The Innovative Mission Group  

Ridgway, CO - Monday, October 1, 2007 - Alternative Missions, a mission organization committed to finding “creative ways of reaching the world”, is releasing a new community based social networking site called www.vineage.com.   Unlike other social networking sites VineAge.com is designed to enable the formation of missional Christian communities.  That is communities that are active, cause based and are looking for innovative ways to grow and spread the Kingdom of God.  VineAge.com provides a free web site and a set of powerful, yet simple tools, to enable Christ followers to develop a unique web presence for their community. 

Alternative Missions’ founder and Director Tom Hackett describes the VineAge project in this way,

“VineAge collectively endeavors to become a network of Christian communities that acknowledges every believer, empowers social networks, encourages creative expression, and facilitates the global church.”
 
VineAge.com is built on top of the open source WordPress blogging platform.  WordPress is a proven technology and provided a stable base for the newly formed social networking site.  A team of web designers and developers have extended WordPress to add stronger content management, event scheduling and community membership features.  The result is a hybrid web tool that has website, blog and event scheduling capabilities with additional tools in the works.  The teams’ primary aim was to add elements that are essential for community interaction while maintaining a simple administrative interface.  

Starting and/or joining a VineAge.com community is free.  So surf on over to www.vinage.com and join today!                

• Tom & Linnea Hackett Missionary Support Team

Linnea and I have been so encouraged by those of you who have been part of our support team over the years…Thank you!

At this time, we find ourselves running $1000 a month short of our monthly budget.  We are looking for new team members who will commit to $50 - $100 or more a month.  We would appreciate you considering joining our support team.  You can do so by clicking Here.

• The Movement – An Arts Based Church Planting Movement

We are taking a new approach to church planting.  We have started a band in Mexico called “Into the Sea” and we are forming church plants that are committed to Community / Expression / and Social Helps.  You can get the whole story at this website: http://themovement.vineage.com

We are raising funds for a van and a practice location/office/studio.

Van   (purchase, insurance, maintenance)        $20,000

Practice location/office/studio:                             $10,000 

• VineAge – Where the Church Grows Freely

VineAge is a place where Christian communities form, innovate, interact, and grow.

VineAge is Alternative Missions attempt to facilitate the planting of churches and mission startups all over the world by providing free web tools to build Christian communities and the networked environment for those communities to share, learn and collaborate.  

Check out the VineAge website and start a community today.  http://vineage.com

Development costs related to the programming and technical side: $20,000

Promotion and expansion into other countries and languages:  $10,000

• Giving Options:
  1. The safest, most convenient, and most consistent way to give is through electronic giving. I use this method myself. Click Here to donate online.  Make sure and designate your giving clearly (Hackett or Project support) in the appropriate place when filling out the form.
  2. Mail a check to:  Alternative Missions, PO Box 5835, Goodyear, AZ 85338     Please include a note designating what the donation is for.