Newsletters are weird. Do you post them at the beginning of the month and tell everyone about the previous month and what is going to be happening or do you post it at the end of the month and brag a little bit about all you have accomplished. . . or not accomplished. I’m planning on making them fun and intentional at the same time. If you know me (Wesley) I laugh a lot, so as you read this feel free to laugh.
Client News
This was definitely a busy month with fun accomplishments! Two of our clients CEF of Schuylkill County and Jewel Women’s Center have moved into the reporting and optimization phase. This is so cool because we were able to see huge jumps in traffic on both websites because of the optimizations performed and we were able to save both organizations large sums of money that can be used to make their ministry more and more effective. We have actually started a running tally of the money we have saved ministries this year. I’m excited about their year-end reports where we will compare and see how much traffic their site used to get on average compared to a year’s worth of optimizations. What does this mean? Basically we are “training” the site to be more effective.
The Christ Link Team
The most exciting thing about this month, and probably the most tiring and time-consuming part of February is our Team Meetup! This is happening on Saturday the 29th and it will usher in a whole new timeframe for Christ Link.
When starting Christ Link I expected things to move much slower and for me to be managing these projects and the entire process on my own for the first year. But now with quite a few website redesigns and some large website management tasks, it became obvious back in December I needed to get the ball rolling on putting a team together.
At the team meetup, I am basically going to be going over what we are doing, how we are doing it and the large scale future of Christ Link. Taking what I am doing on my own from a small impact and unsustainable venture to large impact and sustainable organization. It is too late to come to the meetup this weekend, but if you are interested in joining the team in the future don’t hesitate to fill out the join us contact form.
What Does Christ Link’s Future Look Like?
Upon setting up the teams we are going to be able to do so much more. In this year alone I expect these changes to result from Christ Link:
- Our Board will be put together and have the primary Goal and purpose to get Christ Link established as a Non-profit so we can grow and support our ministry financially.
- Our Teams will be broken up into internal and external teams. One team will be focused on working directly with clients. They will be creating & optimizing websites while also training the internal marketing teams. The internal team will be supporting the external teams in the redesign projects and ongoing work that needs to be complete.
As a result, we can expect more effective and timely client optimizations, faster website redesign turnarounds, and higher increases in web traffic to our client’s websites. On top of that, once we are established as a non-profit we will have the financial backing to purchase certain online tools that will allow us to operate without our hands tied behind our backs.
The Most Important Change to Christ Link This Year
I believe that the most important difference in having this team is an increase in people praying for Christ Link’s mission. I know a lot of you are praying for Christ Link and I want to thank you for that. I also want to encourage you to pray even more.
1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Pray first and foremost that our organization is in accordance with His Will. And if we are not, I pray we completely and utterly fail. Pray for wisdom, for energy and for our team to continue to grow.
One area that is a huge challenge, especially for me is getting our non-profit approval. This is a beast for us to tackle but it is so important for us to accomplish so we can continue to grow. So definitely be praying for that task.
What Will Christ Link Look Like Next This Year?
After this year I hope for Christ Link to be internally in sync. At the moment we are preparing and setting up internal processes to onboard a bunch of team members and get them situated in a position where they can serve and grow effectively. By December I hope for our ministry to have those processes and communications operating at 100% effectiveness.
On top of that, we will have set a standard for how much money we have saved our clients in the year of 2020. We will then make a higher goal for the year 2021 to beat the previous amount. Keep an eye on our website’s homepage and see how much we are saving our clients.
Upon being established as a non-profit I expect to gain some support in the first year. With that support, our first purchases will be towards the tools of our trade. This will increase the quality and effectiveness of our non-profit.
Christ Link In 2021
What do I hope for in the year 2021? I hope we have a location to meet and work together more effectively as a team. My studio apartment is nice and all, but you can’t beat real desks and better lighting. I hope for leaders to step up within our organization and really own the future of Christ Link. Obviously we will grow our impact and help more and more churches and Christian non-profits, but our goal is that we performing this at a responsible level that God approves of.
Closing Remarks
Like I said at the beginning of this post, newsletters are weird. At this point, I’m making it like a fun little letter to anyone who is interested in what is going on. Of course, I highly doubt many of you read all the way to the bottom, especially when it says something lame like “Closing Remarks”. I hope you have a wonderful day and week. For those of you that read this far, you are the real champions. I’ll see you next month and have some fun content at the end of my newsletter, maybe a funny joke or some dry humor. Either way, I think I’ll always end my newsletters with some weirdness.