Wherein I get to announce news that hasn’t officially been announced only because somebody else beat me to it and, well, it’s no longer news, now tell you what I’ve been itching to say for the past [undisclosed amount of time] because the news has been embargoed till now. Whew!

Update 10/28/2008: This post has been updated with information from the October 28 Muskegon Chronicle news story. See below …

Update 11/07/08: ChristianityToday.com interviewed Zondervan CEO, Moe Girkins, on the recent acquisition of the Bible Gateway and Gospel.com. See: “Why Zondervan Bought BibleGateway.com: CEO Moe Girkins wants to take the site beyond just verses. iTunes-style commentaries, anyone?” (Interview by Jeremy Weber)

Ever since Gospel Communications announced the closure of their Internet division and Web-hosting ministry (as I noted here), there’s been a lot of speculation about the eventual fate of the Bible Gateway, one of the most highly-visited sites anywhere (Alexa.com ranks it as #1,837 as of today). Friends from CTI speculated that it would get snapped up by one of the Bible Societies, friends on Twitter wondered whether it would fade away, others wondered who could do as good a job.

I’m happy to announce, though, that the Bible Gateway has been acquired by my own employer: Zondervan (which is owned by HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corporation). Though Zondervan hasn’t issued a press release yet, and it’s officially still a secret, Larry Tomlinson (DotComLarry) broke the news last Thursday at 1:32 PM via Twitter:

BTW, I couldn’t talk about this yesterday, but BibleGateway and Gospel.com has been bought by Zondervan publishers.
01:32 PM October 23, 2008 from web, view Tweet

dotcomlarry
Larry Tomlinson

Apparently, when a “confidential” announcement was made at the recent Internet Ministry Conference it was being streamed live online — thus, several Twitterers, live-bloggers, and stream watchers, uh, paid attention. :: whoops! :: So, that cat’s out of the bag, but there are still further announcements regarding the fate of the rest of the GospelCom properties waiting to be made. Viewing the Twitter stream regarding GospelCom, it does look like there will be some continuity of mission and purpose. Somewhere.

Meanwhile, there are big plans in the works for extending and expanding the Gateway. I don’t know what those plans are (I’m not privy to those official discussions, really), but the rumors are interesting. And, really, it’s just like putting peanut butter in your chocolate to mix a Bible gateway with a major publisher of Bibles and related materials (commentaries, exegetical tools, Bible studies, curricula, devotionals, and on-and-on).

I only hope that we keep the spirit of the original Bible Gateway’s mission alive and that it remains one of the most truly useful online Bibles ever created.

Update: Before I got a chance to post this, I received three pieces of communication. One came from Moe Girkins, my über-boss at Zondervan, officially announcing the acquisition internally. To my surprise and delight, I learned that, “In addition to BibleGateway.com, our agreement also gives us rights to Gospel.com, an online community of Christian organizations.” Even better, Moe writes, “BibleGateway.com will not be just a Zondervan initiative. Rather, our vision is for this to continue as truly cross-publisher and the result of a team effort of a wide variety of content providers focused on meeting the needs of Christians and seekers alike.” And just to help make the transition smooth, half-a-dozen or more GospelCom employees will be coming to work at Zondervan immediately.

The second piece of email came from long-time friend, Peggie Bohanon, of Peggie’s Place, who wanted to let her readers know about the acquisition. Peggie also let us know that the acquisition deal does not include the ministry Web hosting provision, which kept over 300 non-profit ministries afloat on the Web. Fortunately, there’s 5Q Communications to help with the hosting (founded by former GospelCommers, some of whom I’ve meet and can recommend as smart, quality guys). That is, in fact, where ol’ Peg-leg’s moving, herself. So, if you’re looking for hosting, they might be worth looking into.

The third piece of email came from Moe Girkin’s executive assistant, green-lighting my release of this news here, now. So, you (may have) read it here first.

Enjoy!

Update (10/28/2008):

Today the Muskegon Chronicle announced this story (by Clayton Hardiman, who also broke the news of GospelCom’s closing back on September 12), “Gospel Communications Online Sold.” Strangely, the main story is not yet online, anywhere, but here are some salient quotes from the paper:

The future of Gospel Communications’ ministries had been in a state of limbo since early September when the agency’s board of directors, promoted by at least two years of fiscal difficulties, informed partner ministries it would shut down its Web-hosting services. …

Gospel Communications … began operations as Gospel Films Inc. 58 years ago … [and] became the largest distributor of Christian films and videos in the world. …

As part of the acquisition, eight [GospelCom] staffers … have been hired by Zondervan to continue their work on BibleGateway.com.

(The article notes that the BibleGateway was born in 1995 and was developed by Nick Hengeveld. Actually, the gateway was announced to the world on Tuesday, December 28, 1993. It was then hosted at Calvin College, where Hengeveld was a student and network administrator. However, when Nick came to Gospel Communications as their first webmaster, he brought his gateway with him — much to the delight of his new employer, I’m sure. When Hengeveld left in 2006, his brainchild stayed behind.)

The Grand Rapids Press also weighed in with its story, “Zondervan acquires religious site BibleGateway.com,” by Julia Bauer. It pulled in a quote by CEO Moe Girkins:

“Our vision is for BibleGateway.com to be the premier online aggregator of Biblical resources, blending relevant content and community features for anyone searching for information to help them in their spiritual journey, wherever they may be,” said Moe Girkins, Zondervan president and CEO.

(Again, in the interests of full disclosure, if you haven’t noticed by now, I work at Zondervan, though not in the business unit that will be working with the Gateway.)

It’s an interesting time to be a part of Zondervan’s story!

Wherein I describe my first day on the job after a harrowing 14-month unemployment ordeal.

So, there hasn’t been much news on this blog lately, mostly because I’ve been busy, I’ve been distracted, and I’ve been unemployed. Somehow, not having a job makes me less productive in my blogging alter-life. Go figure.

Here’s the news: I’ve been hired!

I didn’t want to spend a lot of time talking about interviews and possibilities and potentialities, getting hopes up, and boring you with my uneven work possibilities. But after leaving Tennessee just before Christmas, I contacted Zondervan for a new open position I’d found on their website: Senior Editorial Manager. I expressed my interest.

Then I moved. Jennifer and the kids and I packed up and moved to Muskegon to live with my father-in-law while we sorted things out, worked on selling the house, and licked our wounds.

By the end of the month, I had a nibble from Zondervan. Then, in February, I got an interview. Then I was called back for more interviews. Then, finally, I got … the call.

March 10, today, was my first day on the job.

I have no idea what I’m doing. Yet, anyhow. As far as I can tell from the conversations I’ve had and the job description I’ve seen, I’m going to be a project manager/expediter for anything and everything produced by Zondervan’s Curriculum, Academic, Reference, and Resource division as well as their digital/online division. If it’s going to be a product, I’ll be pushing it through the system. I won’t be editing. Rather, I’ll be managing the stuff that editors are working on.

It’s a big job, but I’m happy to do it, and I’ll be learning a lot over the next few months, not only about the job itself, but about Zondervan, its 75+ year history, and its highly refined publishing process.

Word to the wise: Zondervan looks to be a great company to work for. Their benefits are phenomenal and their employee culture is great. Everybody is friendlier than tame puppies, and they’ve bent over backwards to make me feel really wanted and celebrated at the company.

Thanks to all who prayed for us and kept sending us helpful suggestions and encouragement. It has been hugely appreciated. We’re not entirely out of the woods yet: we still have accumulated debt, a house to sell, untreated medical stuff, and the need to move into our own home. But apart from that, God is really blessing us!

Hi, all.

First off, I apologize for not spending much time in this space over the past couple of months.

If you’ve followed my blog activities (and inactivity!), you know that on October 22, I accepted a position as marketing and media director at one of the Assemblies of God’s 100 largest churches. I was thrilled not only to have a job but to be in a position that required top-notch creativity and performance from many areas of my skill site — and many areas I was eager to acquire new skills in.

As marketing and media director I designed several promotional and in-house printed pieces, I wrote press releases, I worked with vendors, I approved and gave guidance for the video and broadcast editing (though not much of that because my staff was not only skilled but very professional and surpassed my knowledge in many ways). My team struggled with print deadlines, malfunctioning and aging equipment, and volatile tempers. I raised the visibility of my overworked team’s plight (loads of stress and too much work), and asked a lot of questions. I didn’t always like the answers, but my job wasn’t to change the church, but to understand it first.

Unfortunately, I failed to understand many things quickly enough and I now find myself looking for work once again after the single shortest tenure at any job I’ve ever held in my short, if rotund, life.

But, fortunately, my hasty departure from the church is not due to any sort of illegal, unethical, or moral wrongdoing. Instead, I chalk it up to a severe failure to communicate on my part. Which is ironic, really, since communication was my … err … job. (Big failure on my part.) As the pastor noted when he released me, my personality was not a good fit for the church.

Upon tearful reflection, we are agreed.

So, once more into the breach. My family and I will covet your prayers yet once more. We are packing up to move to Michigan where we will live with family while we wait for our Chicago home to sell and try to find gainful employment again.

Regards,

View and browse tags for this post…

Kevin’s a great guy, a good friend, and an excellent manager — a true joy to work with. When his 20th anniversary at CTI came due, we wanted to do something to poke a little fun at him while still honoring him for his 20 years of service.

CTI took a huge risk asking me to put anytng together, knowing my style of humor (many waited with bated breath and crossed fingers, dreading the final result, and eagerly looking forward to the entertaining train-wreck it was sure to be). Who’s great idea was this? I’ll never know. According to my logs, I started working on this around June 5. Fifteen days later, and probably 20-40 hours of editing and fiddling later, this video is what came out of it.

I share it here for those of you know know Kevin and want to relive the memory of my forcing him to do the Chicken Dance through the magic of video editing. For those of you who don’t know Kevin, maybe it will spark an idea or two for the next time you need to roast somebody via manipulated video?

I pulled together countless still photos, audio clips, a couple video clips, and combed through it all to find the best way to make Kevin look good and bad all at the same time. A friend, Jennifer Oxford went to Red Apple and shot some footage of the manager giving Kevin a hard time. I shot some footage of Kevin’s son pretending to be a slacker. And Cory Whitehead and I stole Kevin’s PDA for a few moments to get some footage of “Kevin” frantically checking email on his Palm V. The hand model is, of course, Cory.

For any who are curious, yes, Kevin actually was temporarily mistaken for a terrorist due to a silly attempt at irony when boarding a plane. Let this be a lesson to you: avoid being sarcastic, ironic or flippant in any way about terrorism when Homeland Security is nearby. You can read the lessons Kevin learned here: Eleven Stray Words.”

You can download the Windows Media version of the video here, watch it at YouTube here, or just enjoy it, above.

If you want to host the video on your own site, you can use this code here:

Read Kevin’s Book:

Surviving Information Overload: The Clear, Practical Guide to Help You Stay on Top of What You Need to Know

Fake websites

Lovingly and hilariously designed by Clay Anderson and Valerie Broucek. Click to see the full-meal deal.

More pics:

As most of you who regularly visit know, back in November of 2006 I was laid-off from CTI. It wasn’t anything nefarious or antagonistic — CTI always has been and continues to be very good to me, still tossing occasional freelance work and article assignments my way. (Hopefully because of my skill, not out of mercy. Though mercy is good, too, and welcome!) When my project’s funding ran dry and I was out on the streets (well, more like in my skivvies, lounging around the house, generally making a nuisance of myself) I immediately signed up for a paid account at LinkedIN. I was sold on what it promised for professional networking and job searching opportunities.

Not yet disappointed

LinkedIN has not disappointed me. That isn’t to say it’s actually delivered on its promises. Rather, I’ve found that its usefulness is greater than just for the immediate emergency of landing a job.

No. I haven’t landed a job yet, but here’s what I have done. After filling out my complete work history on LI, I relieved myself of the burden of having to create a four-page resumé, instead I was able to focus on a more high-level “advertisement” of my skills and capabilities, leaving the heavy-lifting of the detailed former-job minutia to LinkedIN. Now, when I want to send a candidate package to somebody, I send them my PDF resumé along with links to my full professional history at LinkedIN, along with some references I’ve picked up along the way.

Every potential employer has told me they were impressed with my resumé — and not a single interview has had to probe the nitty-gritty details of my previous job experience, because it’s all laid out in black and white over at LinkedIN, with plenty of details to back it up.

Transparency and Accountability

What LinkedIN provides me with potential employers is transparency, accountability, and authenticity. Yes, any yahoo can invent a work history. But when you’ve published it online and placed it in a network where a single click of a button can easily find current employees working for that old company who might be willing to verify details, it’s harder to be sneaky and deceitful. Plus, it helps if your personal network of professional contacts includes former employers and managers named in the work history —which is the case with me. So, the normal paranoia and suspicion that can sour a job interview has been delightfully lacking. I think my online information-packet strategy has helped with that, and LinkedIN has been a valuable part of the experience.

Socially acceptable end-runs

Another benefit to using LinkedIN has been the ability to contact employees within a target company to inquire about corporate culture and the work environment. I did this when I went to interview at the McDonald’s corporation, and made a connection with a fellow believer who works there, and we enjoyed several nice email exchanges. Since interviewing at Awana, I’ve added a couple more contacts to my network. One LinkedIN contact actually led to a job offer, which I had to turn down.

And contacting a Vice President at Zondervan through LinkedIN led to a face-to-face job interview last week.

Now, again, I haven’t found a job. So, in once sense, LinkedIN hasn’t helped at all. But I’m not worried. It certainly hasn’t hurt, and while it may be hard to measure its benefit, I do think it’s helped.

Are you lookin’ at me?

Now, finally, LinkedIN has added a new feature (in beta) that helps me actually see how hard my profile is working (or not working) for me. While I can’t get traffic or stats info from my profile’s views and hits, I can finally see how much activity my profile’s seen over the last couple of weeks, and I can even get a sense of who’s looking at me.

Enter the “Who’s viewed my profile?” feature, recently announced on the LinkedIN blog, “Guess who’s viewed your profile?“

Now I can finally get an idea of what visibility my profile has for people who may be looking for new hires. Here’s what my profile views panel looked like tonight:

Some of these folks, like Awana and MagnetStreet, I definitely know who they are. Some of the others are clearly recruiters trolling for job candidates and Rolodex entries. But I wish I knew who was looking at my profile from the media production, broadcast industry, and religious institutions. Unfortunately, to protect visitor’s privacy, I cannot.

Maybe LinkedIN will allow users to change their privacy settings so they can optionally leave footprints behind, as well.

Close

Well, that’s enough about LinkedIN. Give it a whirl. For what it’s worth, I’m also trying out a combination system that promises to offer some of LinkedIN’s functionality, it’s a mash-up of FaceBook and job-search boards called Jobster. Something else worth trying out.

If you’re interested, check out my Jobster profile, or my FaceBook profile. And feel free to link with me on any of the social networks I belong to (ProfileFly).

Regards,

I’ve been unemployed since November 9. However, by God’s grace and the help of friends, Jennifer and I have not suffered from a loss of income. In fact, I’ve only drawn one week’s worth of unemployment checks. We’ve managed to keep busy with enough freelance work that we’ve been able to make our dreaded mortgage-payments and other sundry bills relatively on-time. We’re without health-insurance, though, so we are praying none of us fall ill.

I’ve had several interesting and fun interviews. None of them were high-pressure (with the possible exception of the church interview), and I felt instant rapport with everyone I’ve interviewed with:

• Tyndale House Publishers (major Christian publisher)
• Magnet Street (a Christian-owned magnet manufacturer, marketing company)
• Birkey.com (a Christian-owned Web development firm)
• Legacy Church (a non-denominational Pentecostal church in Albuquerque, NM)
• McDonald’s Corporation, Global Web Communications Group (Yeah, you know who. You eat there every day.)
• American Eagle (a large family-owned Web development firm)
• Awana Clubs International (The non-A/G version of Royal Rangers, only different)

Most of these organizations are looking for project managers of one stripe or another and so far, I’m still having conversations with four of them. The remainder didn’t pan out for various reasons, none of them my fault, I hope. For example, the church wanted a webmaster to take over their flagging website — but they really needed a network administrator to take over their entire tech infrastructure, which wasn’t me. Magnet Street realized they needed a programmer/developer to handle their growth instead of a project guy, and Tyndale realized they didn’t really need to fill their position after all, and they redistributed the workload in-house. Everybody in every interview has been very supportive and helpful.

But, still, so far, no work. I do have three hopefuls on the docket, all of them still involving lengthy commutes of 20–40 miles.

Hopefully, this time next week, I’ll be able to blog that I’m hired, and I’ll share some of the lessons I learned after 17 years of not having had to look for work, and suddenly finding myself without regular pay.

Meanwhile, if you have need of an experienced generalist in technology, feel free to hire me! (See my professional work history at my LinkedIN profile.) Contact me, and I’ll send you my resumé along with references.

That was in the late-summer of 1999. I already had a relationship with CTI by then because when the A/G first decided to go online in 1995, we did it through CTI’s America Online content-provider area, “Christianity Today Online.” In order for the A/G to provide content on AOL via CTI, I was sent to the CT offices in Carol Stream to learn how to use the AOL “Rainmaker” system for content-management. (What a headache that system was!) As it turned out, only a few of us outside content providers ever took advantage of the training CTI provided after returning home, and that apparently made me noteworthy in CTI’s eyes. So, when Judy Gill, office manager for the content production team at that time, found out that I was no longer working for HQ, she prevailed upon John LaRue to find a way for me to come work on staff in an official capacity.

What followed was a whirlwind month of activity at CTI that I never knew about. I found out, much later, that the position was actually created just to bring me on-board, and that I was being offered a job before there had even been a job-description crafted! When I joined CTI on my first day of work (August 2, 1999), I came on as “Special Projects Manager,” and the very first special project I worked on was PreachingToday.com. They needed to go live with PT before the end of the year, and the project was running late. They hoped that since I had led a similar project at the A/G, that I’d be able to help out here.

To this day, I don’t remember if we launched before the end of the year, or not, but it matters little, by now. PreachingToday.com has been one of the most successful CTI websites since its inception. I think, by now, there are more than 10,000 members subscribing to PT, adapting its illustrations every week in sermons across America and around the world — literally. I’ve had some of my own illustration-submissions (see: “Sermon Illustrations“) included in its database, and even once listened to Rev. Gordon Aikin use one of my illustrations in a sermon when I was sitting in his church. What a heady experience … to know that my work was helping active preachers craft sermons that can change lives because they illustrate and apply biblical truth with work I have contributed!

Not long after PT’s launch, the Online department was broken up into two segments: “front end” and “back end.” I know, not terribly imaginative — but nobody was sure what to call the departmental split at the time, which later become “Internet Research and Development” and “Internet Operations.” So, I wound up being moved from John LaRue’s area and began working for another vice-president: Vicki Howard, who oversees CTI’s production operations. Till this point in her career at CTI, she had been responsible for the print production of CT’s dozen-plus magazines. Now she was being asked to also ride herd over a bunch of techno-geeks and I was one of them. I can’t imagine a more difficult transition, but she handled it nicely, and Vicky quickly adopted a management style with me that put me at ease and lessened any fears I had about being either perceived as a pure geek (which I’m not) or being micro-managed (which makes me very nervous).

I had thoroughly enjoyed working for John LaRue and was initially worried about Vicki Howard being difficult to work for since she didn’t know me, and hadn’t had a relationship with me like John had. But over the four or five years that I worked with Vicki, I came to respect her leadership and management style a great deal. I learned a lot about myself from our many and varied conversations, and I came to have even more confidence in my abilities and skills because Vicki was unfailingly honest with me. While she never glossed over my shortcomings, she was always forthright in her evaluation of my contributions, as well. And like every manager at CTI, Vicki was adept at spreading praise and recognition for legitimate contributions.

Under Vicki’s leadership, I was involved in another significant and successful launch for CTI: the Christianity Today Library website: which aggregates all of the articles from Christianity Today, Books & Culture, Leadership, and History & Biography. As planned, this was to be the “paid curtain” behind which anything older than three-to-four months from the free-side of ChristianityToday.com would move into membership-only status. At my suggestion, Kevin Miller (the vice-president of Resources, who initiated this project) agreed to also port into CTLibrary all the out-of-print books which CTI has published over the years. As it was, they were no longer earning CT any income, and the negligible additional expense of putting the electronic text into CTLibrary would “sweeten the pot” for potential members and give them one additional reason to pay for membership. So, about 50 books got poured into the database, including the excellent “Pastor’s Soul” series, and the “Leadership Library” series.

Toward the end of this project, I was asked to begin researching another launch for Kevin Miller: CT’s experiment at providing online training materials for church lay-leaders. So for about six-to-eight months, I began compiling data on streaming media providers, online course-ware, and hosting solutions for a full-featured training website. When Kevin approached me about taking a more active leadership role in this project — as managing editor — I leapt at the opportunity. Although I’ve been involved in online technology and Web development since 1995, I have never really seen myself as a “technician” but as more of a communicator who happens to work with a lot of technology. So, in January, 2005, I was thrilled to transfer from managing Internet Operations to managing Christianity Today Courses.

For the last two years I struggled up a steep learning curve: editing audio, editing video, creating attractive titles, transcoding from one codec to another, jiggering with one variable after another to determine the best way to encode and stream multimedia content on a budget, project managing ongoing development with a third-party developer in California, struggling with incomplete development, writing, editing, and designing courses for an online audience.

Unfortunately, we found a couple issues facing us that we simply could not overcome. First, we didn’t have a budget for staff. I was it. So, the burden of developing courses and doing the video preparation fell to me. As a result, we simply couldn’t produce more than a few courses a year — and that first year was brutal because there was simply so much to learn and so many other impediments to struggle with. By the end of the year, we’d gotten one course out the door: “Hosting Small Groups.” In 2006, our second year, I managed to pick up the pace and we got “The Da Vinci Code Conversations” launched, along with a freebie: “Seven Tips for Handling E-Mail.” And last month we pushed “Discovering Spiritual Disciplines” out the door. But we could already see the handwriting on the wall: we simply weren’t getting enough customers signed up to even begin to defray the cost of course development (for every dollar we earned, we probably spent $14-20). So, in a last ditch effort, I converted all our courses to a downloadable format for distribution via FaithVisuals, another project I helped out with over the last year. However, it was too little, too late, and we saved neither CTCourses.com nor — ultimately — my job.

I’ve suspected — or feared — this was coming since this time last year, when budgets were due and we were worried the project would be cut then. In fact, when Kevin Miller offered me this position it was with the caveat that if the project failed, it could well mean the end of my tenure at CTI. I took the position knowing the risk, and accepting it. After all, the best things in life often come with many risks attached.

And, so, last week, Kevin Miller somberly informed me that the project was being cut.

I am now officially looking for work, full-time, free-lance, or otherwise. Thursday, last week, was my last day at CTI. I was honored by a farewell trip to Culvers with my coworkers in the Resources department, Vicki Howard, my previous manager, and a few other close friends. Nice things were said about me, I held back my tears (barely) and good tasty things were eaten by all. For some, perhaps, it was even an enjoyable break from the day’s tedium. But, for me, it was very emotional.

After, I sent an email to my friends at CTI, bidding farewell. Later, I sent an email to non-work friends. A few comments have come in. My favorite was from Kathi Sharpe, an ex-Wiccan who came to know me through my work at CTI and who came to Christ shortly after:

Well – the first thing I said was, “HOW DARE THEY?“. When I said it (rather loudly!), my pastor’s wife came out of her office and wanted to know why I was talking to my computer again, in that tone of voice, at that!!

So I told her with great indignation about you losing your job. She grinned and said that God must have something great in store for you. Yes, indeed He must!!

Indeed, he must!

I am hopeful and excited to see how this next chapter unfolds. Yes, it’s with a heavy heart and sadness as well, but I have confidence that my God who has always provided for us will continue to do so even now. But, if you’ve read this far, please pray for us.

And, so, as I begin my new job-hunt, I wanted to take a few moments to let you, my faithful readers, know about this latest development. And I also wanted to thank some of my friends from CTI for the memories and friendship they’ve shared with me. I’ll forget to name a few, I’m sure, but here are some things I wanted to say which I couldn’t in my haste to pack up my office and clear off my computer. In alphabetical order:

Clay Anderson:

Clay, how many hours of how many days have we spent talking about this, that, and everything in between? It’s a good thing we were salaried, or CTI could dock us for time wasted! But, thing is, it was never time truly wasted, was it? From my first week at CTI to my very last, it was always a pleasure to spend time with you. From the first time you invited my opinion on a new design to the last time we chatted about IT stuff in the freezing wind out in the parking lot, I’ve always found you to be a ready comrade-in-arms, a like-minded minister, and a great friend. I was delighted you replaced me in IO, and I’m hopeful there’s an even larger picture for you to fill in the years ahead. Ride on, Bonanza!

Heidi Anderson:

Heidi, it’s hard to find nice things to say about a lot of HR department personnel, but it’s not hard with you! Has there ever been a more cheerful person to talk to about pension, benefits, insurance, and taxes? I doubt it. You are a pleasure to work with and I’ll miss stopping by to say hi.

Stephanie Benware:

Stephanie, I gave you a lot of grief over the years, all of it in fun, but some maybe a little too much at your expense. Thanks for bearing up under my torture and punishment. You’re a great person to work with and I’m glad CTI has you handling every tech support request that comes in. Please forgive me for all the punishment over the phone! I’ll always remember: 4435.

Chris Blumhofer:

Chris, I feel I hardly got to know you, but I am glad we got to meet and knock some ideas around. You’re exactly the kind of guy I like to work with and if we’d been in college at the same time, I’d've been sequestered in your dorm room kicking back and talking about the latest in theology or dragging you out to Starbucks for some good conversation and a lot of caffeine. Resources is a better office for having you around. I hope your tenure there is glorious and long-lasting.

Russ Breimeier:

Russ, your encyclopedic knowledge of music is a marvel. You’re like a walking iTunes or Napster. I’ll honestly miss being mistaken for you from time to time — I suppose I’ll need to pay somebody to occasionally call me Russ just for the heck of it. (I still don’t know why people get us confused, but I always took it as a compliment every time it happened.)

Valerie Broucek:

Thanks for thinking my photography was worth looking at from time to time! I’ll fondly remember the swampland heat that always seems to emanate from your office-space. You are one of the least ego-driven people I’ve ever met, and I find that remarkable. I only wish I could’ve worked with you in IO before I moved on to Resources.

Cindy Cronk:

Cindy, the best part of getting coffee two, three, four times a day when I was working in IO was the walk by your office. I knew that if I needed to unburden myself with someone completely outside of IO, you’d be available and you’d somehow always help me find a way to think about my problems in a new light. Your example as a mother and cancer survivor is so incredible, it’s good to just soak up the wisdom you’ve learned from your struggles. You’re an awesome lady, and I’m honored to have known you and worked with you.

Lee Dean:

Lee, even though you’ve left CTI already, you’ve left an indelible impression. I could always count on you for an interesting, down-home illustration to get your point across, and you were one of the few people I felt could actually “get” my sense of humor without looking at me like I was mutant June bug. What I always found so interesting and exciting about you was the hidden layer of intellectuality that you never seemed to throw around. But once discovered, it’s a joy to tap into.

Kathy DePue:

Kathy, I can always count on you for advice, insight, a random observation, or a quick chat in the hallway — or even the local Lenscrafters. Thank you for keeping tabs on AJ and Ellie, and thanks for offering valuable insights on parenting ADHD children.

Terumi Echols:

Terumi, I will miss our random hallway conversations and your interest in the growth and well-being of my children. You are an interesting lady and I always felt liked around you — not merely tolerated as that “geek who must be dealt with.”

Traci Eggleston:

Sure, you’re one of the newest CTI hires, but you’re a great addition to the team, and I really appreciate your kindness and the spirit you bring to your work. I only wish I could’ve gotten to know you better in the months to come. But, alas.

Ken Flanigan:

Thanks, Ken, for always taking the time to chat with me about nearly anything any time. Despite your busy schedule, whenever you were near my office or cubicle or whenever we crossed paths, you always stopped to share a few words and a smile.

Rob Gaskill:

Rob, I feel like I just started to get to know you. There I sat, working outside of your office for the better part of a year and we hardly ever spoke to each other. Then, in the last two months, we got to spend a little bit of time together and I thought, “Wow, how is it I never spent more time with this man?” You are a true inspiration and a model of grace and charity.

Judy Gill:

Judy, if it weren’t for you, I never would’ve had a job at CTI. I feel like I owe you for the joy I’ve experienced in the last seven years. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for your respect, for your trust, and for the honor of calling you a friend. While we maybe didn’t always agree about business decisions, I am so grateful that we have always been able to relate and I’ve always felt that you respected and honored me. Thanks for making the last seven years possible.

Stan Guthrie:

Stan, Stan. You are a life-saver, man, and I’ll always appreciate how you came through for me and Jennifer in a time of need. And, I’m sure, our former kitties appreciate you as well!

Ryan Hamm:

CTI seems to hire people of unusual intellect and wit, and you’re one of the most unusual — and I love that about you. When Kevin suggested I use you to write some of the CTCourses quiz questions and discussion questions, I was dubious at first, but thrilled at last. You have a great talent, Ryan, and when you finally unleash it on the world, you’ll go far. I’ll miss your quirky insights and wry humor.

Mike Herman:

Mike, it was great to work side-by-side with you when I took over the video job. I had never worked that closely to you before, but I felt I had been missing something until we did. You are a great office mate, a true brother, and an honor to know. I was thrilled when you asked me to speak at your wedding, and crushed when I was not able to make it. I still regret that — even though you’ve forgiven me — and I wish I could make it up to you. Thanks for the CDs, the great deal on the headphones, and for sharing part of your life when we worked three feet from each other.

Todd Hertz:

As CTI’s resident “funny man” you were a great help to me when I was invited to help with the improv comedy at CTI’s spring picnic. I hadn’t really spoken to you much before then, but I was in awe ever after at how agile your mind is, and how quick you are to find the humor in anything. I love folks with a great sense of humor, and you’re one of the best. I regret not being able to work more closely with you during my time at CTI.

Holly Hess:

Holly, thanks so much for your kindness and for treating me like a brother. Sure, we go to the same church, but it’s so hard to run into the same person twice in a year when there are six thousand people to wade through in the hallways! I always hold a special place in my heart for people who instantly tease me when they meet me. Thanks!

Vicki Howard:

Vicki, I’ll always, always, appreciate the enormous amount of time you spent rehabilitating my fear of management and my own insecurities. Your unfailing praise of my “big picture” vision, your willingness to be transparent and emotionally honest with me, your support of my advancement through CTI and your freedom to release me to Kevin’s care and feeding have meant a great deal to me. I will always be indebted to you for being a great manager and helping me not only be a better employee, but a better person as well. Thank you.

Catherine Ingo:

Catherine, thanks for your interest in my family, for always asking about my kids, for always taking time to chat with me and for generally being a great coworker. It’s not often you meet people working in departments completely unrelated to your own — people tend to focus only on the details of their own job. But you are a great connector, and while I already missed chatting with you since moving to Resources, now I’ll miss even the chance to run into during my odd trips over to the main building.

Brian Larson:

Brian, you’re one of my favorite people at CTI, and always a good one to bounce an idea off of. I always appreciated the fact that you would ask me, with genuine curiosity, “What have you been reading lately?” I never felt it was an idle question, and I loved the fact that you thought what I was paying attention to was worth hearing about. I thank you, especially, for inviting me to fill your pulpit. I cannot tell you what an honor that was and how it encouraged me. You’ll never know how valuable that has been, but I assure you, you have touched my heart. Preaching Today has always been special to me, and I suspect it’s partly because the guy at its helm is also special to me. You’re a good friend, a good brother, and a great pastor. Keep up the good work, CTI is very lucky to have you.

John LaRue:

John, I will always appreciate you for sticking your neck out there and bringing me on board. You are a true visionary and trail-breaker and I suspect CTI doesn’t really understand how much value you bring to the company. If I read it correctly, virtually all of the online projects that exist today at CTI wouldn’t be alive if you hadn’t had the vision to make it possible. I respect and admire you and loved every sparkling brainstorming session we’ve ever had. You’re a hard man to keep up with, but it’s worth trying. Thanks for your friendship, your respect, and your trust. It’s meant an awful lot to me.

Mary Lasse:

Mary, you’ve been long gone from CTI, but you were one of the most fun people to work with that I’ll always remember you. You have an incredible flair for creative writing, and I’ll be forever upset with you if you don’t do something about it and get published! I loved your sense of humor and it always made a difficult day at work more enjoyable — especially when you could tell us about the latest interesting customer support call in a flawless Okie accent. Thanks for the yuks, I’ve missed having you around.

Jill Meier:

Jill, you’re freakin’ awesome. I’ll never understand your vivid, Technicolor dreams with quirky story lines, but they’re still entertaining to hear about and listen to. There’s gotta be a scientific study just waiting to be written about your night time screenplays. And if it ever happens, I want to be in the distribution list. Thanks for always giving the Diesel the dissin’ he deserves. (Yes, I speak of myself in the third-person.) And, yes, you’ll always be remembered fondly for being the most neatly disheveled person I’ve ever met.

Kevin Miller:

Kevin, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed working for a manager as much as I have working with you these past two years. You manage with a light touch and much praise — but not without corrective medicine when necessary. When I jumped ship from managing IO to working with you, you were at least half the reason I did so, and I’m glad I did. Your heart for ministry, your passion for the church, your excellence in communication, and your winsomeness are all to be emulated. The more time I spent around you, the better person I became. And that’s not easy to find in people. Thank you for being a friend and a great manager.

Jane Mix:

Jane, your unfailing sense of good will, patience, and humor in a very difficult job is an inspiration to me. You are an incredible mother, and an great helper at work. I know that Tom is delighted to have you as an employee, but I was delighted to have you as a coworker first! Thanks for keeping the coffee flowing, and thanks for being the kind of coworker that makes any office a much better place to work. I’ll miss your smiles.

Emily Mohnkern:

Emily, one of the things I loved best about working in your office area while starting up our little video project was being able to wander over to your cubicle and share my latest photos with you, or to look over your shoulder while you shared your photos with me. You’re a true talent, and I hope you are able to capitalize on your gifts and skills and eventually retire a rich, old photographer. You’ve been like a true sister to me, and I appreciate the fact that you teased me as much as I teased you. I’m also sorry I didn’t get to say good bye on my last day.

Rob Moll:

Rob, I’m really going to miss being able to stop by your office any time to be able to bat ideas around with you. You are a genuine friend, and I hope we can keep in touch after all this. I’ll always remember the ribbing and kidding we gave each other in our little writer’s group, and I appreciate your kindness and humor in everything you do. Plus, I envy your hair.

Tim Morgan:

Tim, you are one of the kindest men I’ve ever met. Something about your style just puts me at so much ease that I suspect I could just hang out in your office and never hear a cross word from you. Thank you for treating me as a colleague when it’s quite clear you’re in a class all your own. And thank you for being so kind to a wannabe poet when I introduced him to you in the hallway long ago.

Mark Moring:

Dude, thanks for taking a chance and giving me the opportunity to write a commentary for you on the whole Jesus Camp thing. And thanks for your incredible support in its aftermath. I’ll always appreciate that, and you can be sure I’ll try my hand at something else, too.

Harold Myra:

Harold, I hardly ever got to speak with you or spend time in your company, but in the two or three times our paths crossed, I was always struck by your willingness to share of God’s grace and work in your life. Your testimony is an inspiration. May your retirement be filled with joy and much work. You and Paul have made CTI a wonderful place to work. Thank you.

Sam O’Neal:

Sam, we didn’t get to chat much since you’ve come on board at CTI but I always wish we could have. Problem was, since I’d moved out of the R&D offices to the downstairs area, our paths never crossed much. But I have the feeling you’re going to have a stellar career both as a writer and as an editor. Plus, you’re working on my all-time favorite project at CTI, and you got bonus points for that any day. Keep up the good work.

Ted Olsen:

Ted, I have never met anyone with more of a nose or a sheer capacity for news than you. You have a quick and agile mind, a great sense of under-appreciated humor, and an incredibly efficient work-style. Thank you for helping push CTI into new directions.

Brian Ondracek:

Brian, you’re another man of similar humor and outlook. I always appreciated the fact that within minutes of meeting me, you were ready to tease me, and your amiability has always been refreshing. Thanks for helping reform my view of advertising and sales execs!

Tim Ostermiller:

Man, I’ll always regret your evacuation from CTI. You became one of my main buds when you moved over to Internet Operations. Your realism, pragmatism, and sense of humor about everything that could go awry — and did — made working in Internet Operations so much easier. I loved the bull sessions when you’d pop into my office, close the door, and start ranting about some problem or other. Then, after a few minutes of that, we’d find a solution. Or, actually, you’d find a solution. I was just happy to be near ground zero. CTI lost a lot when you left, and I was delighted to be able to roast you on your departure — because you so deserved it!

Jennifer Oxford:

Jennifer, thank you for listening to me, for hearing my concerns, and for being unfailingly nice to me when it wasn’t always clear that I was worth being nice to! (And it’s probably still not clear.) You are a great manager, and I could learn a lot from your use of lists and spreadsheets. CTI is lucky to have you. And thanks, especially, for your kind words on my last day.

Theresa Phillips:

You are one of the most competent and efficient workers I’ve ever met. One of the things I’ve always admired about you is how quickly you rise to the challenge of whatever job you’ve been given to do. And you do it with so much focus and intensity it’s a joy to behold and well-worth emulating. Thanks for the great conversations and for always acting like I know what I’m talking about when you probably knew better anyhow.

Laurie Powell:

Laurie, you always had a generous smile for me, and I really appreciate that spontaneous hug on my last day. Thanks.

JoHannah Reardon:

JoHannah, your instant smiles were always a delight whenever I wandered up to your office area. I honestly cannot imagine that you have gripes or complaints about your job or any of your coworkers, you seem so unfailingly joyful. I love being around folks like you, and it was great to work with you.

Eric Reed:

Eric, what can I say, I love and admire your quick mind and incredible sense of humor. I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with you and only wish I could’ve spent more. You’ve been pulled in a lot of different directions this past year, but I have great hopes for the Rapid Response team and what you’ll be able to do with it as soon as you have the time. You’re a good man, and another one of the great CTIers I wish I could’ve worked with more.

Paul Robbins:

Thanks, Paul, for taking a chance on letting me craft a humorous video for Kevin’s 20th anniversary. My main regret was never getting to work more closely with you — especially after getting a steady dose of second-hand Robbins’ wisdom from VPs who quoted your business bon mots in nearly every meeting I had. You are a legend, and CTI is a much better place for having you at its helm. I wish you well on your retirement.

Rubino Robinson:

Rubino, a lot of techies are pure geek through and through. But you’re not, and I’ve always liked that in you. You have such an easy-going manner about you that nobody feels threatened when you come to solve their every tech problem. Thanks for helping me out of my tech jams, and thanks for being ready in an instant whenever you’re needed.

Amy Simpson:

Amy, everybody was nervous about whoever Kevin would hire to manage the editors in Resources, but you have been a delightful surprise. You’re quick, knowledgeable, unassuming, always ready with a laugh, and surprisingly amiable. I would’ve enjoyed working with you more, I get the feeling you’ll be a valuable contributor to CTI’s future growth.

Susan Sjogren:

Susan, you’re one of the most solid workers I’ve ever met. You put your head down and simply get to work on whatever you’ve been given, and you do a stellar job of it. I know your job is marketing, and your remaining time at CTI is short, but I have a feeling you’ll excel at whatever job you put your hand to. CTI was blessed to have you for the short time it did, and I hope you do amazingly well in your next endeavor.

Harold Smith:

Harold, I’ve always appreciated your sense of humor that seems so much like my own — wry, slightly cynical, and ever-ready. I also deeply appreciated your genuine concern for me when you learned about my diabetes. If there was anyone else in the company I would’ve leaped at a chance it work for, you’re the man. I’m happy you’ve been tapped to co-lead the company upon Harold and Paul’s retirement: CTI is in good hands. Also, thank you so much for taking the time on my last day to pull me into your office to check up on me and to say a heartfelt prayer for me. That meant more than you will ever know.

Keith Stonehocker:

Keith, I was always amazed at how approachable you were and how you treated me as an equal whenever we talked. You came to me for tech advice and always listened. And when I came to you with stats and data for your presentations, you invariably had great questions I never anticipated, sending me back to the drawing board every time. You’re a great idea-generator. Thanks for letting me bounce a few off of you.

Brittany Tarr:

Brittany, like a few others I have noted, you almost instantly treated me like one of your brothers and teased me from day one. I love that. You are a true word-smith and very, very funny. If you’re this good just out of college, I can only imagine that you will be a force to reckon with ten years from now. Maybe, by then, you can assign me some freelance writing? Just be gentle with me, okay? I’ll miss having you around to tease and joke with.

Phyllis Ten Elshof:

Phyllis, thanks for taking me on board in your writing group back before I was a Resources employee. I know I was a difficult case — always with a different perspective, daring to disagree, and generally having a lot of my own ideas about stuff. But you were a patient sport about the whole thing, and I appreciated that, a great deal. Thanks, especially, for your concern and support upon hearing the news of my departure. That means a lot to me.

Judy VanZanten:

Judy, you are such a sweet person, I cannot imagine anyone I would have enjoyed receiving weekly checks from more than you. You always had a smile for me and I was always so impressed at how you would leap to work whenever I asked you a question. I’m still wearing the jacket and shirts you donated from your husband’s closet, by the way. Thank you.

Doug Varner:

Doug, even though you left CTI for greener pastures, I’ll always remember you, your sheer enthusiasm for every tech gizmo that existed, your willingness to share tech insider knowledge with me, and for your labor of love in creating nifty videos for CTI’s enjoyment. I’ll never forget the giant bunny doing the Macarena. Priceless.

Todd Watermann:

Hey, Nancy-boy, thanks so much for the good times, the shared idea-generation, the plotting, planning, and joking. You were always good for a playful punch and covert threatening gestures, and you help make CTI not only a fun place to work, but a great place to get new ideas and strategies for the Web. You and John make a great team, may it never be broken!

Marty White:

Marty, Martin, T-Dog! Thanks for saying such nice things at my farewell Culver’s thingie. You’re right, you’ve always been like a big-sister to me, and I’ve always had great fun mixing it up with you. Sure, we disagreed about things, but you always, always, gave me a chance to make my case, and you always listened. Thanks for being game whenever I teased you, and especially thanks for teasing me right back, every time. I love what you’ve done with my old office, and I’ll miss the random frogs in unexpected places. But more than that, I’ll miss you. Thanks for being a great coworker.

Cory Whitehead:

Cory, it’s been a true delight working across from you for the last several months. You bring value to everything you do, you do it well, and you do it quickly and efficiently. Kevin is right to lean on you for new product development, you bring polish to whatever you focus on. I wish you brilliant success with FaithVisuals, and may you have many more projects under your belt. Maybe someday you’ll be running CTI and you can hire me back!

Tom Williamson:

Tom, in the short time you’ve been with CTI you’ve blended in like an old-timer. You’ve got a great mentoring spirit, you spread credit around the way a great manager should, and you are unfailingly complimentary. Plus, you shared a pizza with me, and for that I’ll be forever grateful! Thanks for your support, and for trying so hard to champion the cause of CTCourses in my last days.

John Wilson:

John, I don’t know if I have ever met anybody smarter or more well-read than you. And I don’t know how we got started, but whenever I ran into you in the hallways we always got into some interesting tangential discussion. The best part was that you honored me by honestly wanting to know what I thought. Thank you for your scholarship and your pursuit of truth, wisdom, and Christ. And thank you for your respect.

No, this isn’t every CTI employee, but it’s many of them. There’s some I’ve left off, but not on purpose. I simply couldn’t say thanks to everybody and I have to stop somewhere. If you’re not on this list, I apologize, it’s not meant to slight you, honestly.

To all of you, thank you for a wonderful seven years. It’s been heart-breaking to leave, but I’m confident God has his hand in all of this. I love you all, and I’ll miss you, but I know God has you exactly where he wants you, and he’s done the same with me.

If you’ve read much (any) of this, it probably sounds like I spent most of my seven years wandering the hallways, chatting people up, but, you know, it’s amazing how many great conversations you can have if you only have one a day. Over the course of seven-plus years, that’s easily 2,000 conversations with funny, interesting, and insightful people.

And that’s probably the part of CTI I will miss most of all. CTI has a strong intellectual culture, and that’s home for me.

Thanks, and please keep in touch.

Not having screened the film, everybody is guessing as to how much of the book’s more controversial elements made it into the screenplay, but we’re pretty sure it will involve the major highlights of this course since the plot largely depends on it:

• Emperor Constantine was a lifelong pagan who fabricated Christ’s divinity at the Council of Nicaea in order to further his political ambition.
• Virtually everybody knew Christ was a mere mortal until Constantine cooked up this divinity myth at Nicaea.
• Christ was married to Mary Magdalene, and had children by her, who survived him to found the Merovingian dynasty.
• Somehow, this mere mortal understood he was creating a worldwide church, and therefore intended his wife, Mary Magdalene, to be its founder.
• That the Priory of Sion is an ancient secret order devoted to protecting the evidence for the truth behind the myth at any cost.
• That the Opus Dei Catholic order is a bunch of crazed zealots.

The course addresses each of these issues briefly, but with enough depth that anyone taking the course would have enough fodder to manage a conversation about the issues with after-film dinner guests. Plus there are the additional materials provided with the course, including a recommended resources list, that will help the viewer delve even deeper, if one cares to.

If you’re interested in knowing more, I’m linking to our newsletter podcast, the homepage promotional video, and the high– and low-bandwidth sample videos to give you a taste of what I’ve been slaving over, and what you might find interesting over at my day-job website:

You can download the “Da Vinci Code Conversations” podcast here, or listen online:

Here’s the “Da Vinci Code Conversations” homepage promotion.

Here are the sample videos, at high bandwidth (311kbps) and low bandwidth (56kbps).

As usual, enjoy! Regular posting will resume again, shortly.

Rich

I’m responsible for selecting and preparing content for one of ChristianityToday.com’s websites: CTCourses.com (short for ChristianityTodayCourses.com, natch). So far, since our launch in early January, 2006, we’ve managed to push two courses out the door, one on how to host small groups, featuring Brett Eastman, and another free course on managing email overload, featuring Kevin Miller (my supervisor at CT, freshly ordained Anglican priest, and also author of a book on managing information overload).

Tomorrow, if all goes well, we’ll be launching the third course, and we hope it’ll be a big draw and a big benefit to site visitors. We’re launching “Da Vinci Code Conversations,” dealing with the controversy over Dan Brown’s book, of course, The Da Vinci Code. It’s a 50+ minute online course, covered in seven sessions, replete with streaming video, an online note-taking tool, synchronized PowerPoint slides, downloadable extras, an online quiz, a message board, and more, more, more.

So, am I flogging my day job here in my personal blogspace? You betcha. I think the online course interface we’ve designed is the best currently in business. (Unfortunately, it’s also Internet Explorer only.) We’ve gotten rave reviews from users who’ve caught on, and we really hope the course interface benefits the body by providing online training and education in a format that’s easy to use and convenient for today’s crazy schedules. Like mine.

So, if you’re interested, and if you are looking for a good hour-long overview of the core controversies presented by Dan Brown’s mega-blockbuster, and if you want to prep yourself for after-dinner conversation when you’ve watched the film, head on over to my other site (CTCourses) and check it out. If you don’t see a link to the newest course right away, wait another day and try again. Or just sign up for the newsletter and free membership to be notified when things are live. (Membership is free, most courses are paid.)

Rich.

So, for your delectation, enjoyment, and frivolous wasting of time, I present to you:

PneumaBlogs Headlines (and excerpts)

CTI-Blogs Headlines (and excerpts)

Enjoy! Come back to see me some time.

(Note, if you’re a PneumaBlogger or a CTI-Blogger and your posts are not showing up on this page, it’s probably because your feed is broken, or it was impossible to find it. Contact me if you want to get added.)