It was at this time that I really picked up the music reviews, so much so that I was almost solely focusing in on that aspect of the website, instead of studying the Word to deliver it. So, it was after a long bout of going back & forth (and a major squabble with my web host over billing issues) that I decided to close the door on this ministry. That was in 2004, I don't quite remember when. Basically, I was fed up and didn't know what to do (again, in hindsight, due to lack of dedication on my own part).

Long story short, I brought the site back with a new name (Heaven's Mentality) in 2005, but that only lasted a few months because I ended up selling the domain name. That kicked off trying to start a complete holy hip-hop site (Correct Dialect), but that only lasted a couple months because it was not what I wanted to do. Yes, I wanted to be involved in the scene, but there wasn't enough "ministry" in simply doing album reviews and conducting interviews, even with the occasional devotion. So, in late 2005, I relaunched Jesus4Life, but again the passion quickly faded; more so this time because I could not settle on a design that I was pleased with.

That led me to the idea in December 2005 to completely overhaul things and give the ministry a new name and a new vision that would encompass all the things that I wanted to try and do, hence Trailblazin Ministries. Devotions got off to a very good start, I even tried a Bible study series, that didn't go as well as I expected. The music reviews were on point and we were making headway. Things were really picking up and I was getting more and more requests for CD reviews (with many being persistent about me getting it done). I thought all of this was great, but being a one man show, it quickly became overwhelming and caused me to again neglect the part of the site I was supposed to be focused on. A few redesigns and additional writers later, it's the same thing all over again, except the ministry has grown quite a bit since. All of this has left me a tired & slightly down brother.

So, I've said all of that to say that I think I'm finally getting back to the spot where I'm supposed to be. I finally have a design that I'm comfortable with (at least 95% comfortable with), as can be seen by it being the sole design we've had in 2007. And with a working (professional) design, along with a pretty banging content management system, I am completely freed up to focus on content. I have readjusted things on the site to make this prevalent, but the primary focus of this site is moving from being just another holy hip-hop site back to a ministry that is primarily focused on teaching the Word of God and raising up disciples, which is done through our devotions, Bible studies, and online community forum. The menu makes this clearly known as there are no clearly visible links to holy hip-hop related items without having to search or dig in the menu. I figured, instead of removing those items, I would just remove their prominence on the site, and emphasize that which is most important: the Word.

I understand that it will be an uphill battle, but I have a plan of action, knowing that my heart is in the right place and I have people around me who are willing to help and support this ministry. So, as we continue to move forward in ministry, look for us to continue to grow and work in excellence as we seek to do what God has called us to do. I won't give up on God because He hasn't given up on me (or this ministry).