History / News

News:
April 19, 2009: New M.M.M. website released!

History: (See M.M.M.'s old site here)

The idea of Multi Media Ministry was born a long time before the idea for the magazine ever came to mind. It all began with a YouTube video created by a small online ministry, which challenged Christians to use the site as a means of spreading God's message. As a fourteen-year-old who had visited YouTube for little more than music videos and funny clips, I was inspired by this message: why not use such a powerful medium for sharing Christ? As I thought about this, other ideas popped into mind -- if video works so well, why can't art, or writing, or dance, or music yield the same results? Inspired, I put together a quick, one-page website where I wrote down a bunch of different ministry and witnessing ideas, and categorized them into 5 sections: visual art, music, drama, dance, and writing. When I was done, put a title on the page: "Multi Media Ministry" -- and soon forgot about it.

Fast-forward a year or two. For my first Communications Technology project in Grade 11, I was required to create a four-page magazine in Photoshop. Like most high school students, I wasn't entirely a fan of school projects, but this one really appealed to me. I absolutely loved the mixture of writing and graphic design that magazine-making required -- the ability to convey powerful messages through words and images was exciting to me, and, soon after I handed in my four pages, I found myself wanting to re-live the fun that I'd experienced while working on my project. With very little deliberation, I decided that I would start my own magazine for teens like myself, to publish online. It didn't take me long to figure out a theme for the would-be e-zine: I knew that I wanted the publication to focus on something significant; and, in my life, faith and creativity were (and still are) two very important things. However, I didn't want to focus on only one area of creativity -- it had always bothered me when people tried to divorce the arts, and I wanted to embrace each of them in my e-zine. Immediately, my mind drifted to that forgotten web-page called "Multi Media Ministry." The perfect title! Tentatively, I opened Paint Shop Pro and wrote those words on a blank magazine page. Ideas started going off like fireworks in my head. Plans were created, designs were drawn, articles were drafted. God had been preparing me for this moment ever since I had turned to him, and now it was finally here: M.M.M. had begun.

During my more cynical moments, I didn't expect the e-zine to take off. I'd had some commitment problems with websites in the past, and I couldn't imagine myself maintaining an entire magazine. As I soon found out, I was right -- magazines are hard work. Creating the first edition was draining, but I stuck with it to the end, and felt exhilarated as I perused the completed pages and scanned the long list of names that had helped me bring the debut issue into being. The second issue didn't start off so well. Personal problems, schoolwork, and procrastination converged into a sea of obstacles that dragged down all of my efforts. Writing and designing felt like trudging through deep water -- while I distinctly felt the pressure of deadlines and reader expectations, I could muster up little of the joy and faith that had motivated my project in its embryonic stages. By the third issue, I knew that I couldn't keep going on like this: I was making a magazine to help others serve God, but I myself was working out of duty, not faith. I knew that was wrong. So MMM gradually fell silent as my efforts slackened and my resolve disappeared.

In 2009, God engineered several circumstances that set MMM's flame alight again. One of these circumstances took the form of the culminating project in my Business Management class. We were asked to organize some sort of event or campaign benefiting our community, and I decided to resurrect my neglected ministry and start all over again, with a new website, new articles, and new focus.

I took the advice of James Brooks, a UK-based artist with whom I had been chatting for several months, and expanded M.M.M.'s target audience from just teenagers to also include young-adults in their twenties. I also sat down to write an extensive and detailed Mission Statement, which proved extremely helpful in directing my efforts and keeping me focused on the reason behind the e-zine -- God. Then, although this meant giving up part of my beloved graphic-design component of magazine-making, I decided to do away with the traditional magazine format in which I'd published MMM and switch to text-based blog posts like the ones you see today. Above all, however, I wanted to stop working out of duty, and write articles as I felt led by God, not as directed by deadlines. Because of this, I chose to stop releasing the e-zine in issues, and opted instead to offer articles on a regular basis. This was a complete change from what MMM had been for the past three years, and I was excited to watch where God would take MMM with this new direction.

In the days between January and April of 2009, my spare time was filled with writing, web-design, and planning. I grew in those days as an artist, as a writer, and as a Christian, but they were not without their challenges -- as usual, procrastination and pressure were a source of frequent frustration, but I did my best to cling to God, and found a great deal of joy in making this e-zine. I spent many, many evenings creating picture after picture, writing word after word, fussing over CSS, listening to sermons and loud music as I worked, and I loved every moment of it. Bringing this e-zine back to life has helped me grow as an artist, writer, and Christian, and I can only thank you, reader, for stopping by to support this project, and hope that you too will be blessed by Multi Media Ministry.