What this means for WOP…

First, it means that we can include syndicated content from other top thinkers in the field of arts in ministry… There are thousands of bloggers that only blog about art or worship occasionally in their personal blogs… WOP will give those bloggers a platform to promote these aspects of their writing to our focused interest-group… by simply adding a tag…

Second, it means that friends, fans and readers can contribute to the conversation at WOP in a meaningful way… Let’s face it, sometimes you have more to say about a post than a limited comment… So, blog it, tag it and create a forum for discussion…

Finally, it allows us to have the benefits of an online community without the hassle of joining another social networking site… Because, how long has it been since you logged into anything besides Twitter or Facebook anyway?  And that’s how you’ll login to contribute to WOP: with an account at either of the 2 most popular social networking sites on the web…

What the “private beta” means for you…

Right now, contributor participation is by invitation only… Mostly because the host site is in beta which means there are bugs sometimes… We don’t want our content to suffer because we’re trying to manage bug-feedback from an unlimited number users…

So, if you want to become one of our beta testers, you have to request an invitation… Just use our contact form and say, “I want to contribute content.”  We’ll send you more specific instructions along with an invite…

.

And now we’re ready to start the beta test…

Now, if our site had a lot of moving parts, we’d be using the next six months  to make sure everything works… taking user feedback and rewriting code and all sorts of other technical stuff…

But we don’t have a lot of moving parts…

So, OUR beta process will look a little different… We’re going to focus on promotions, features and gathering reader input about content…

Changes that you might notice…

This week, we’ll be adding a tool that will allow Facebook, Twitter and Flickr users to contribute content to the site through an outside media website… The media site is also in beta, so we will be inviting a limited number of reader-contributors to test the functionality of the interface… Once the media site opens for business in September, we’ll tell you how you can join too…

We’ll also be starting our #MusicMonday promotion for independent artists on Twitter on Monday, August 3.

Our Featured Artist program is gearing up to present a new artist every 2 weeks, beginning August 3… We have some great artists lined-up to introduce in August and September.

We will be changing how the slideshows work… This is the number 1 user-recommendation that we’ve received in the past 2 months… You’ll see this improvement on this week’s Flickr Frlday post…

Finally, we’ve added a WOP Bookstore at Amazon.com… We’ll be adding recommendations from WOP staff and friends…

Changes that you probably won’t notice at all…

All of our programs are being streamlined internally… For example, we’re adding processes and forms to the way we invite content, contact artists and tag posts, photos and media… You won’t notice, but it will free us up to spend more time creating and inviting great content…

Where all of this is going…

Ultimately, we have established 2 goals:

Create a site that motivates and inspires artists to use their gifts in ministry and worship…

Create a site that assists churches is starting ministries to artists, for artists  and by artists…

How you can get involved…

Comment on everything!  If you like a post, show us some love… If you disagree with a post, show us some critical thinking (with love)…

Retweet us on Twitter whenever you find a useful or interesting post… “Like” our posts on Facebook…

If you blog, photoshare or produce media that is focused on art, worship, ministry or inspiration, you can contribute content to the site by joining our beta test group… We are limiting the number of users, so contact us to request an invite… and don’t be offended if we reply that the pool is full…

If you are an artist in any medium, contact us with a brief blurb about yourself and your art, include some samples or a link to your website… You might be selected to be one of our Featured Artists…

Become a fan on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our YouTube channel and join our group on Flickr.

Thanks!!

CATCH THE VISION…
Visit our “About” page and find out what we’re… um… all about… 

GIVE BACK…
Encouraging artists to assist and support missions at home and around the world… 

THE WARRIOR…
We’re about half-way through Tim Jones’ spiritual warfare novella… Presented in serial format with weekly installments… Catch-up with what’s going on by clicking here.

FEATURED ARTISTS…
Starting in August, we’re going to feature new artists every two weeks… In the meantime, check out Kathie Luther (June) and Gloria Mendez (July)… 

CONTACT US…
Use our contact form to help us find artists to feature, give us feedback or become a contributor… 

…Welcome to WorshipOnPurpose.com…

Lane is doing something extraordinary… And we’re not sure that he even realizes it…

Lane is trying to start a movement.

Check out his blog post about #WorshipWednesday on Twitter.

Here at WOP, we’re all about lifestyle worship… Particularly for artists… And we wanted to encourage you to join in what Lane has started.

Thanks, Lane… we’re not even that jealous that you thought of it first…

The only requirement is a website with a basic analytics or “hit tracker” installed.

How the program works:

We will tweet a link to your website 3 times during the day on Monday with the #musicmonday tag. You email us on Tuesday and report any spikes in your site traffic.

From the responders, we will select 6 indie artists and feature them on alternating Mondays for the rest of 2009.

Click here and give us your website link and email address.

Touch by brionnasweetie2 on Flickr.com

Turns out, one week featuring our “Give Back” philosophy just isn’t enough… This week, we continue to feature the mission work of Jack Fairweather in the Philippines, with “Street Kid Stories” and  some thoughts on “Purpose,” inspired by conversations with Jack…

And in case you missed any of last week’s articles, here’s a quick recap:

Give Like Jesus… by Tim Jones
Jesus did a lot of miracles.  When he encountered a person in need, his first response (with a few exceptions) was to meet the need.  This is certainly an example that he intended us to follow.  But these two miracles were special… he did something a little different… the question is, WHY? (read more)

Missionary Slide Shows… by Tim Jones
We’re artists: photographers, graphic artists, media designers, filmmakers, songwriters, indie bands… The visual and emotional flash that these missionaries need to engage their audiences, hold their attention and get help for Joe and other kids like him… it’s just a “doodle” for us… (read more) 

Initiating Contact… by Tim Jones
There are practical and spiritual reasons that artists should initiate contact with missionaries… (read more) 

Interview with John Prichard and Jack Fairweather… by Tim Jones
I hooked up with student filmmaker, John Prichard, and missionary, Jack Fairweather, to talk about Jack’s work with street kids in the Philippines and the short film that John is making about the mission there… (more)

Arise! Mission Video… by John Prichard
Pre-release of John Prichard’s short film featuring missionary, Jack Fairweather. (watch it now)

"I want to tell you a story about Joe. He's the little boy on the right... the one looking at the camera... can you see him?"

Bring a missionary with a compelling story into my church for a presentation and I am almost instantly reduced to a blubbering wad of tears and snot… It doesn’t matter if they have slides or media or authentic costumes… I am drawn into the stories.

I am the exception… not the rule.

Most people, especially in the US, are over-stimulated by media.  So, if the presentation is dull or too long or not visually engaging, they check out about 45 seconds into it.  And we’ve all seen that mission trip picture: underexposed foreground that makes the 4 African children playing in the street 100 feet away look like tiny, black specks.  

Take a quick look and go back to text-messaging your girlfriend… and totally miss the amazing story of Joe (third speck from the left) and how he came in dying from malnutrition and malaria three years ago…

Great stories + lousy media = boring presentation.

So, in the minds of church-goers there are basically 2 types of missionaries: interesting and boring.  The interesting ones raise lots of money and the boring ones struggle to get the support they need to make ends meet.

Ironically, the interesting ones often get the support of a couple of rock bands who end up raising money for them so that they can keep doing the work of their ministry… But the boring ones tend to spend a third of their time going from church to church asking for support which comes in the form of pathetic, little love-offerings.

The sad thing is that the boring ones almost always have a great story to tell.  They just need a little help in telling it. 

And that’s where we come in…

We’re artists:  photographers, graphic artists, media designers, filmmakers, songwriters, indie bands… The visual and emotional flash that these missionaries need to engage their audiences, hold their attention and get help for Joe and other kids like him… it’s just a “doodle” for us.  Seriously, a day of pro-bono work from you could make the difference for a ministry that provides food for street children in India or an orphanage in Uganda.

Next:  Why artists have to make the first move…

...it's beginning to look like this to us...

We’ve been looking at our site for about 6 months now.  It has moved through three distinct incarnations and the version that you see now has been revised almost daily for the past month… Looking at your own webpage is like looking at a picture of your baby:  all you see is the cute baby… all anyone else can see is the huge booger in her nose.

So, we took a long hard look at our baby this morning and found some boogers that need… um… picking.  We thought we’d share this info with our readers, so you won’t just abandon us in our infantcy.

So, here are the items that we’ve identified for immediate improvement:

1.) The social networking links in the top feature bar look really wonky on IE7… We didn’t realize, because we don’t use IE7.  But the bar itself is badly designed and detracts from the overall appearance of the site. That entire bar is going to be replaced by an iconic interface located at the top of the sidebar.

2.) We’ve tried to use open source plugins for the Featured Artist and Flickr Friday slide shows.  We found one that works great, but doesn’t look good on the light background that we’re using.  We found another one that gives us all sorts of design latitude, but requires the user to click the images to advance… We’ve bee told that this is “janky” and that sounds bad, so we’re going to be working on developing new code for our own custom app.

3.) We decided that the advertising that we’re using makes the site look gratuitously commercial.  Gone.  We will begin inserting relevant and useful ads for resources that benefit our readers as we become aware of them.

We want WorshipOnPurpose.com to be the best site on the web for encouraging artists to use their gifts in ministry…

Any other suggestions?