Maintaining a Christian website often is a full time Christian ministry
by Don Koenig
I have come to the conclusion that many in the local body do not realize that keeping up a popular website is a full time ministry. For example in the last 8 years I have written and posted the equivalent of the content of at least four books. I have also key worded and tweaked each article so searchers can find them. It takes time to get each article to rank high enough in the search engines for people to find it through their keyword searches. About 30,000 of my written articles on this website are download each month. In addition, their are my links to articles written by others and over 1000 posts, links and commentaries by me on my two Blogs.
The emails and questions sent to me about certain points in my articles, or on my views on some matter take a lot of time. There is also the computer maintenance and the backups to do. I usually spend about four hours each day going through the news to find information for my two blogs. I also do a daily analysis of the website statistics to see where I can improve on something so my articles will be found and read. All this takes a great deal of time. I usually spend somewhere between 50 to 80 hours a week on this ministry.
It takes me as much time to do this job as does the job of a missionary or a pastor. I am not blowing my horn, I just want some who do not understand to realize why I do not do more to fit within their local church agendas. I would estimate I have spent nearly twenty-five thousand hours over the last eight years on this ministry. In 2004 I spent 2000 hours on my Revelation commentary ebook alone. One does not get scores of articles to be top ranked in the Internet search engines without doing proper article preparation and footwork. All this takes time.
All this effort has not been without results. This is a wide open ministry field to people all over the world. Many have not heard the gospel and do not have the freedom to hear it any other way. There are many others in the West that are not getting this information in their churches.
Many with websites as popular as mine have a staff to help. I do everything by myself except my wife eventually proofreads my articles because of my poor spelling and English skills (which proves that God can even use literary idiots to get His message out). I must also keep on top of many topics that are taking place in modern day Christianity and the world. I have not stopped learning from other teachers. Continued learning is still high on my priority list. Needless to say all this takes up most of my available time.
I would venture to say I am reaching more people with my website than local pastors and teachers unless they also have some popular media ministry. So please do not try to lay on me anything that you would not lay on any other Christian who is in a full time ministry position.
These facts certainly do not make my mission in the body of Christ any more important than the person who sweeps the floors at the local church. However, I know this website is the work that God wants me to be doing and it is why I was called by God 34 years ago. That is when the actual preparation for this website began. Over the years I have taken the time to study and learn about certain biblical issues that few others are willing or able to take the time to do. The website in one way or another contains what I have learned in 34 years of learning that included about thirty thousand hours of private study under Godly teachers and my own private study of the scriptures. This time does not include my prior Catholic education or the 25,000 hours I have since spent on this ministry over the last eight years.
Before I was called to write this website I often wondered what my obsession to learn these things was all about and what use I would be in the Lord since I was never one really equipped to be on stage to present it. I also came to understand that Satan wanted me dead or rendered totally useless so I could never be used by God. My only hope was that this obsession with prophecy, the state of the world, the church and what scripture says about these subjects would bear fruit in my latter years. Now I am quite aware of why all the basic preparation took place. In addition to what I learned under others I believe God has given me additional understanding from the Bible on many Christian issues. So I take this website and the development of the articles and the links and the time I spend on this website very seriously and it has to be my first priority.
Please excuse me if I think that some local service in the Body is a lessor priority for me and perhaps better done by those in the local Body who were called to do it. I certainly am not saying I will not serve in the local Body but I want the local Body to fully understand that this website is my foremost commission from the Lord. I am well aware that this website is why I am on earth and it also why Satan would love to thrash me and stop me from getting this information out.
I would be pleased to do any local agenda if there is a square hole for this square peg to fit into. However, I do not like being pounded into round holes just to fill someone's pegboard (it is painful for me and it will split your pegboard). Of course if that square hole can be found, I still would have to find the time to fill it. You must also understand that like anyone else in full time ministry I also need recreational downtime. Please do not expect me to be working 24/7.
As I told a recent pastor, "I wish to use the gifts God gave me to serve Him. I do not wish to work using gifts I do not possess."
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