While there were many conversations and dreams that took place over the past decade, the real history of the fshbwl began in March of 2006 when pastors Joe Burnham and Michael Cartwright, along with tech savvy laymen Matt Farina and Bob Christenson, gathered outside of New York City to dream of what an online faith community should look like and what it should ultimately hope to accomplish.
As we were talking about the site and what we wanted to accomplish through it, we knew it had to be about relationships, it had to promote the kind of interaction that would connect people and form the kind of community that would allow for the development of friendships and for Christian discipleship.
Based on our own experience, we knew this could happen through on online medium; after all, Joe met Bob and Matt in the Spring of 2003 while Joe was attending Seminary and working at Lutheran Hour Ministries in St. Louis, while Bob and Matt lived in Detroit. Over the next eighteen months Joe talked to Bob and Matt through e-mail and instant messenger to the extent that Bob and Matt considered Joe as their own personal pastor. When Joe finally did meet Bob and Matt in person, the discussion flowed like they'd been friends in physical space the whole time. In the years that have followed, the friendship grew to the point that Bob had Joe and his family stay in his Michigan home, and Matt had Joe do the Scripture readings at his wedding.
Moreover, during his time working at Lutheran Hour and in his early years as a pastor, Joe has used the online medium to offer pastoral counseling, teach the basics of the faith, and witness to skeptics. In all of these instances, Joe was the one sought out because the individual wasn't comfortable going to their pastor or was fearful of attending a church, but the online environment provided a sense of security that enabled questions to be asked. Similarly, Matt and Bob have witnessed online community form through their niche market Geeks and God Podcast (www.geeksandgod.com).
At the same time, while we knew the value of virtual community, we maintained the conviction that it should, in time, move towards physical gatherings, simply because Christianity is incarnational by nature.
As we continued to discuss the site, our minds and eyes settled on two large fish tanks that were on display in the hotel lobby where we worked. As we looked at them, we saw fish living together in a carefully developed community. Our minds envisioned the Creator and creation relationship and humanities never ending struggle to figure out how we're supposed to live in our global fshbwl, thus a site where you can ask questions, discover answers, and learn to live life in the fshbwl (the vanishing vowels is a whole different story).