When we began Heartlight over seven years ago, we had to make some tough choices. Everything from the logo to the site design to the mission statement of the site was up in the air. We didn't nail everything, but through God's grace and direction, we did get a few things right.

    One of the key decisions was the "non- or for-" decision. Non-profit or for-profit? Although this was only 1996, we were starting to get the idea that some folks were going to get rich off this Internet thing. So we had to decide... would we try and be in that get-rich group? Would we be a "commercial" site that made money the old-fashioned way (advertising, usually)? Or would we go the non-profit route and support the site through donations? Tough one...

    The decision was made (and ultimately I think it was absolutely correct) to be non-profit. While we do a very small amount of advertising business to augment our income, the main focus of the site has always been, and will continue to be, non-commercial.

    Why? Two key reasons come to mind:

• Perspective. A commercial site looks at its readers or users from a different perspective. You are "markets" or "prospects" or "eyeballs," rather than people with real lives and problems and souls of your own.

• Focus. From the beginning, we wanted to focus on ministry work - blessing people's lives, giving them access to resources they never had before. In a commercial setting, the focus can become the bottom line, and we feared the ministry would suffer because of it.

    At Heartlight, we've intentionally made the decision to be about the business of helping you, rather than the business of helping ourselves. I'm not questioning the motives or operation of other Christian sites, I'm only saying what we felt was right for our ministry. We simply didn't feel we could mix the two purposes successfully as a for-profit business.

    As a result, we've now been donor-supported for over seven years. Some of those years we've been fortunate to have extensive support. In other years, it's been a bit leaner. In fact, with the current state of the economy in the USA, significant portions of our funding have been lost. We're currently scrambling to replace what's been whittled away over the last few months. And not to put too fine a point on it, if we don't replace that funding soon, Heartlight will again become a hobby, and we'll be doing other things.

    I really don't like writing things like that. I worry you'll think it's just a tactic or a strategy, or that I'm not being entirely honest. But it's not a tactic, and it is the truth. Others will feel tremendous guilt, because they simply can't help financially right now. Please hear me, I'm not asking you to give what you don't have. Please just keep us in your prayers, and that is more than enough.

    I know some folks even think it's wrong for us to tell our needs, because they feel that if the Lord supports our work, He'll bring the right amount of money to us, whether we ask for it or not. I've struggled some with that perspective. We have received some amazing gifts out of the clear blue, but we've also heard "Thank you for telling me your need. I had no idea, and I'll be glad to help." I'm convinced God can work it either way.

    Through these years, we've come to understand a third very important benefit of our non-profit status. And this is a benefit available to you, as well. We've begun to appreciate the importance of interdependence over independence.

    The world tells you that independence is where it's at. Just get free, do your own thing, no strings attached, be your own boss. You don't want to depend on anything or anybody. Make your fortune, and then, if you have time, you can serve others.

God's plan is quite different...

    But God's plan is quite different. He seems to value interdependence much more highly. We aren't created to be solo Christians, we are a part of a community, a body, a family, a network of souls. We rely on each other, we reach out to each other, we share each other's hopes and dreams and failures. God has placed each part of the body with its specific role, and they all depend on each other. That doesn't sound too independent. In fact, when we cut ourselves off from the fellowship of believers, we die, just like a body part can't live outside of the body.

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others. (Romans 12:4-5)