The past week and some change has been insane. We’ve launched 3 new properties and they’ve grown like weeds, literally.

Personally, I think I went through every single emotion imaginable: the euphoric high of launching a new project and then a deep valley of doubt and anxiety when more than a fair share of criticism was pushed our way.

But, I continue to remain forever-optimistic, and for those that made it with us through the first week and a half, thank you. This is just the beginning, just the start.

Curious about what has happened in the last 168 hours? Take a look…

The Numbers:

We’ve been collecting stats and we love sharing them (if you’ve been around here before you know this already). So here’s a look at what has happened since launch:

ChurchCreate.com:

• > 4,000 Pageviews, > 2,000 Visits
• 1,004 RSS Subscribers
• 12 posts with 172 comments

The top post of the first week was Nick Shoemaker‘s post: “The Art of Keeping it Simple (and Not Being Stupid) in Church Production“.

And, we had 3 Winners to the Billings 3 Contest! Find out who won here.

ChurchIT.com:

• > 2,500 Pageviews, > 1,500 Visits
• 981 RSS Subscribers
• 13 posts with 119 comments

The top post of the first week was “5 Funny (Yet Serious) IT Mistakes that Ministries Make“.

And, we found a winner for a Free Year of Hosting with Media Temple! Find out who won here.

ChurchDrop.com:

• > 3,100 Pageviews, > 1,700 Visits
• 1,008 RSS Subscribers
• 13 posts with 214 comments

The top post of the first week was Tom McFarlin’s post “3 Free File-Sharing Services when Email Doesn’t Cut it“.

And, we found a winner for the iPhone Giveaway! Check out the lucky person here.

The 8BIT Network:

In total, for the last week the entire 8BIT Network received more than 30,000 pageviews and almost 17,000 visits. We literally doubled our RSS Subscriber base and added hundreds of followers on Twitter.

From my limited perspective it seems that we’re doing something right. I believe that this is just a foretaste of what is to come, and I’m even more excited now than ever before.

Criticism, Already.

It’s amazing how quickly people find reasons to rain on parades. It shouldn’t surprise me but it apparently always does; perhaps I just need my skin to be a little thicker…

The 8BIT Network was created and birthed out of two primary motivations: 1) To serve and resource the Church with excellence. 2) Need, and the fact that it was already happening.

If you look back at the past year of ChurchCrunch you’ll see that many of the content that we covered has 10′s (if not 100′s) of posts in those categories. In addition, authors and commenters have been asking repeatedly for coverage in these areas and so we decided to build them out.

This wasn’t an attempt at any “strategic” land grab or political (religious?) statement of any kind, and we certainly didn’t need anyone’s permission to start a new blog; I mean, seriously!

But I’ll admit, even I can get jealous and at my weakest moment I can easily feel threatened just like the next fleshly man. I just have to remind myself that it’s not about me but about us and that we, as a Church and Community can always use more people concentrating their efforts on resourcing the Church.

No one cares who was here first and certainly no one cares if you’re the last; it matters what we do with the limited amount of time we’ve been given, and I want to do things with excellence in the gifts and interests that I have. Period.

Moving Strategically Forward with You.

With that being said, and the first week or so behind us, we’re moving forward and continuing our plan of strategic growth and expansion. We’ve hired 3 people within the past week and we’re not done yet. We’re looking for even more help and if you’re interested and curious please send us an email.

Here’s just a small list of things we need help with:

• Community Managers (Love people? You’ll do just fine here.)
• Some more Interns (Got too much time on your hands? We’ll use it.)
• More Guest Authors (Please note we’ve changed the requirements and specifics around payment on each site)
• Staff Writers (Love to write consistently about a topic? Let’s talk.)
• Site Managers (Yup.)
• A Developer (or two)
• Content Farmers (Love RSS? Yeah, so do we.)
• And More…

Many of these positions are open right now and a few of them are going to “mature” into roles over time. If you’ve been around for a while then you’re already a candidate.

A Community-Based Kaizen

My High School yearbook quote was just one word: Kaizen. It’s a Japanese word for “Continuous Improvement.”

I had only a vague concept of how true that would be for myself and the way I see my career and life.

We’ve got tons of things that we could do better and we don’t want you to hold back. Let us know your thoughts and how we can make these community platforms for conversation the best on the planet.

Thanks for hanging out with us and doing your part to edify the Church and lift up the Name of Christ in a technological world; our calling and opportunity could be no greater.

Let’s continue to improve and make the world a better place, together.

[Images from Striatic,