Gay Christians, Ministry and software - Rainbowchristians.com

On the Author

Justin R. Cannon is a man of faith who believes that the Church can and must be inclusive of LGBT individuals without sacrificing the Gospel and the apostolic teachings of the Christian faith. Modern technology development allowed him to access wider audience for spreading his beliefs.

17 year old Christian, after discovering his sexual orientation, faced a lack of places where people like him could hang out and meet each other. It took him another three years and the willingness to create a place for other gay Christians to establish Rainbowchristians.com - an alternative to, at that moment, the 5 year old site ChristianGays.com

In one of his interviews for the Oakland Tribune, Mar 23, 2007 Justin says "I realized that there are Christian dating sites online, but not one of them was for gays and lesbians. There are a lot of gay and lesbian dating sites, but there aren't many of those that have religion tied into it. So where do gay Christians meet? I didn't really have an answer to that question, so I decided to start one."
After playing with the original software, Justin decided to switch to Dolphin.

Dolphin

"Previously I used Webdate. I wanted to upgrade the site to have more features, so I switched to Dolphin. I chose it because of all the features and the easy to use admin panel," says Justin.
The Expertzzz community helped him to create original feel of the site.

"I hired help with installing Site Donations, Abuse Reports, Custom Template, Membership Icons, Age instead of DOB, and I've hired some help configuring the site with Paypal and solving some bugs with the site," comments Justin.
Currently, his site hosts 5187 gay-lesbian-bisexual-transsexual Christians from all over the world.

"My hope would be for the site to grow and become a vibrant and active community for gay Christians. I also would like for it to become financially stable, as right now what I am paying for mods, advertising and hosting is hardly covered by the subscriptions. I hope the donations feature will help some," adds Justin.

Cannon's work has been featured in The Advocate, on The Michelangelo Signorile Show, in the New York Times, and even the French LGBT magazine Prf ("Ainsi Soient-Ils" Jan/Feb #12 Issue). In 2007, the ABC News Sacramento affiliate, News 10, ran a feature on Rainbow Christians.

In 2006, Cannon was recognized as one of Out Magazine's Top 100 most influential gay people of the year and in November 2007, he was honored as one of Instinct Magazine's 2007 Leading Men of the Year for his activism in the gay community. He is currently pursuing priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Dolphin helps him to perform a better online ministry.

Interview

Tell us more about yourself and your team. What do you do? Tell us about the history of your team coming together. What are you good at? Provide us with any information that can introduce you in the best possible way. How did your idea come to mind?

I am the owner, administrator, and founder of Rainbow Christians. There is no other staff. The main help I receive is from other Dolphin experts I have commissioned through Expertzzz. I used to have a webmaster, but our contract is over.

I am the founder of Rainbow Christians and also Inclusive Orthodoxy, an affirming outreach ministry to LGBT Christians centered around his booklet The Bible, Christianity, and Homosexuality, which the Los Angeles Times describes as an illuminating...analysis that argues the Bible doesn't condemn faithful gay relationships (McGough, July 18, 2005). I am also the editor of Sanctified: An Anthology of Poetry by LGBT Christians.
I am currently pursuing priesthood priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

What software did you use before Dolphin?

Previously I used Webdate. I wanted to upgrade the site to have more features, so I switched to Dolphin.

How many registered members do you have now?

The site has 5187 registered members.

Why Dolphin?

I chose Dolphin because of all the features and the easy to use admin panel.

What changes did you do to the default version?

I hired help with installing the following: Site Donations, Abuse Reports, Custom Template, Membership Icons, Age instead of DOB, and I've hired some help configuring the site with Paypal and solving some bugs with the site. There are a couple bugs that remain that I've given up on.

What are your expectations?

My hope would be for the site to grow and become a vibrant and active community for gay Christians. I also would like for it to become financially stable, as right now what I am paying for mods, advertising and hosting is hardly covered by the subscriptions. I hope the donations feature will help some.