Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
Most small-business startups die because they don’t have enough capitalization. I understand this personally, as we struggle to grow the Global Bag Project. Very simply, we don’t have enough money to do what we would like to do. And, we are at that awkward stage where we are still so immature as an organization that we can’t go after money to help us make money.
Imagine my surprise and relief when we were approached by a small foundation that exists to fill this exact gap—helping new startup charities get beyond their first big blockade. “What is it you need to do next that will help you grow?” they asked us.
Our answer was obvious: “We need to optimize the Internet to drive bag sales to and through our website.” We have some website traffic, but this is mostly our friends and acquaintances who are checking us out. We would like to do at least $1,000 a month in online sales, but there is a whole Internet science that exists to help us do that.
So—a $300 loan per month was given toward this goal. Several donors matched part of this loan and my son, Randall, who owns a new Internet marketing group that also works with 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations, made the total sum stretch as far as possible, using overseas staff, cutting his fee, and choosing four major areas in which they would all work.
“This is not going to happen fast, Mom,” my son explained. “Big companies have big money to throw behind this process. It will probably be as much as seven months or so before we see any results. We’re kind of putt-putting along at 30 miles per hour toward our goal.”
After conducting a strategic keyword search that yielded intensive results—pages and pages—we decided that the niche that would give us the most real estate on the Internet was the term, “Africa bags.” Consequently, these blogs I am writing are filled with that term. I’ve done this so the major search engines like Google and Bing will pick up that term and boost our presence on the first pages for people who are searching for Africa bags.
As of now, because of Randall’s team, the loan from the Alive & Well Foundation, and the help of a handful of donors, the Global Bag Project is now on the first page of Google for anyone searching for Africa bags, and on the first page of Yahoo and Bing for anyone searching for Africa reusable bags.
This loan came to us from out of the blue. Randall Mains has become a master at navigating Internet optimization. Not only are we taking over first pages through the search-engine process, Ma. Gladys P. Nejudne in the Philippines has become our account manager and is placing us on the top 100 Local Internet Listings Directories, is project directing for the monthly Global Bag Project e-newsletter, and holding us all deadline accountable. She is also researching which online marketplaces would be best to feature our reusable Africa bag product line.
I spy God. This is all way beyond my ken or capabilities. I am grateful for His help to help us help women help themselves!
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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.
Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.
Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.
For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.
Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.
