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Happy 5th Anniversary - Our Thoughts
By the staff of ninetyandnine.com
October 7, 2004

Phillip Hampton, Executive EditorTechnical
Five years ago, Kent Curry and I had a brainstorm of sorts.  I'm not really sure who came up with the idea first, but we were talking about communicating and ministering to what Kent later referred to as the "middle class" of Apostolic-dom.  At the time we were both teaching College & Career Sunday School classes and saw a real need for ministry to those young people who were balancing secular pursuits in academics and career-building with their spiritual pursuits of a meaningful and fruitful relationship with God.

I came up with the name, ninetyandnine, based mainly upon the parable that Jesus told about the shepherd leaving the "ninety and nine" sheep safe in the fold to go and look for the one lost sheep.  It occurred to me that while we are steadfastly reaching out in missions and evangelism around the world to those who do not yet know the Lord, we really need to make sure that none of the "ninety and nine" safe sheep wander away from the fold.  This burden was the impetus behind ninetyandnine.com.  It has become a forum for just regular people like me who are Apostolic to the core, but who also have other hats that they wearcollege student, business executive, housewife, scientist, high school teacher, youth leader, graduate student, small business owner, lawyer, etc.  The list goes on and on, an army of believers carrying on the good fight, maybe not on the frontlines of a mission field or from a church pulpit, but in places of commerce and academialights in a dark world.

There have been many highs and lows in the past five years.  I guess the biggest surprise is that we're still doing this.  I honestly thought our little experiment would last maybe six months, or a year, if we were lucky.  We had absolutely no startup money, and still rely entirely upon volunteer efforts from an incredible staff of writers, editors, and web designers.  I applaud these guys and gals…they are tremendous.

There have been low points as well…like when Kent insists that I write something and I just can't seem to find the time to do it (ha ha).  I've also at times been a little squeamish when we have ruffled some feathers with some of the articles that we've run.  I am very non-confrontational as a rule.  It's difficult to read nasty letters from people who have been offended by something that we have published.  Those instances have been few, thankfully.  I understand, however, that some people thrive on controversy, so I guess we have done our part to energize that portion of our fellowship.

A lot has changed since we started five years ago.  I no longer teach a College & Career class.  (I handed my class off to a younger guy at my church almost two years ago, and I started a young adult class for single adults over the age of 24.)  I still believe in this ministry, however, and I very much hope that in the coming days, someoneseveral someoneswill be moved to join the 90&9 family to take us to yet another level of success and effectiveness.  I would really like to see some younger college & career people get involved with this ministry with fresh ideas and innovations that have not yet been explored.

I am always looking forward. I’m not interested in preserving the status quo.  As I get older (yes, the dreaded 4-0 looms just ahead), I realize that the most important mission of any Christian is to duplicate his burden, passion, and faithfulness in the heart of someone who is watching.  Thus the ministry of the body of Christ is perpetuated; and God gets all the glory as He orchestrates the unique talents and abilities of His people to bring glory to His Name.

Five years from now I fully expect ninetyandnine.com to look nothing like it does right now.  I expect that it will blow my mind at what it is has become and where it has reached.  To God be the glory.

 

Kent d Curry, Executive EditorContent

The Seeds Were Planted
It’s all Alicia Becton’s fault. Sometime in 1997, she moved to Nashville from St. Louis. Soon enough I began hearing about this great College & Career (CAC) teacher, who taught (in style and candid assessment), similar to me in my CAC class. That’s how I met Phillip Hampton. Over time, we emailed each other ideas and general feedback on a range of issues. We finally met in person over the summer of 1999.

Inspiration Thy Name is Rejection
Over that same summer, another fine Pentecostal publication rejected yet another Kent d Curry article. I was incensed. How come every magazine I submitted to mistook “Honesty” and “Living in the real world” for “Controversy”?

I’d had enough. It was time to offer an alternative (or at least get printed somewhere). I then remembered that Phillip was a computer guru and realized he could probably spearhead the technical end of an internet site. I, having graduated with a Bachelor’s of Journalism from the University of Missouri, figured I could round up some content.

If memory serves, I called him with this idea and he was quite excited about the possibilities. After a flurry of emails that included Nita, Alicia, and Aldon Cheatham, we decided to give it a shot, starting during the UPC’s General Conference that year, which happily, was in Nashville.

From a Little Mustard Seed…
I spent the rest of that summer and autumn basically contacting every Apostolic in my email address book, most of whom I knew through my many years in Bible quizzing.

In the meantime, (with input from the others) I wrote up the Mission Statement and a few generic intro pieces, hammered out our first cover commentary, and debated endless possible titles for this unnamed zine. I believe “New Wineskins” came up, and some different offshoots of “CAC,” but it was Phillip who debuted “ninetyandnine” and we knew we had a winner.

We had discussed different zine formats, settling on candid articles on daily Christian living with a minimum of graphics (making a virtue of necessity). It was non-intuitive (not many were going on the web to read in those days), so we pledged to add valuable CAC resources to draw Sunday school teachers and others. (An area of abject failure.)

We probably had a month’s worth of articles when the first issue debuted Thursday (yes, Thursday) October 7, 1999. (That way we could tell fellow attendees that articles were already posted.)

General Conference itself was a hectic ricocheting between everyone I knew, selling the vision and guilting even more acquaintances into writing articles. (When I glance back through the early contributors, I realize how this zine couldn’t have happened without all of my Bible quiz friends. Someday perhaps they’ll start talking to me again.)

Our major marketing campaign, still true today, was a color flyer we handed out to the thousands of teens and twentysomethings on their way to Youth Service that year. Phillip and I will do many things passionately, but handing out flyers (and the instant rejection of “No thanks” or “Thanks, I’ll just throw it away right here”) is not one of them. Still, we persevered.

I’ll never forget Phillip rushing in to tell us we’d had an enormous amount of visitors (1200?) on Friday, only to later admit he’d examined the “hits” stat instead of the “unique visitors” stat.  For a second there, it had seemed we would be the next great dot.com story.

…Nothing Grew
The thinking then was surfers would look forward to new content on Fridays, as a cool end-of-the-week kind of thing; so the early issues came out each Friday. That soon proved unfeasible for our webmasters (David Schultz joined us in December, 1999 if memory serves; financial whiz Kevin Hanscomb joined about then as well), so we switched to Mondays (one of the smartest decisions we ever made. After all, if the choice is starting another work week or reading fresh Apostolic articles, what are you going to do?)

Still, despite the switch, and weekly e-newsletters stuffed with purple prose and salacious innuendo, our best single day was 202 readers on November 2, 1999. We almost didn’t recover after that.

Readership tanked and our self-imposed three month evaluation period was more hopeful than happy.

We persisted until readership bumped up in the spring, when we added the Big Question, Cara (Baker) Davis jumped aboard, and soon enough the great Bible school vs. Secular University debate put us on the map. We’ve been growing ever since.

One quick aside: we don’t court controversy, but neither do we flinch from it. The reality of living for Christ is there are passionate issues that don’t allow for easy answers. It’s wiser to discuss them using a scriptural basis than to let only one side control the debate. One of the best parts about ninetyandnine.com is that readers aren’t shy about telling you when they believe you’re wrong.

Five Down, How Many To Go?
I couldn’t tell you how much longer we’ll be publishing, but we’re committed into the near future.

After all, it’s a great joy to see how many Pentecostal publications (and message boards, et al) now reprint our articles. It’s fun to find out, as I just did in Salt Lake City, that a professor at Regent University references one of our articles in his assigned readings. (Of course he disagrees with it.) Thanks to our contributors, political sites fume over Apostolics being invited to the White House. Campus Crusade for Christ distributed 50,000 CD-ROMs to college freshmen with links to our 9/11 articles. We average over 15,000 readers and half a million hits each month. God has blessed us far beyond anything we could’ve dreamed in that unusual summer of 1999.

Thanks for your articles and letters, your word-of-mouth advertising (it’s such a joy to hear so many say, “I tell everyone about you.”), and your prayers. For this is a ministry that exists only if you contribute. Happily, since the summer of 2000, that’s never been in doubt.

 

Nita K. Curry, Letters Page Editor
I can't remember what life was like before ninetyandnine.com! I mean, I imagine there used to be something else I looked forward to on Friday nights besides the weekly letters dump. And my Saturdays, well, I know that some of those mornings weren't spent on editing the letters and all that! But mostly, I remember I used to live with a man, that's right, he was my husband...and it's coming back to me...oh, yeah, I still have one from time to time. However, the times when he does emerge from that room, he is only mumbling things like, “Pray for more submissions!” Yeah, I do remember those days before the great onslaught of ninetyandnine.com...

Seriously, I don't remember what it was like to feel so blessed to be a part of something. To know that each and every week God is using this web zine to minister to others.

To be perfectly honest, web zine life can be quite lonely. You spend so much time and effort on the process, yet you don't always have feedback that all your effort really is making a difference. The reality is that through ninetyandnine.com we have been so incredibly blessed. It is because of this zine that life-long friendships, with people who we would never have met under normal circumstances, have been formed. Yes, the entire zine is a ministry, none of us are monetarily rewarded, but the intangible rewards of ministry are always priceless.

 

Aldon Cheatham, Webmaster
When Phillip Hampton and Kent Curry asked if I thought we could get a site like this published on a weekly basis, I really didn’t think it was possible, but told them “sure.”  Well, it looks like it’s possible for five years.  As we say here in Nashville, “it’s hard to believe!”

Ninetyandnine.com has actually been an instrumental part of my growing up process.  In 2000, I wrote an article that shouldn’t have been written.  At the time, I was in some sort of funk and allowed my suppositions to come out on ‘paper’.  Thank goodness time heals the wounds.  Unlike the left in this country, I never wanted to rewrite history, so I never pulled the article.  My articles aren’t all bad though.

Anyway, it’s amazing that we’re still around and we’re glad you’re out there.

Thank you all for a great five years.

 

Bradley McDonald, Assistant Webmaster
The first thing I remember about 90&9 is the diversity of the articles that actually made me think.  Whether it was about finances, dating, college, music, or God, there was always some article that made me delve deeper into the subject matter.  There are very few sites that can cater to all of these subjects and still maintain the focus on God like this zine does.

So, a few years back, when my mom (a 90&9 editor from the early days) mentioned that Kent asked about my availability to assist with some of the web duties, I gladly volunteered.  Kent then realized that, unless there's a boss outside my cubicle reminding me of the importance of the word, “deadline” is irrelevant.  Kent now substitutes 39 emails per project in place of a boss, and we've amicably agreed that this is best.  In my defense, I've been going to grad school (off and on) part-time, working full-time, working on other web projects, watching football, and then there's tennis, and golf, and I've got to play basketball and ride my mountain bike and, of course, softball and fishing.  Prioritizingwasn't there an article on 90&9 about this once?

Seriously, it is amazing to see how far this site has come.  When I think about all the dot-com busts, it is truly remarkable that this site, with a vision from a couple of people and a few volunteers, has grown to reach all the people that it does today.  If half the people that visit think about the articles the way I do, then 90&9 is somehow impacting their lives.  You may not agree with every article, but if you search for answers, prayerfully and honestly, you can't help but grow spiritually.

Thanks to all the people who do much more than I do to make this site possible!

 

Alicia Becton, Managing Editor
In the five years that I've been involved with 90&9 I have read and proofed almost every article we've published.  I was always good in English, but would have to say that my proofreading skills have improved and it has become automatic for me to proof everything.  (This is frustrating when Salt Lake City has signs printed welcoming the United Pentacostal Church for General Conference.)  My boss will yell from his office to me from time to time asking how to spell various words.  This experience is going on my resume now that I have five years of it.

We have covered such a variety of topics and I have been forced to think through issues after reading so many articles.  I'm proud of the way we tackle certain subjects fairly and scripture-based.  Five years ago we thought it was a good idea to start a web zine but most of us were not all that optimistic it would last long.  Being there from the beginning and watching the site grow and develop has been exciting and interesting.  When people ask me what a ‘blog’ is I can answer them and direct them to our cutting-edge site that now contains two regular blogs.

Via this site I have been in touch with people that I would not have ever heard from.  After my book review on my friends' murders I heard from two of their family members I never knew.  Since you never know who is reading, you never know when you might be ministering to someone.

 

Shirley McDonald, Copy Editor
Thank You, Harry Potter!

I had met Kent at a Bible quizzing tournament in Herrin, Illinois, in 1999(?) where he was quizmaster in one of the sessions. Since I was at that time head coach of the Denham Springs, LA Bible quizzing ministry (Hey, did you know they were first and fourth at Intermediate nationals competition and 1st and 6th at Senior nationals competition this year?), I saw Kent again at the Intermediate nationals competition in August in St. Louis.

Just before the 2000 National Bible Quizzing Tournament (NABQT) held at General Conference, a friend came to me after church one night, incensed because some well-meaning parent had passed out to every children’s church kid a copy of a diatribe against the Harry Potter books. She was really incensed because the article was from the satiric www.onion.com website.

Even though I am a librarian, at that time I knew nothing about Harry Potter, so I started searching the Internet for information about this obviously wicked series of children’s books, wicked enough to alert the parents of all the children’s church attendees of its evil. Well, one of the first links I came across in my search was Kent’s article reviewing Harry Potter in a positive light - and I was intrigued to find a Website for and by Apostolics. I became a regular reader.

At NABQT I complimented Kent on his well-written article about the Harry Potter book and on the ninetyandnine.com Website. In the course of the conversation, I told him that if he needed some help with editing articles for the site, that I would be more than happy to help, as I was previously an English teacher. Although I had told no one except my pastor, I knew that this would be my last NABQT as the head coach of our Bible Quiz Ministry, and I knew I would be lost without the daily contact with the Bible scriptures and those wonderful quizzers. And what on earth would I do with all that free time?

After I got home, Kent emailed some information he had promised, and I again offered to help with ninetyandnine.com. Kent emailed back that he had thought maybe I was just being nice, but that he would certainly take me up on my offer. Then, as a test, he sent me some really, really hard articles to edit! Even though I have edited many papers throughout the years for co-workers in grad school, for my kids and their friends when they were in college, and for students at my high school, I had never had such a hard time getting any article to make sense. I felt like a very slow learner.

Then one day I got an email in which Kent was asking the staff to welcome me as their newest member. I was thrilled, and thus the “grandma” of the group came to be a part of this otherwise young staff and to begin to contribute hours of my time weekly to a new ministry.

Since that time I have encouraged (and even coerced, at times!) my son, my two daughters, my son-in-law, my sister, my two nieces, and numerous friends to contribute articles. One day a co-worker was telling me about a wonderful lesson he had taught in his college/career Sunday School class, and I began to say, “Oh, I want you to…” Before I could go further, he said, “Wait a minute. I am not going to write that up for your website.”

So I say thanks to Harry Potter. I am thankful for ninetyandnine.com. Not only does my small part (how important is the copy editor anyway?) allow me to feel I am still contributing to God’s work, but I have been inspired by the testimonies and blessed by the articles of so many other people. I have certainly gained much more spiritually than I have ever given to this ministry¾but isn’t that the way it always is when we do something for the kingdom of God?

 

Josh Lewis, Copy Editor
Like many other readers, I was introduced to 90&9.com by a friend.  My first impression upon visiting the site was, “Wow!  This goes beyond the traditional Apostolic fare.”  The books and music reviews covered more than the usual Pentecostal Publishing House material.  The articles often addressed the concerns of college students, a demographic to which I could easily relate.  The letters expressed sentiments that didn’t always mesh with the organizational party line.  Even Gabby represented a fresh breath of air with her unique style and incomparable anecdotes.  I soon became a regular reader and, eventually, a member of the staff.

To me, working with 90&9 represents an opportunity to minister to those who are already in the flock.  We can never lose our desire to reach the lost sheep, but we need to take care of those already in the fold.  Too many of our brothers and sisters wander off, disillusioned or confused, and are devoured by the enemy while away from the safety of the group.  Our movement has matured over the past century, producing a host of well-educated professionals who are third, fourth, or even fifth-generation Apostolics that come from drastically different backgrounds than their grandparents who were the founders of the 20th-century church.  The only way we can survive, and even thrive, during this transition is to move beyond mere traditions and ensure we examine our beliefs, values, and methods in the light of His Word.  While some may fearfully withdraw from the challenges that 21st-century society presents, I pray 90&9 continues to lead the way in Bible-based solutions to the problems of a modern generation.

 

Dear Gabby, Advice Columnist
My dear Harry and I enjoyed 52½ years together and when he died, I didn’t know what to do with my life.  We’d never been able to have children, so I wasn’t able to immerse myself in grandmotherly pursuits, like many of my friends.  And, although I was involved with my church, my community, and my political party, I always knew that my contributions could have been done by anyone.  What was left for me, Gabby, to accomplish?

After three years of lonely widowhood, darling five year-old, brown-eyed Kristy came into my life and we adopted each other, embarking on a whirlwind of life together as mom and daughter.  It was unusual, I admit, being a first-time mom during the eighth decade of my life, but when I look at the lovely adult Kristy, I know we each did a passable job, her teaching me to be a mother and me teaching her to be a woman.

Kristy got married a few years back and, once again, I was at loose ends.  This time, though, I was heading into my nineties, without the energy I’d had two decades earlier when Kristy arrived.  I still had a lot to contribute, but who wanted to listen to a century-old woman in a retirement community with arthritic knees?

Then, I met that dear young man, Kent Curry at a conference when he retrieved my dropped pocketbook.  I commented to his lovely wife, Nita, about how Kent must have been raised to be a gentleman.  And then I told the two of them about the gentleman in my life, my dear Harry.  That was the beginning, and later, when Kent and Nita decided to include an advice column for the new Internet magazine they were starting, for some reason, they considered me.

It’s been quite an adventure!  Imagine young folks actually requesting the opinion of an old ladyand then listening to the answer!  And some of them have even responded afterwards, saying that my advice has been meaningful to them.

I must admit that many of my neighbors in the retirement community are jealous of my volunteer job.  They would love to be able to pass on advice like I’ve been able to.  (Of course, some of them would love to regain the ability to string two sentences together at this advanced age…)

Who knows how long I’ll be able to continue writing this column?  Very few people are even still alive at 98 years old; let alone provide a valuable contribution to their world.  All I know is that, as long as I’m able, and the letters keep coming, I’ll continue to answer the questions, using the century-long experiences in my life.

Happy anniversary ninetyandnine.com!

 

ninetyandnine.com

© 2004, ninetyandnine.com and each author

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