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Status and history of the program:
January
1-April 3, 2010: Class conducted at Rock Church, near Bloomington,
IN. Revisions and adjustments made to both volumes based on that
feedback. Development of the CD version, a 7 day trial of CWP. Major
overhaul to main website. Thorough administrative revamping of all web hosting
accounts.
December 30,
2009: With vol 1 completed, revised page 2 of the website and
cleaned up other pages.
November
24-28, 2009: Completely refocused the main CWP website, especially
the first two pages. Explained the origin of CWP better. Made
progress on completing volume 1 of the CWP series.
July/August
2009: Complete refocused, reset, and updated BibleDashboard.
February/March 2009: This was a focused period of updating
especially BibleDashboard.com and our blog, Authentic Ministry.
A decision was made to make all of our own publications e-based and to make a
special page for them inside BibleDashboard. They can now be read from
the CWP Library.
January 1, 2009:
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During July
and August, we did some preliminary video taping of a class called,
"Praying in Times of Distress," based on 1 Thessalonians, taught at Wellspring
Christian Church, near Greencastle, IN. This church is showing a
friendliness to our program, although there is no official relationship
between the two. Portia Regan is allowing us to use her Sony VX1000
video camera for taping at the moment. Scott Bailey has given a good bit
of time to video classes for us. Brian and Valerie Martin have have
taken a strong interest in CWP and have been very helpful in consulting with
us.
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In September,
the inaugural series was renamed Unrelenting Faith, and the first two
volumes were completely recast and rewritten during October to match
that agenda. We now have two substantial volumes: volume 1 of the
series, A Divine Secret, and the volume called The Christ Code,
which is the basis for the entire series.
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December
allowed us to focus on some general plans for 2009. Our website
was completely redesigned and made ready to support increased traffic, a
renewed newsletter and blog, improved free materials on the site, and
increased book sales. We have spent a lot of time exploring publishers
(during the last year) and have decided that we will, for the time being,
pursue print-on-demand self publishing (i.e., we are not seeking a major
publisher and for a lot of reasons.)
Our goals for
the first six months of this year include
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Setting up a
print-on-demand arrangement with the appropriate companies.
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Completing two
more volumes in the new format,
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Procuring four
speaking engagements,
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Reviving and
expanding a monthly newsletter with a target of 300 subscribers by July.
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Funds and
Time: The lack of funds continues to be a major problem for
development time. We researched and explored not-for-profit fund raising
for over a year, but have now decided we do not want to go the route of many
non-profits. We are now determined to have the ministry self-supporting.
We are exploring whether we should change the status to "for profit."
April 2008: This month has seen a major turning
point in the CWP program. Our website and approach have been altered in
a major way. The planned 13 volumes of the Divine Secret series
have been scaled back to 3 volumes. New multimedia plans have been made
for new and special projects. New alliances have been made with individuals
from different backgrounds. We now have a person who will donate his
time to making videos and other multimedia projects for us. We are
humbled and prayerful about all of this.
January 2008: Volumes 1 and 13 are available in a
pre-publication format. Plans are being made for a 2008 "Event" in
Indianapolis to highlight the CWP approach and program. The event
would feature entertainment, drama, and teaching.
August 2007: Focus is currently on CWP reading library
volumes 1 and 13. Both are in prepublication. Holy
Grounds is available to all. No classes are being conducted at this time.
April 2007: CWP website is online again, although
paired down from a year ago. This is a good thing. Work continues
on restructuring the ministry/company base of operations. The CWP
Reading Library has been completely reworked and volumes 1 and 13 are now
available online in prepublication format.
February 2007: CWP is temporarily off-line while
major foundational issues are attended to. Our goal is to be operational
again, with an entirely updated approach based on the last two years' research
and planning, by mid to late summer, 2007.
December 1, 2006: One of the great things about
our program is that it is designed to evolve based on participant feedback.
Since we have now taken hundreds of people through the program, we have enough
feedback to make some needed adjustments. For now, we have slowed the
growth of the program down a bit, limiting our outreach and turning our
attention to adding improvements and adjusting program structure. Our
monthly journal has been renamed Holy Grounds as of this month; a
new weekly (or daily?) outreach, Aroma, is now on the drawing board;
and finally, our CWP book series has been renamed the CWP Reading Library,
with 5 volumes planned for the next few years. Volume 1 is currently
undergoing a major rewrite based on participant feedback and desired
improvements.
August 31, 2006: More individuals and churches
are checking into the Coffee with Paul approach as word-of-mouth continues to
spread. We are not yet in a full mode of promotion of the program (we
have actually not spent a great deal of time or money on promotion), but we
are gearing up to do that sometime this fall or early next year. Our
first volume is being used successfully in numerous locations and with very
strong reviews. This approach is not a typical "devotional approach,"
and we are discovering that people are sometimes a bit uncertain about how it
works. However, once they stay with it for a couple of weeks or more,
the more excited they become about what it does for them spiritually. We
continue to adjust the program according to the feedback we receive.
July 8, 2006: Having completed our incorporation
process, we are now naming our board and preparing for our first meeting.
In the mean time, our first book is continuing to be read by numerous
individuals and a few churches in test programs.
March 18, 2006: Just this month, we have filed
applications to become Coffee with Paul Ministries, INC., a
not-for-profit corporation and 501(c)3 qualified. Also this month, our 4th major working draft now
titled: Coffee with Paul: A Conversational Approach to the New
Testament is in the hands of pilot programs.
January 10, 2006: Three pilot programs are
underway in Brazil, IN; Monroe, MI, and Terre Haute, IN. We have
actually intentionally scaled back the number of pilots going on at this time
to keep up with them better. These have been enormously successful and
important to the development of the larger program. We are certainly open to
inquires from interested parties.
December 3, 2005: During this holiday season, we
are focusing on evaluating our main product (our first book), procedures, and
approaches. We are not putting an emphasis at the present time on
expanding our base or on developing new materials. That will come, but not
right at the moment. We are giving a great deal of attention to the
funding that will be needed for the coming year.
November 16, 2005: Individuals continue to hear
about our program and sign up for Free items, as well as purchasing our first
book. Feedback remains very strong and positive. Seminars have
been conducted in several churches in the Terre Haute, IN, area, all with
great success. Classes are also ongoing in two churches, one in Brazil
and one in Indianapolis. Other churches considering the program are in
Michigan and Indiana. Our program is currently at the important stage of
testing and establishment.
September 27, 2005: Our first Free onsite
"half-day seminar" took place on Saturday 9-24-2005 and was enthusiastically
received. Our first book has been re-titled, At Home on the Doorstep
of God: Living with Power through Scripture and Prayer. New
seminars are being scheduled for the fall and winter of 2005 and 2006.
Aug 18, 2005: The entire program and website were
substantially revised during the last 4 days. Pricing structure has been
greatly simplified and reduced. We are now attempting to get into as
many churches as possible (before, we had a much more limited objective).
We have now added and will be shortly starting LIVE phone calling services
including prayers, classes, and recordings.
July 7, 2005: The first volume came available in early
June: Living with Power in World of Hurt: 60 Days with Paul
That Will Transform Your Life. The book has been received very well
and the approach is being utilized by several small groups. New programs
are sometimes challenging to get off the ground with churches (timetables,
etc.) Two churches in the Terre Haute, IN area are agreeing to be pilot
churches, two others are still looking over the program. A growing
number of individuals have signed on in one role or another. This is an
all-new concept: you are very early in this process and we appreciate
your participation.
April 25, 2005: we are currently in launch phase.
The first main course, 60 Days of Power, is almost finished. Four
churches in the western-central area of Indiana have been approached and have expressed interest or intention
in
participating in the launching of the pilot program. Development of the
pilot program is nearing completion. There is a flurry
of activity every day as we deal with a large number of issues. Several small groups,
unrelated to each other, are doing test runs with our materials.
November 2004 - April, 2005: Our program joined
forces with another group in the month of November. From
that time, our program entered a new phase in development. Everything
from program adjustments to web site development, and from program plan
development to marketing strategy were ongoing at this time. A detailed
50 page program plan was developed during this period. The name "Coffee with Paul©" was first adopted in early January, 2005.
June - October 2004: The program began in the
form of the PAIDEIA Institute for Biblical Studies at Home. An advisory
board was assembled and talks began towards development of the program.
Early June 2004: The concept for this program
began as a an informal conversation between Gary and Lanette Collier at the
Holiday Inn Express in Cloverdale, IN. The concepts were scribbled on
the back of a napkin and a brochure about caves in southern Indiana.
These concepts were later discussed between Gary Collier and Jim Savage.
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