I am very pleased to announce a major development with the blog that will move us forward to new heights as we continue to strive to make scholarship on the Bible and early Christianity available to a wide range of non-scholars, and in doing so (especially!) to raise money for charities dealing with hunger, homelessness, and illiteracy.

As many of you know, the blog started in April 2012 with just me and Steven Ray, the technology expert who originally designed and ran the site.  At the time, I thought we’d raise maybe $20,000 a year for our charities.  Now over twelve years later, we have two hard-working employees, Diane Pittman (COO) and Benjamin Porter (CTO), along with ten dedicated volunteers.   We also have thousands of members, and we are raising something like $500,000 / year.  It’s been quite a development.  And still — till this day (and for all eternity) — every penny we bring in from all the membership fees (which are completely tax deductible) goes directly to our charities.  We pay our overhead costs (including salaries for our employees – I myself don’t make a dime) through separate fund-raising activities.

With this kind of growth, naturally, come growing pains, and the blog has become too much for me to handle as the guy who not only provides the content and deals with comments/questions but also oversees the entire operation.  And so, I am very pleased to announce that we have acquired a new Chief Executive Officer.

Jen Olmos is a highly talented, experienced, and innovative executive who is perfect for the job.  She has already begun to assume duties and the transition is going amazingly well.  Along with keeping things running smoothly, she has been tasked with growing the blog and moving us over to a new platform, Blog 3, which will be significantly improved to accommodate larger numbers of members and more activities that will benefit everyone who is involved.  You’re going to appreciate the innovations that are coming.

I myself will still be hands-on in working with Jen, but now I will be freed up to focus more on the kinds of things I’m actually trained to do – communicate knowledge of scholarship to non-scholars who are nonetheless deeply interested.

Let me tell you a bit about Jen and her background. She began her career in the corporate world of financial technology, where she gained a deep understanding of business realities, software development, and technical project management. After shifting gears, she spent several years as Creative Director at an independent publishing company. Most recently, she held a key leadership role at an agency for artists, where she designed and implemented a comprehensive training and development program.

Jen has deep professional experience bringing big ideas to life and managing diverse teams with clear and compelling vision. This cumulative experience, marked by her ability to lead with both strategic insight and hands-on management has prepared her to step into this new role as our CEO.

Jen is also motivated by her lifelong curiosity and passion for learning about early Christianity. She tells me that she was never fully satisfied with the minimal exposure to the Bible she received in her Roman Catholic upbringing, and so embarked on a personal mission to get to know and understand what the Bible really says. Along the way, she stumbled onto the blog.  Lucky us!  She has been an active member now for several years.

As I indicated, Jen will be overseeing a major overhaul and rebuild of the blog. This effort will focus on enhancing usability, functionality, and discoverability, while maintaining the academic integrity that has always been our top priority.  She is also eager to roll out new initiatives that will better connect our members, with plans to introduce new opportunities for members to engage in direct, meaningful discussions on topics related to early Christianity.

I will make sure to keep you updated as things progress. In particular, stay tuned for ways you can voice your opinion about the future direction of the blog.

I’m very pleased with this new development, as we continue to grow our membership, reach more people, and raise more funds for charity.