I apologize for being gone so long. I knew, back in September, that I needed a break, but I couldn’t have anticipated how long that break would be. Over the summer I was installed into a new pastorate. Becoming acclimated to the new ministry and the needs of the people took quite some time and nearly all of my energy.

Then, of course, in the fall things changed dramatically at Emmanuel Baptist Church, where the Reverend Benjamin L. Reynolds resigned his pastorate and then came out as a same-gender loving man. We manage Emmanuel’s online ministry as part of the PraiseNet, so I was tied up redesigning their site and other media, changing it from Pastor Reynolds to a presumed interim pastor.

That’s when late word came that the Emmanuel body had opted to not call an interim but instead installed The Reverend Cleveland Thompson, their First Assistant To The Pastor, as the new senior pastor, which meant all of that work needed to be done again.. You can hear Pastor Thompson’s inaugural sermon by clicking here .

So, in addition to my boots-on-the-ground work at my church, getting their online ministry and other media together, and dealing with the painful and very public divorce between Emmanuel and its former pastor—well, I’ve been pretty busy. I’ve been gone a long time, but it really wasn’t much of a rest.

The larger problem is that the PraiseNet, as currently configured, consumes nearly all of my time and resources. It is a content-rich site full of challenging essays and uplifting columns. Sites like this usually have entire teams of people working on them—an editorial team, a graphic art team, a page design team, a programming team, a research team, a communications team. Here, with rare exception, I am virtually alone. Carrying the full weight of maintaining this wonderful ministry, week after week, by myself.

I look at the stats and I know you’re out there—an average of five thousand unique (non-repeated IP addresses) visitors stop by every month, with over 200,000 hits every month. But I wonder who you are and why you’re here, since I never hear from you and since virtually no one supports this ministry.

I’m not actually sure that anybody actually reads anything here, but that many if not most people come thru just to play with the toys—watch the videos and play the music and so forth. So I’m considering putting an end to that because we’re not a jukebox. There’s plenty of jukebox sites out there that will entertain you.

I’ve reached out to other Christian websites, music sites specifically, offering to come alongside and partner with them, and those emails have gone unreturned. The PraiseNet is not in competition with anyone. Our desire is to share and empower ministries to go forth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Finally, with rare exception, most churches listed here pay us absolutely no attention whatsoever and do not respond to any attempts—by email, phone or letter—to contact them. So our entire church directory is now being reconsidered and may be dropped as of the first of the year. We’ve already dropped our Church Community page because maintaining it was too difficult since our church community really doesn’t communicate with us.

What I’ve discovered in the six years we’ve been in this ministry is most churches, most black churches for sure, tend to have their noses so tight up against the bark of the tree— studying the ridge formations and erosion patterns and insect populations—that they tend to miss the larger implications of the forest.

Having a website is like having a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week television channel. You can, literally, reach the world for Jesus Christ. This is a message I’ve been preaching, in John The Baptist-like fashion, for six years. It is a message that tends to fall on deaf ears as precious few black churches are even interested in the Internet, still regarding it as The Other, as something Way Out There Somewhere. And, of the black churches who do respond, 99% of them are only interested in using their website like a dusty scrapbook. Look Who We Are. Here’s Our Order Of Service. Yawn.

Your website could be broadcasting sermons, audio and video. Could be holding discussion groups and debates. Live chats. Posting articles and important information about spiritual and community issues. Could be a vital tool for teaching and preaching, could bring the church to those who can’t come to the church.

In this Internet age, having an email address and a website are simply not optional: they are an absolute necessity. Yet the black church, *sigh,* continues to exist in relative ignorance of much of anything beyond the street their church is located on. We continue to look backward, reveling in the “good ol’ days” and sponsoring all of these Annual Days celebrations with their Old Time Religion themes.

And, when I come knocking, the door is routinely slammed in my face. Jesus said a prophet is not without honor except in his own country. This web ministry was begun to unite the black churches of Colorado Springs. Of the five thousand or so average monthly visitors, a mere fraction of them are from this city. And, despite my many, many, many attempts to visit with and invite pastors to participate here, not only do they not participate but the PraiseNet is never mentioned in a black pulpit in this city.

Which may be one of many reasons the average attendance for black churches, here, continues to dwindle as black Christians flood towards white-led churches like New Life, Heritage Christian Center and Church For All Nations, where they will lose their voice and their influence, trading both in for a quiet anonymity among the massive crowds.

Our purpose, brothers and sisters, is not to sit somewhere and be entertained. Our purpose is to be fed. To spiritually equip ourselves to go forth and make disciples of men and women. The resources offered here on the PraiseNet are vital to that effort. But, bottom line, black churches here simply aren’t interested in reaching anybody. They just want to have church. They just want to compete over the same dwindling handful of big hat church folks. They just want to pass the plate around. The pastor just wants to get paid and not have to work a day job.

Somebody took me to task on our message board for criticizing the black church, saying they didn’t know what kind of church I went to here in Colorado, but in Chicago their churches are more engaged than that. Well, due respect, I don’t go to church in Chicago. I go to church in Colorado Springs. And the few churches I’ve attempted to come alongside in Chicago have ignored my emails, letters and phone calls.

It seems like everybody’s terrified of The Sales Pitch. I contact these churches and they just slam the door on me, figuring I’m trying to sell them something. And, maybe I am. I’m trying to sell them Jesus. I’m trying to sell them a way to (1) empower themselves (2) supercharge their ministry and, most important (3) reach beyond the walls of their church.

The reaction has been, almost universally, silence. Not even bothering to say “Thanks, but no thanks.” Just ignored. Zero.

And, so here we are.

A good friend told me recently to stop complaining about what these folks aren’t doing and just do it yourself. Model what every church should be doing. There’s wisdom in that. So expect to see a lot less bellyaching about what folks aren’t doing as the PraiseNet moves forward into our next evolution, moving away from being a supportive mechanism for African American churches and concentrating more on our own individual efforts.

I needed the rest and the rest was good. Now I need focus. Much as I would like to continue this ministry the way we’ve been doing it, as a kind of weekly webzine, the fact is, without hearing from you, without your prayers and without anyone donating even one dime to this ministry, maintaining that pace simply isn’t possible.

So changes are certainly underway and we’ll keep you posted as to what those changes will be. In the meantime, if this ministry means anything to you at all, I implore you to contact us. Drop us a note and let us know you’d like to have us around and how we can better serve you and your ministry or community.

In the absence of real support from you, we’ll be downsizing this ministry dramatically as of January ‘07, concentrating our time, talent and treasure on things more productive to God’s kingdom and purpose.

Thanks for visiting with us, and may God continue to uplift and empower you.

The Reverend Christopher J. Priest
Editor