Web Ministry Since 1996

The humble beginnings of DPS in the year 1996 featured only a fraction of the resources available today.  Frank Schaefer, newly ordained minister in the United Methodist Church, had a vision for an ecumenical group of preachers interested in an exchange of thoughts on the weekly lectionary texts of the Revised Common Lectionary on this new media called the world wide web.  Initially, Schaefer shared that it was difficult to find people that were willing to have their contributions posted to a public site of a new media.  Schaefer first collaborated with several other cyber ministry pioneers, foremost Richard Fairchild (who started Kir Shalom in the same year). By 1998 the discussion site attracted several dozen preachers who were discussing and sharing thoughts about the upcoming lectionary texts on a weekly basis.

Media Coverage and Recognition

• Ecumenical News International (ENI): Now WWW can help desperate preachers as Sunday deadline looms  (scroll to bottom of page)
• Christianity Today,    "Site Hopes to Help Pastors in a Sunday Sermon Crunch"
• USA Today[_], "Sermon Sharing-Timesaver Or Sin?
• The Wall Street Journal,[_] "Pulpit polemic: Recycled sermons are on the mount"
• Charlotte Observer[_], "Web site offers inspiration for desperate preachers"

the Beginnings:

<= This is the appearance of the Desperate Preacher's Site in 1996 (click on the image to visit the original site).  At that time, there were only RCL Gospel forums.  The  inclusion of the other Scripture forums came in January of  '97 along with the  Discussion Board. Also in '99, DPS found a visionary sponsor in Cokesbury; simultaneously, a membership plan was set up for those who wished to support DPS financially.   The year 2000 also saw the start of DPS's subscription program--the DPS Sermon Builder.

 

 

The Desperate Preacher's Site  is a truly ecumenical ministry site that has grown and flourished on account of ministry-oriented people like you.  Many of the resource pages and forums that were added over the years were originally suggested by registered users.   Many of the resources themselves have been and continue to be provided by DPSers-- preachers and Christian educators from all walks of life, theological persuasions and from around the globe.   I thank God for the DPS ministry and for the multitude of wonderful DPSers.   May God continue to bless us together in this webspace called DPS for many years to come.

Grace and peace,

Frank Schaefer,
DPS founder and director