Almost exactly a year ago today, I was sitting in a local coffeehouse with my friend Dave Whiting, the Director of Evangelism at Santa Cruz Bible Church. We were waiting for one of the pastors from Santa Cruz Bible, Chuckk Gerwig, the Family and Youth Pastor at Santa Cruz Bible. Dave had told me that Chuckk (and yes, it’s spelled with two k’s!) wanted to pick my brain about web stuff.

I had never met Chuckk (my loss up until then) and didn’t know what to expect. When he walked into the coffeehouse and sat down, I quickly surmised that we weren’t going to be talking about a traditional Christian website!

Chuckk could be a physically imposing man if it wasn’t for his gregarious and infectious smile. When he sat down at the table, he was wearing his leathers because he had ridden his custom Harley to the coffeehouse. His goatee looked like the one I always wished I had when I was young. If you didn’t know Chuckk, you probably wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Once you’ve met him, he would be the first person you’d want to take with you into any kind of darkness, because he’s a light for Jesus.

After Dave formally introduced us, Chuckk began to tell me about a fascinating web project he believed God was leading him to develop. It would be a website for the tattoo subculture and would feature the stories (in video and audio format) of strong believers who had tattoos which specifically declared their faith in Christ. The website would be known as “Sacred Ink.” Chuckk didn’t have a lot of web experience and he wanted to talk with me about strategies for using the website to reach the lost in the tattoo subculture.

Over the past year, Chuckk and I have traded emails and talked on the phone a number of times, strategizing about how to promote this new website. We’ve talked about search engine optimization. We’ve strategized about word-of-mouth marketing. We’ve discussed pay-per-click campaigns. We’ve chatted about tattoo conferences. Etc., etc.

And after a year of watching Chuckk grow tremendously in his understanding of the web and ways to use it to reach the lost, seeing him persist and never give up on the vision God gave him, strategizing with him about promotional opportunities, learning myself a small amount about the tattoo subculture, etc., I am absolutely thrilled to be able to announce to the readers of this website the formal launch of Sacred Ink, a collection of stories of tattooed followers of Jesus.

Here’s how Chuckk describes his vision on the website:

God has gathered a team of people to bring glory to Himself by reaching less reached folks in a less used way. Sacred Ink is primarily directed towards those people who are interested in tattoo and unconvinced about Jesus. Sacred Ink allows the presentation of the “faith story” of Christians who bear permanent marking on their bodies that illustrate their love for God. The Sacred Ink project provides the highest possible quality images and audio of the people who bear ink for Jesus and allows them to tell their story, giving glory to the Great God. A key desire is to present a site that is Heart-Art in itself reflecting the excellence, creativity and beauty of the One True Creator. The separate personalities, images and stories weave together to form a visual and voice narrative of hope and point the viewer towards further investigation of Jesus. The Sacred Ink project incorporates bridges to self study of the Scriptures, discussion boards for faith discussion, a listing of possible “tattoo-friendly” churches and links to other sites that could be helpful to those exploring Jesus.

Already, even in the “beta” stage of the website, as Chuckk passed the link to some of his friends to review and solicit their feedback, there is at least one report of the powerful impact the site will have. One of Chuckk’s friends, after viewing the site, wrote the following (emphasis mine):

I have two people staying in my house for about 8 days.  Both homosexual (one girl, one guy), one trying to come out of it .... both totally non believers .... both beginning to experience family and community for the first time .... the girl staying up with me till all hours of the morning asking spiritual questions.  I yelled at them to come check (Sacred Ink) out when I received (Chuckk’s email).  Both are getting tattoos tomorrow anyway .... they were mezmorized. Praying that God woos them as their days here progress.  So I thank you all and Chuckk as it has already begun to speak to people so far from Christ.

I would encourage you to visit the website, listen to the stories, read the articles, and then .... tell your friends!

Also, see the related articles from Dan Kimball, Randy, Lily, and Mark Oestreicher.

An additional question for the Christian web strategists who read this blog: how would you go about promoting this site?

As you will see, it’s largely a Flash-based site, so there is not a lot of text for search engines to index (some of the pages Chuckk has added, such as the article on “Tattoo & The Bible,” will be helpful in this regard). This is a labor of love for Chuckk, so there are not a lot of funds available for pay-per-click marketing or banner ads. He does not have a large email list to which he can send promotional blasts.

I have told Chuckk that his best bet for promotion is word-of-mouth, both through attending tattoo conferences and probably more importantly, through blogs, social bookmarking, RSS, and other social networking avenues.

I’m curious to know if the Christian web strategists who read this blog have any additional thoughts on how to get the word out. Please give it some thought and leave your comments here. I know that Chuckk and the rest of his team would be very appreciative of any help anyone can offer. Thanks in advance!