Head Not the Tail

Thank you for your prayers.

I have been doing online ministry since 2007.
The first five years were amazing,
and I experienced two viral events.
An Army Arising did really well,
because the wild internet allowed it to happen.
Good ideas could spread.

And then
political power,
greed,
and behind-the-scenes manipulation
stopped it all.
My posts stopped getting traction,
my books stopped selling,
and the online marketplace
became a foe
not a friend.

The algorithm picks winners and losers.
And there are people behind those algorithms.

For a long time I have felt like a tail,
not the head,
but I didn't know why.
For a long time I thought it was me.

I talk to many artists who are just trying to get traction.
Forget about being a success.
I'm fairly successful because I committed to relationships
before the algorithms became the thing.
And it's changing again,
as tech companies
are choosing an addiction business model.
It's not an algorithm now,
it's a doom scroll and a dopamine hit.

A few years ago I thought Substack was the answer.
In September Substack played a nasty trick on me.

Honestly,
I survive because at the end of the month
folks send me coffee money on Buymeacoffee.
I don't play the ministry game:
begging, pleading, and manipulating,
because that makes you a tail,
not the head.

I pray,
tell my story,
and God moves people to give.
A few months ago Substack killed the link to Buymeacoffee,
after I sent the email.
The link worked in my preview.
(They did the same to my book launch.)
It was happening for a month before I figured it out.

That little trick
unexpectedly
reduced my income about $3000.

This is why I moved to Ghost,
and why I finally have an email on Fridays
that I am proud to send
because it looks great.
Share it with your friends,
and thanks for reading it.
I do it for you.

Many people fall in love with platforms.
Platforms are just tools.
If you pay for it,
it is a product,
if you don't pay for it,
you are the product.
The goal of Meta and Google
is to own you and your content.
Instagram uses your art to feed the AI.
Meta wants you to be chained and caged.
God wants you to be free.
God wants you to be a head,
not a tail.

As I mentioned,
it is relationships that have kept me going,
when the internet stopped helping me.

My relationship with you,
the person who reads this every Friday,
is what's really important.
It's not about me and a ministry,
it's about you becoming part of that throne in earth.
It's about making a place in your life
for Jesus to rule and reign.

I am rethinking where I put my energy.
I will be posting longer form writing here,
and on X.
If you have an X account please follow me,
it will be a big help to reach more people.

The landscape is changing all the time,
and after review it looks like Patreon is still the most useful
place to reach artists and creative people.
I will still be posting premium content there.
I really need about $2500 a month from Patreon
to make it worth it.
If you want to support me with regular gifts under $50
Consider becoming a monthly sponsor.

Buymeacoffee is a great one time place to give,
but they take a decent percentage, as does Patreon.
I would prefer if you give sporadically,
that you do it directly with the tip button in this email.
Giving direct is best.

This is all about the bigger shift from being a ministry
to being an alternative Christian media company
targeting artists and creative people.

And yes,
I mentioned OPEN SOURCE.
This week all of my ebooks on Amazon are 99 cents!.
Forever.
Really.

I'm working on making everything downloadable for free
in the near future, and you will be the first to know.

Some of you have suffered from trauma.
The heart of Artists at a Shift in Time
is my prayer process for healing trauma.
This book will help you.

Really.

And finally,
if you are in the US,
the print edition of
Artists at a Shift in Time is 30% off
for subscribers to the Friday email.

Next week
we are going to talk about why you need to be authentic.

He Never Fails.