HisReach.com

So last time I wrote about the concepts that we had for HisReach and our process in getting where we are. This time I wanted to talk about how the site has progressed since our launch and how God has truly blessed our ministry. Like I said before, HisReach launched on April 19th, 2006. We originally had about 25 users that Doug and I invited to be our pre-release testers. We owe SO MUCH of what we are today to them. They set us straight on what we were doing right and (even more importantly) what we were doing wrong. We kept these users exclusive for about two weeks while we were working out bugs and continuing to add more content. Although it hasn’t been forever long sense that time (only three months) we have grown 20x larger. Most of you are here because of the help of someone other than ourselves. Doug and I know a few people, but we realized about 3 weeks after our release that we had invited everyone who we had an email address for in our address books, phones, etc. I guess that was a point of some concern for us. We had done all we could do individually…we needed help to get out the word. God totally showed us in this time that HisReach is not our thing, it is His and we are just doing the grunt work. We were introduced to some people that have proven to be crucial in the growth of our community. God has put a desire to see HisReach succeed and grow in their hearts and they have been an integral part of making HisReach what it is. We are excited to see what God has in store for HisReach and we will let you know as it happens on our blog.
Do you love HisReach? Help us spread the word about HisReach by putting a button on your website, blog, or MySpace. Find a button at http://promote.hisreach.com!

We wanted to let you into our life at HisReach so you can be a part of our growth and see how God has blessed us for trusting in His perfect plan. Hope you enjoy!

In The Beginning…
HisReach started out about a year ago as an idea that Doug had for using the popularity of a site like MySpace to further the kingdom and help to empower its members. At the time there was really nothing of the sort on the Internet and so we saw it as a place of need. Doug and I had been doing web development for some time, but had never really tried to run a business or build a large-scale website. At the time, I had just recently graduated from UC Irvine with my degree in Computer Engineering and was waiting for God to place me in the workforce and Doug was (and is) attending Cal Poly SLO. We spent the summer messing around with concepts, but none of it actually ever hit the Net.

In September 2005, I was hired by a robotics company called Adept Technology to do Systems Engineering work. I continued to work on the weekends designing HisReach (which at that point didn’t actually have a name). Doug was back in school full-time and found doing work to be very difficult to balance with course work. Overall, it was a very slow time for HisReach’s growth.

Both Doug and I were still feeling a tug on our hearts to persue this ministry through the Internet. We were getting to a place were we could leave HisReach behind and persue our daily routines with ease…or we could take a leap of faith and self-fund our project with absolutely no revenue, no website, and no users. Most entrepreneurs would say “Yeah, so what? That’s what we did…”, but we were new at this, so it didn’t come so easy. Anyways, about 8 months ago, God was still really telling us to persue our vision for HisReach and so we started to look into the business aspects of HisReach. For the most part that was a pretty dark path for us, having not ever started a company. God really led us through that time, we were introduced to very crucial people in our development that were more than willing to help direct us…one of which is our lawyer, Patrick Guevara. We decided to form a California Limited Liability Company to protect Doug and I from any business matters that could possibly come up. In late April/early May, HisReach LCC was officially made a company which was a pretty sweet day for us. Doug was 20 and I was 22…and we could say we were EXECUTIVES….kind of fun :)

We launched our site on April 19th, 2006, just short of a year after our vision for HisReach started. I guess you could say it was a somewhat extended process…but we are more than glad that God was persistent in letting us know what He had for our lives. I’ll continue next time about HisReach since our launch and how God has TOTALLY blessed that process…check back!

Help us promote HisReach…grab a button for your website, blog, or MySpace at http://promote.hisreach.com

…and that’s not a Paris Hilton impression. For those of you in California, you know what I am talking about. It’s been between 100-110 degrees in California for the last week…which leads me to telling you all about our site being down yesterday. Turns out that all of you decided to turn on your air conditioning yesterday in the Los Angeles area and caused a major power outage in parts of the city. Anyways, HisReach is hosted in LA and consequently the power went out for our server for a few hours while it was brought back up. Kinda an interesting detail…if it’s not one thing, it’s another…

So it’s good to see pictures starting to pop up on your profiles. There have been some people asking about clarification on how pictures are working…the quick and easy answer is…pictures are free! Everyone is allowed to post a main profile picture on HisReach the minute you sign up. We want to see who you are! Next, all you do is invite 10 friends to HisReach and as they sign up, you will start to see more slots show up for your pictures….totally FREE! Now, as an alternative, you can purchase these picture slots for $1 per slot. Right now, we are limiting the number of pictures to 10 as we roll out the album feature, but there will most likely be more in the future.

While I’m at it I want to address another topic: music on profiles. HisReach already has plans to start allowing music on your profiles, but it turns out that it is fairly involved for several reason: HisReach is only 3 months old, legal implications, and server requirements. We definitely have plans to allow music on your profiles and we want to do it right, so stick with us while we work out the details.

Help promote HisReach, check out http://promote.hisreach.com for a HisReach button for your website, blog, or MySpace.

We are very proud to announce that we have reached a membership of 100 users. Although this is only a stepping stone to where we would like to see HisReach go, we are glad to see your positive response. We have so many big ideas for what God will do with this site and hope you will stay around to see it evolve with us.

We have currently distributed at least 5 invites to all users that have been members for a week or more and hope that you will help us to meet our next milestone of 500 users. We ask that you please send out your invites, we know you know people and we want them to be part of HisReach too.

As an update, we are moving into a period of accelerated growth in content for HisReach. We are really going to push to implement some of those more difficult features that you have all been asking for in the suggestions box. Keep the great ideas coming, because we most certainly take everything to heart. Let us know if something looks weird, is hard to use, or that you really appreciate on the site. Your comments will totally direct what you seen next for HisReach.

Don’t forget to invite!!

It’s days like the last two days where I realize how dependent my life is on the Internet. The company Internet went out on Sunday at 2AM and has been out since. At first, they projected 12PM (10 hours downtime). Now 28 hours later, a total downtime of 38 hours, the Internet is STILL down. Yes, I know you are not hear to listen to ranting, so I come bearing good news. There are updates on their way for HisReach. Over the last week, we have had a chance to implement a lot more of your suggestions as well as work out the details of invites being marked as spam mail. Stayed tuned for new changes, the minute I have an Internet connection you will be seeing BETA Release 5. Until then, enjoy and use up those invites!! :)

Yep, that’s right, we survived the first 24 hours of existence. We already have a good number of beta testers signed up and have been receiving really great feedback from all of you. We couldn’t do it without your help. Doug and I have been very pleased with the responses and are taking most all of them into action. We will be rolling out Beta Release 2 in the next few days as soon as we have a chance to tie down a few more details and are able to get more comments from the remaining few beta testers that have yet to sign up. For all of you out there that aren’t beta testers, we are looking at a May 1st full release date. We’ll be getting back to you later with more on how you can get your invitation to be a member of HisReach. Thanks again to all of you and God Bless!

-Garrett

Yes, it is true… We have finally released our initial beta version of the HisReach.com website. Now before you get too excited, there is a catch. We are only allowing 20 people to beta test the site right now. The plan is to be in beta for around two weeks while we work out kinks and finish up features. At that point, we will open the flood gates to let you all in. In the mean time, we could really use prayer for the following:

• Continued guidance from God in the development of HisReach.
• Strength and energy to persue HisReach and make it into a successful, fruitful community.
• Blessing HisReach with funds to push the website into full gear.

-Garrett

Hello World! It is finally here…the HisReach blog. Doug and I will be posting all sorts of fun stuff on here about our journey in bringing you HisReach. I”m not going to lie, there is a lot involved in running a website…especially one you guys will appreciate and make your home. We are asking for prayer while we continue to develop this great network. We really want to do God’’s work here and we need your help. Drop us a line and let us know what you think.

-Garrett