Tuesday, April 06, 2004
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I thought I would provide some background on how this site came about.  About a year ago, I began searching for a new Web host for the domains I manage.  At some point in my search, I discovered ServerBeach -- dedicated servers at incredible prices.  I began to dream about hosting hundreds of Web sites and making lots of money.  Realistically, I knew there was far too much competition for me to make very much money.  Still, I wanted the flexibility and control of a dedicated server.  However, after giving up on the idea of making a profit, how could I justify getting a dedicated server and then letting the majority of its capacity and bandwidth go to waste?

In September 2003, I started a new study at my church on the book “What Would Jesus Do?”  As silly as it may sound, I began to ask myself the question, “What would Jesus do as a .NET developer?”  Now, I've always felt there was a severe shortage in the online community for Christian-based developer resources.  I had been thinking for years about writing some articles or publishing some tools that could help developers who are either just starting out, or are looking for ways to assist their church or organization in building a Web site.

It then occurred to me one day how I could combine my passion for software development with my longtime desire to contribute to the online community, and hopefully spread the good news of Jesus Christ at the same time.  With no desire to attempt to make a profit, and faced with the fact that the majority of my hosting resources would be going to waste, why not give away Web hosting for free?

Thus, the idea of ChristianASP.NET was born.  It's taken a while to get to this point, but I am still very excited about what the future holds for this site.  I sincerely hope and pray that this grows into a ministry: making a positive impact on developers and providing a way for individuals and organizations to build their own Web sites that might not otherwise because of the cost.

Tuesday, April 06, 2004 8:43:00 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)  #    Disclaimer  |  Comments [9]  | 
Saturday, December 24, 2005 3:35:00 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
Hey David!

I think this is a wonderful thing you have started! I love Jesus and God and truely believe that you are making an impact in the online community. I am a student from South Africa and haven't currently got the money to pay for hosting. I study IT and really wish to get a website up and running mainly for learning more about what I study. If only there were someone like you in my country then I could easily get a website going.



God bless

Werner
Friday, October 08, 2004 4:37:00 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
Thank you for your kind words, German! I am only trying to be obedient to what I believe I have been called to do. This is one way that I can "let [my] light shine before men" (Matthew 5:16). My desire is to do much more!



God bless,

David
Thursday, October 07, 2004 11:33:00 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
Dave,



Once in a while I visit your site to see what is new. But even when I know what a generous soul you are, I still get impressed everytime I visit your site and see all the things you are ofering withouth expecting anything in return (tecnical advise, web hosting, positive energies... you name it).



Thanks for your huge contribution to the community David!

German P.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 12:05:00 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
Dave and I have conquered the CMS beast before. Basically what you want to end up with is really an application framework that you can add to.



I've always kind of built "up" my apps (I need to start using Test Driven Development more... it would help me) So you build the core app that essentially lets the end user change the content then you add on wheatever features you need next... essentially your core app should let you plug in new modules and attach them (we typically used the database to do this in the past... I don't know if that's a great idea... We typically ended up with a database heavy app).



Anyway, just throwing out some ideas.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 11:08:00 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I'd like to give this some serious thought. For the last couple of years, I have worked on portal frameworks. I think I have a pretty good foundation on which to write a respectable content management system. You might say this Web site is running a "4th generation" portal framework. There's a lot to this Web site in terms of administration (configuration, role-based security, skins, URL rewriting, page components, etc.) that you don't see.



However, what I've developed is a long way from a true CMS. My framework doesn't have content versioning and a content approval process. Then there's developing custom controls for features such as resource management, calendar/events, surveys/polls, discussion board, and so forth. The more I think about it, it seems like a pretty daunting task. What's the saying? "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?"
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:27:00 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
BTW, we can code in C# or VB (we're bi-lingual)... (so don't let my VB.Net-centric blog fool you)
Tuesday, April 13, 2004 7:24:00 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
I've read most of the Purpose Driven Life (I haven't read the last 2 chapters yet)... awesome book!



Anyway, I've been giving this some thought... How wide of a scale are you planning on making this (You want some help building some of this stuff)? You're actually doing what my friend, Dave, and I have dreamed about doing ourselves... (I can't fully speak for Dave, but I would be willing to give you some time to develop some of the tools you need -- as long as we could maybe set up something similar)
Monday, April 12, 2004 6:58:00 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
Thanks, Jay. I have also been thinking for a long time about writing a content management system. That's actually one of the future goals I have for this Web site. I want to make it as easy as possible for others to bring their ministry, whatever it may be, to the Web.



I forgot to mention that I had just finished reading Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" when I started the study on "What Would Jesus Do?" What an awesome book. I'm striving to learn that it's not all about me.
Sunday, April 11, 2004 2:13:00 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
Awesome David! I wish you good luck in this. Let me know if I can help you in any way. My partner (who doesn't currently blog) and I are both Christians; we've been doing the "business" for some time now (although not really seriously until Dave recently quit his job and moved back to Ohio to do "sidework" full time).



Anyway, I will be watching your blog... Dave and I have been considering for years some of the exact questions you have been asking. We've even thought about giving away a content management system to churches (or any other christian organization). Unfortunately time has never been on our side to write this app.



Anyway, God bless you brother!



Jay

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