Last week we had the opportunity to interview Titus Blair of the recently launched NeedSharing.org:

What is your web application/service about?

NeedSharing.org is all about people helping people. We wanted to allow people to help individuals directly so NeedSharing.org was created as a tool to help make that happen.

Why did you start this project?

In 2000 I wanted to give to help those in need as Jesus calls us to do (Matthew 25:31-46) but I found it hard to locate people in need on a large scale. I decided then and there that I wanted to create a website someday that would allow me to search for needs of all kinds in all areas of the world and help those people in need directly.

Give us some highlights of your background that have prepared you for this project.

I created the website WeaponMasters.com from scratch in 1998 and ran it until last year when I decided to devote myself 100% to the spreading of the Good News of Jesus Christ. I have always been interested in the Internet and technology every since I was a little kid. When I was 18 I taught computer animation and programming courses at College of the Canyons, Valencia CA and also created a cool computer coloring book for kids which sold on QVC. I had never truly devoted my skills to the Lord until 2006 and now my life is so amazing and I believe I am on a course I should have been on from the first day I became a Christian.

What is the size and makeup of your project team?

There are presently 3 people on the board including myself and 1 Ruby on Rails developer and 1 designer. The developer and designer are both amazingly talented and the developer is also a Christian which is really cool!

What technologies do you use in this project?

We presently use Ruby on Rails and Fireworks for graphics.

Any feature requests from users since launching last week?

Mainly our users want to add the ability to tell friends, watch a need, ask questions to people who are posting need, and flag spam needs. People also want to be able to help people whose needs are from “trusted” (verified) sources like Churches, etc. and this is under development. We want anyone and everyones ideas and suggestions as well as comments so we can build on to the current application and make NeedSharing the best it can be.

Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? How about the next 2 years?

Right now we are in upgrade stage and want to add new features to the site every 2-3 months. We are also in marketing mode and are working in a grass-roots marketing campaign to all churches in the USA as well as Christian non-profits. If anyone can help spread the news about NeedSharing.org we would love it! I want to personally thank you Faithable for all you are doing to help us! In the next 2-3 years I see thousands of people helping and being helped at NeedSharing.org!

What is the one thing holding you back from reaching your vision?

This is a good question. I do not believe anything is holding us back and the cool part is we are putting this 100% in God’s hands so His will is going to happen, whether that means NeedSharing.org goes huge or does not. I would say one thing that is a minor holdup is the fact that it is hard to get Ruby on Rails programmers these days!

What is the one thing you are most proud of about the project?

I am most proud of the fact that we actually have the application up and running! We are totally on board with the Get Real philosophy and Agile Development. I also love the actual design of the website and the fact that the cross is our logo! The smiley faces are really cool too and I can not wait to make and wear some “Give Now” t-shirts (see image)!

What would you say to somebody who thinks time and money have no place being spent on web ministry?

I would say that 100% of your time and money need to be spent to spread the good news to all the world. I think in some cases people abuse the non-profit and Christian/Church status to purchase very expensive houses, cars and live a very luxurious lifestyle laying up their treasures here on earth. Christians should not be about storing, they should be about giving and sharing. We want to devote 110% of all of our resources to God’s work. The Bible says it best in Luke 12:23-34 and Matthew 25:31-46.

Other than your own, what are some sites that you visit everyday?

I sometimes visit Digg.com, TechCrunch.com and am looking for the perfect Christian Drudgereport.com. It is hard to find good Christian News and Technology websites but I am always looking, let me know if you find some (www.titusblair.com)!

I want to say thank you again to Faithable and God Bless you all!

Tim Bednar is a good friend of Faithable and a leader in the pursuit towards using the Web to glorify God and impact the Church and the World. Here is an email interview with him about his current project called Plaid.

What is your web application/service about?

Plaid is shared communications and ministry tracking software. I optimized it for people doing ministry; it is not designed to manage churches. There are plenty of vendors providing enterprise level church management software. Plaid is designed to be used by ministry teams.

As a communication tool, it is easy to manage contacts, organize lists then email, print or map that list. As a tracking tool, Plaid gives you the ability to create reminders and build weekly agendas to meet the felt needs of your members. We also make it easy to track visitors and help you identify the people influenced most by your service.

It supports how people actually prepare for weekly ministry: ad hoc, just-in-time and most often without support from the church office. Plaid gets things done then it gets out of the way. We do not add administrative overhead to the daunting task of weekly ministry. It is for people who do ministry between events, often from work or home.

Plaid is for teams like youth or children’s ministries. But the free version would be great for individuals teaching a small Confirmation class or leading a MOPS table.

Why did you start this project?

Plaid evolved out of my experience as a pastor for eight years. I never found any software that actually helped me be more productive. In fact, church management software often just got in the way. It just was not designed for me.

Plaid is simple but powerful. It is designed for ministry teams. I created it to help people feel good about their service to the church. We want to make the burden of ministry a bit lighter.

What is the size and makeup of the project team?

We are a small team bootstrapping the project. I handle the web design, product management and marketing. Rob Evans started the development help us build a solid architecture using Ruby on Rails. Now the project is in the hands of Kenny Parnell for the final execution.

What technologies do you use in this project?

We are developing using Ruby on Rails; I have all kinds of wacky ideas for the future, but right now trying to keep it simple.

What are the most requested features from your users?

This project has been in development since May 2006 (the seeds of the project go back a decade). I benefit from my combined experience as a pastor and a web designer. For the beta, I am designing my dream product. I spent lots of time listening the love and hate relationship people have with existing church management software.

I have found that there is an endless list of requested features from our target audience. In my gut though, I know that many of those features actually make the product less usable. My job is to ship a useful tool that is easy to use. We are going after the “consumer” market that need something simple that works. There are plenty of enterprise solutions for this problem.

I see that the most needed features are making managing, sharing and tracking contacts easy.

Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? How about the next 2 years?

In the next six months, I am going to demo Plaid as much as possible. My job is to build relationships with ministry networks. Although blogosphere buzz is great for my ego, it will not contribute to the success of the project. I have been talking about Plaid to influencers inside various ministry networks. My job is to blow them away with a Plaid demo and let them spread the word.

In 2 years, Plaid has the potential to be a disruptive force in the church software market. My goal is to build a large company, but also radically change the church software sector.

What is the one thing holding you back from reaching your vision?

The one thing holding me back is having to bootstrap the project. I love my developers and they do great work. I want to pay them instead of negotiating deals based on future revenue or liquidation.

Right now, we are inches away from a product demonstration and beta release. I believe Plaid will blow people away, so once we get some attention, I will be looking for angel investment.

Do you have a business model?

Plaid’s business model is the popular freemium model popularized by 37 Signals and other Web 2.0 startups. Basically, we have several plans including a free version. Our revenue is by up-selling services to ministries that need to track more contacts and more team members.

What is new about our business model is that we are pitching Plaid directly to the ministry rather than going through the church. Our subscriptions are billed monthly because we want to bypass traditional budget restraints. I feel like if Plaid is good enough, people will pay for using it even if their church does not. But this is untested.

Understanding this risk, Plaid has other revenue models. We envision the possibility of a micro-payment model around sending rich communications (HTML email or Flash greeting cards) to your contact list. Since our customers are also buyers of curriculum and other ministry resources, we also might be able to use a sponsor or ad model.

But for now, I’m betting on the freemium business model.

How much traffic or usage do you see on an average day?

Plaid gets few hits, but that is by design. I see about 3-4 registrations for an invitation to the beta a week. I do not see the need to generate huge amounts of traffic yet, but after January 2008, I will say something different.

What is the one thing you are most proud of about the project?

I am most proud of the fact that I have stuck with this. We still have a long way to go; I have missed many opportunities by not rushing a product out the door. By the time we will have product worthy of customers, I’ll have been at this 2 years.

What would you say to somebody who thinks time and money have no place being spent on web ministry?

Great, get out of the way.

Well, that’s a bit harsh, but at this point I have little time to sell the web to leaders who do not get it. With Plaid or as a freelance designer, I try to work with people as passionate about the web as I am.

Other than your own, what are some sites that you visit everyday?

I read about 250 RSS feeds daily. But the sites I enjoy are: Google, Gmail, Basecamp, From Where I Sit, Buzz out Loud, TWiT, LifeHack, Smashing Magazine, and Found | Read.

Greg Gibson at PrayAbout.com was kind enough to participate in an email interview with Faithable.com this last week. Here is some insight into this Web 2.0 venture:

What is your web application/service about?

PrayAbout.com helps people connect worldwide by praying for each other. Members can receive email alerts when people respond, alerts when people they “subscribe” to post a request, and light virtual candles to help highlight important requests.

Why did you start this project?

I believe in the power of the web to build community. There are so many suffering people out there who can benefit from the support, encouragement and prayers of others.

What is the size and makeup of the project team?

Me, one full-time engineer and a handful of contractors spread world-wide.

What technologies do you use in this project?

Ruby on Rails, MySql, AJAX (Prototype), Subversion, Trac, Capistrano, Rake, Ferret, Mongrel, Apache.

What are the most requested features from your users?

God’s personal email address ;)

Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? How about the next 2 years?

Groups, multi-media (pictures, videos, etc.), SMS, IM, RSS in the next 6 months. Next 2 years: content syndication, who knows?

What is the one thing holding you back from reaching your vision?

Being able to explain how the candle lighting system works in a clear, concise manner. It’s a bit confusing.

Do you have a business model?

Yes, but that part of the business is in stealth mode, I’m afraid.

What is the one thing you are most proud of about the project?

Speed to launch! We started coding the second week of April and were live by May 1st! Ruby on Rails is speedy!

Other than your own, what are some sites that you visit everyday?

Alexa.com (for stats on other sites), Google Adwords (for getting members), Joyent (our hosting provider)’s admin tools, and, of course, eBible.com.

This interview is with our very own, Mark Sears, on the building and launch of eBible.com

What is your web application/service about?

eBible.com is about making the Bible easy to use, understand and share. Making the Bible easy to “use” means things like our advanced Bible search engine which helps people recover verses they kind of remember. And also our tagged bookmarks which help people discover verses by topic. Making the Bible easy to “understand’ is through our library of commentaries, dictionaries and encyclopedias as well as the user notes that help provide insight. And lastly, making the Bible easy to “share” means building community around the Bible. You can share through emailing verses to people you know or using our tools for bloggers and webmasters to share the Bible on your own website.

Why did you start this project?

Our team has been doing Bible technology products for over 5 years now and eBible.com is the culmination of all our work in many ways. We created a proprietary ebook device called the Godspeed eBible back in 2001 and then ported our Bible software to Palm OS and Pocket PC devices a few years ago. But we wanted to take everything to the next level and offer our tools to an even bigger platform and audience of the users – the Web.

What technologies are you currently using?

Ruby on Rails, Mysql

What was the development process like?

eBible.com was in development for about 18 months before launch in Sept 2006. The first 4 months was prototyping before finally settling on Ruby on Rails v0.11 as our technology framework. It was a major risk at the time. We had a team of Java developers and even had a bunch of libraries and code already available in Java. Still RoR had too much appeal to pass up so we dove in and committed to the now very popular framework. From the beginning we have used Trac for the software developers and Basecamp for the higher level product planning and communication. For the last 12 months we committed to involving users and have released a new version every 2 or 3 weeks for our beta users to try out. It has definitely been an evolutionary development process with lots of rewriting the back-end and redesigning the user interface. Our team is very talented and dedicated and it has been great to see everyone grow in their skills along the way.

Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? The next 2 years?

We have many plans but realize that we need to transition to marathon mode. The first year with beta and everything changing every 2 weeks was fun but we want eBible.com to be around 20 years from now and so we have a longer term view of things now. One of the biggest areas we are working in right now is community. How do we study the Bible together online? To figure this out we are looking at how people study the Bible together offline and how we can integrate the two and affect “Bible study” in the 21st century.

What is the greatest challenge to your success?

Getting the word out about eBible.com. We depend on word-of-mouth and our marketing budget is small.

Do you have a business model? If so, what is it?

We offer premium memberships with access to more reference content and more features. The plan is to continue to evolve and extend this subscription offering over time but we will always have the majority of the site available to everyone for free. Advertising is also something we are working on but it is very important to us to have it be high quality and relevant to our users.

What is the one thing you are most proud of about the project?

The fact that you can type eBible.com into any web browser and use the Bible in a cool and fresh way. Many people have ideas and many have started “Web 2.0 Bible” projects but to sit back and see how far we have come and all the obstacles God has helped us through – wow – He is so faithful and I am just glad to be apart of something like this.