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A former electronics technician from Germany, now a Methodist minister in the United States, has established a Desperate Preacher's Web site that receives over half-a-million hits a month.

The minister, Frank Schaefer, told ENI: "Back in 1996, I was looking for something on the Internet that I could use for my preaching - for some way to exchange thoughts and experiences with fellow desperate preachers. There was nothing there, so I decided to start the ministry I was looking for."

The "Desperate Preacher's Site" (DPS) now has a homiletics editor, a chaplain, and a missionary on duty, as well as a technician to keep things running smoothly. Volunteers also assist Schaefer in answering the many requests for help from pastors, Sunday school teachers, lay ministers and others.

The Web site is continually expanding. "I have no idea how many new pages, new discussion forums are created every day," Schaefer said. However, he reported that in September there had been 556,240 "hits"—individual files requested from the Web site, representing a total of almost three million kilobytes of information. There were more than 3000 contributors to DPS and more than 51 000 "user sessions"—the number of individual users who visited the site.

Increasingly, busy pastors are turning to the World Wide Web for swift access to resources for ministry, and preaching in particular. However, Schaefer does not believe that the Internet will replace books and theological libraries. "I enjoy reading books," he told ENI. "I would not want to read an entire book on the screen. The Internet offers interactivity, which you can't have in books or in television. DPS is more of a grass-roots oriented media."

Explaining how he set up the Web site, he said: "All you need is a server capable of handling a large amount of traffic and access to a computer, anywhere."

And for preachers, clergy and other Christians around the world who want to access the desperate preacher's site, he advised: "You simply point your computer browser to our address, choose what you want and up pop the thoughts of various preachers from all walks of life and all parts of the English-speaking globe. Anybody who feels so moved can contribute by typing a comment into the appropriate box, click publish and see it pop up for the whole cyber-world to read."

Originally, the Web site was intended for study of the Sunday Gospel lessons, but it has since expanded greatly. Schaefer attributes its success to the willingness of subscribers "to graciously submit contributions to make this ministry possible."

The Internet offers two great benefits, according to Schaefer. "You can get information -topical and children's sermons, published manuscripts, worship resources such as prayers, litanies and hymns. Very recently we added the subscriber program 'the DPS Sermon Builder'. And, because we need humor in life, we have a unique humor site."

The "interactivity" of the Web site is its other strength, according to Schaefer. "I don't think other sites include that aspect of the Internet as well as DPS does, that is the building of community. For me, that is the most fascinating aspect - cyber community."

Schaefer said people visiting DPS could initiate a discussion and invite other people to join in. "You can post something and it will actually stay there so you can invite others to discuss those issues with you. There are menus with links to previous topics. There are about five or six thousand pages out there—most of them interactive, meaning, you can post a response to what you are reading, and be a part of that ongoing discussion."

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November (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44