Galt, California  (DP)

 

From humble beginnings in the quiet rural town of Galt, California, First Baptist Galt (http://pastorob.com) is experiencing explosive growth on it's virtual church website.  Nestled in the Central California farmlands known more for asparagus than great revivals, this small church dared to "expand it's borders" in October of 2004 when it re-launched it's languishing website.

 

Amassing a team of gifted writers and graphic designers, the site quickly morphed itself from an occasionally updated weekly church bulletin to a cutting-edge evangelical gathering place for the hyper-connected of all generations.

 

Tom Lane, fbcgalt webmaster, said, "What began as just a dream a few months ago, has become bigger than any of us could have imagined.  Who would have believed that in such a short time we would have streaming audio and video available 24/7 to visitors from Galt to the ends of the earth?"

 

In fact, "unique" visitors from at least 48 countries have visited the site in just the past five months.  Mr. Lane noted, "It's probably far, far more than that.  These are just the countries that we can confirm.  We know of many more visitors who have called or e-mailed after visiting the site from countries that our 'statistic gathering' software cannot recognize."

 

The tracking software referred to by Mr. Lane indicates that through the first 13 days of March, the site has had over 3,000 (actual count 3039) visitors.  In the same time period just one month ago, the number of visitors was just over 2,000 (actual count 2029).  If projected out over the next nine months, this incredible 50 percent growth rate would result in well over 175,000 visitors each month.

 

While these numbers seemed completely unreachable just a year ago, Mr. Lane was quick to point out that Hollywood Jesus (http://www.hollywoodjesus.com) was launched from Patterson, California, (a rural community much like Galt, also located in Central California), in October (just coincidence?) 1997 and now enjoys over one million visitors a month.  The site, which reviews movies from an evangelical perspective, averages over 35,000 visitors a day.  "We do much more than just movies," the fbcgalt webmaster offered with a sly smile.

 

Though it cannot be independently confirmed, it is rumored that pastorob.com has entered into an agreement with contemporary Christian writer and musician, Jebby for the Internet rights to promote his material, virtually guaranteeing that his career will move to the next level.  It is also rumored that noted composer and musician Greg Brayton, likely motivated by fbcgalt's exponential growth trend, has agreed in principle to a similar Internet arrangement with this remarkable upstart.  Quite a coup for the little site that had less than 100 visitors a month just a year ago.