It seems to be a day for firsts. SI’s first change in leadership at the top. My first go at leading anything remotely like SI. And for many of you, I expect, a first impression of what the new guy is like. I’d love to give you a classic for all time. I offer this instead.
Three cheers for “starters”
First, thanks to Jason for biting the bullet, letting go of SI, and being willing to hand it off to a pretty obscure small-town pastor in rural Wisconsin. But I also want to thank him for just being a starter. Guys like me owe a great deal to guys like Jason because guys like me do not start things. We come after, maintain, hopefully grow. But we rarely have the guts to make something where there was nothing. So I’ll add my salute to those of the many who have already thanked Jason for getting SI going.
A place for writing
I was drawn to SharperIron back in ’05 because it offered me a place to write. I wanted to write to fundamentalists and wanted to do so with a freedom I didn’t think I could get in the print media. At some point I e-mailed Kevin Bauder about my quandary. He told me about SI and suggested it might be what I was looking for. He was right.
A commitment to write monthly for SI revived skills that had atrophied during my post-seminary years and then took me beyond those skills. The format was good for me. Knowing that those unpersuaded by my arguments would have the opportunity to say so and to offer counterarguments intensified the thought behind the writing. It made writing harder work, but more satisfying work. And when the back-and-forth has been thoughtful and on topic, I’ve enjoyed it. read more
The new owner is Aaron Blumer. No, that’s not the guy who has been editing the articles, running the advertising, and contacting authors. That is Adam Blumer. Aaron is his older brother.
Aaron grew up outside Flint, Michigan, and attended several Baptist churches while growing up. He accepted the Lord as Savior around the age of seven. He attended public school for a brief period and then three different Christian schools. After high school, he completed his B.A in Bible Education at Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC). In 1996, he completed his M.Div. at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN).
He taught school for three years in Georgia and worked for Unisys for a while, doing a variety of jobs. In April 2000, he became pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Boyceville, Wisconsin, where he currently serves.
Aaron sent me a proposal a while back, indicating an interest in SharperIron. I had slowly let the cat out of the bag that I wanted to step out. He laid out a clear vision, and we began to talk.
He is interested in SI because he has always been interested in the varied aspects of Fundamentalism. He felt SI was well positioned to bring many different fundamentalists together to challenge their thinking. He joined SI the month after it opened, so he has seen it through all the various stages of growth. Hopefully, he’ll get more credibility from the older group of fundamentalists since he is 42 and I was only 32 when I started. :) read more
The long-awaited day has finally come. I am stepping out of SI and handing it over. One year ago, I was sent out by my home church to plant a new church in downtown Denver. It soon became obvious to me that my time at SI was coming to an end. The demands of starting a church and the challenge of reaching a secular city would take much of my time and creative energy. So I had to make a decision: pull the plug or hand the site over to new leadership. Nine months ago, I decided to pursue the latter option, but it proved to be difficult. It was not until last month that I felt comfortable with finding a person to take over the ownership of the site. Tomorrow I will introduce him to you. read more
SI is now just over three years old. During our first month, we had about 7,500 different visitors to the site; and this past month, we had 38,500! The site continues to be a blessing to many and a pain in the neck for some others. :) I like stats, and this one kind of blew me away—since we opened, 35,429,657 pages have been viewed on the site! It takes a good amount of work and funds to keep the site running the way it does. Thanks to all of the moderators and the staff for the work they do.
The costs of running the site are now around $750 a month. This year, advertising has not covered the costs like it did last year. I have asked for donations only once in the three years that SI has been in existence. However, I’m behind on the bills, and this is not a time when I can really afford to supplement the site. So if you’d like to donate to the cause, I would appreciate it if you would consider us.
If you’d like to donate online, please click on the button below to donate via PayPal.
You may also mail your donations to Adam Blumer at 719 East H St., Iron Mountain, MI 49801. Make checks payable to “SharperIron.”
I wanted to share a word of thanks to those of you in the SI membership who gave so generously to my family and me. Many of the ladies in the Ladies Forum went in on an “Internet shower” for Jennifer, and others sent clothing and other items separately. Your generosity has been a special blessing to us. Our new son, Reggie, has been a delight. The whole family is enjoying him. His older sisters can’t get enough kisses and cuddles. Jennifer is recovering well, all things considered, though I do realize, ladies, that is a relatively easy thing for me to type.
I also wanted to share a brief word of thanks to those who contributed to the appreciation gift collected for me after I announced my departure from the SI Admin Team. With the funds collected, I was able to purchase (at very reasonable prices):
A Kodak Easyshare Z650 Digital Camera… …and a Toshiba Gigabeat S60 Portable Media Center… …with a nice remnant to invest in further education.
Thanks again for the displays of appreciation and thoughtfulness. Jennifer and I am truly overwhelmed by your expressions of generosity to us.
When SI began, I wanted to create a blog and forum to discuss news and ideas. Now, after two years, the site has grown to become much more than that. It’s an online magazine, a resource for pastors, a web community, and a news outlet. What it took to run the site at the beginning and what it takes now are worlds apart. Basically, Greg Linscott and I started this site out of our “garage.” Now the site has more than a dozen moderators, more than 50 writers, a tech team, an executive team, and a traffic stream of about 3,500 visits a day.
The success of SI, however, has had its downside. First, SI began to take a larger chunk out of my life and out of the lives of others who were helping to run it. This site began as a diversion for me, and I am committed to keeping it that way. The site fits into one of my life passions of helping pastors and church leaders. But running a website isn’t my passion. Blogging isn’t my passion; however, SI continues to be a blessing to many pastors and church leaders, so I continue to run the site. However, the site needs to be manageable and not infringe on my other priorities. In order to do that, I need help.
The second downside of the site’s success was that with the reaching of a broader audience, we desperately needed a better structure. We were publishing an article a day without an editor. We were asking volunteers to help us format and post all articles; some articles take hours to get into publishable form. A donor stepped forward and volunteered to pay for an editor. Last summer, I used the funds from our donor to hire Adam Blumer, a professional editor. This was a huge help. At the end of 2006, however, the donor informed me that he wouldn’t be able to continue funding into 2007. read more
About two years ago, SharperIron started as a blog and forum for fundamentalists. I had just finished the Young Fundamentalists Survey and wanted a place to discuss the findings. I wanted to start a blog. Our webmaster, Brad Waite, wanted a forum. Out of that discussion/argument came the blog and forum concept. I remember wanting to name the site Iron2Iron. The other guys all voted for SharperIron. Those were the early days. We’ve learned a lot over two years, and, in spite of many failures, we are continuing to endeavor to keep a site for Christian fundamentalists to discuss news and ideas.
For the last three months, I have struggled with the knowledge that the site could not stay the same. In the early days, when Phil Johnson sent us his manuscript for Dead Right, we had over 500 visitors that day, and we thought we had reached the world! Now we have grown to several thousand members and record about 30,000 unique visitors a month. On any given day, we will see 200 to 300 new posts. With that level of traffic and interaction, the issues on the site began to multiply. I have seen many sites reach a certain size, and they come to the same crossroads. Get serious or get out! I have seen several shut down, handed over, or abandoned. Some of the abandoned sites are an absolute disaster and should be closed.
Several times over the last year, I have considered dissolving SI or handing it over to someone else. At times, I get discouraged at the high price that has to be paid in order to have this ministry. To tell you the truth, my wife has been the one who has threatened me (ever so kindly) not to give it up. read more
SI is almost two years old, and we’ve been doing a good share of evaluating. We will be changing many aspects of the site here in January including the addition of policies, more intensive moderation, and new staff members. However, we could use some help in some other areas, and I’d like to bring them to your attention.
Staff Needs
Graphic Designer—We need a designer who is able to add a photo to each article. We are getting to the point where we have our articles edited and ready for posting four to seven days in advance of their publication. So, we need a graphic designer who could go in once or twice a week and add the necessary graphics.
Posting Editor—We need someone to help get articles ready for posting after they have been edited. This would include basic computer language skills. We already have two individuals who help with this, but the addition of a third would be a great benefit to the site.
Archive Editor—SI now has over 400 articles on the site that have been posted on the front page. However, our software does not allow for easy access to the archives. I’d like to bring someone on board who could create a web page that would have all articles archived by topic and by author in PDF format. This is especially important to a large number of our readers who are not web savvy.
Sunday Sermon Editor—In the past, we had someone who posted an MP3 sermon each Sunday; it was a nice feature to the site. So, if you listen to a lot of sermons on your MP3 player and would have a burden to highlight good messages for our readership, please contact me. read more
It seems to be a day for firsts. SI’s first change in leadership at the top. My first go at leading anything remotely like SI. And for many of you, I expect, a first impression of what the new guy is like. I’d love to give you a classic for all time. I offer this instead.
The new owner is 
The long-awaited day has finally come. I am stepping out of SI and handing it over. One year ago, I was sent out by my 
SI is now just over three years old. During our first month, we had about 7,500 different visitors to the site; and this past month, we had 38,500! The site continues to be a blessing to many and a pain in the neck for some others. :) I like stats, and this one kind of blew me away—since we opened, 35,429,657 pages have been viewed on the site! It takes a good amount of work and funds to keep the site running the way it does. Thanks to all of the moderators and the staff for the work they do.
I wanted to share a word of thanks to those of you in the SI membership who gave so generously to my family and me. Many of the ladies in the Ladies Forum went in on an “Internet shower” for Jennifer, and others sent clothing and other items separately. Your generosity has been a special blessing to us.
Our new son, Reggie, has been a delight. The whole family is enjoying him. His older sisters can’t get enough kisses and cuddles. Jennifer is recovering well, all things considered, though I do realize, ladies, that is a relatively easy thing for me to type.
