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Ownership and History of NazNet
The NazNet Fellowship Forum is an Internet-based forum for members and friends of the Church of the Nazarene. Dave McClung, G.R. "Scott" Cundiff, Glenn Harris, and Hans Deventer are moderators of the Forum.
What is the history of NazNet?
Dave McClung writes:
NazNet as we know it today was started by an lay member of a Nazarene Church in North Dakota. She was enlisted in the Air Force. I belive the year was 1985. Prodigy had just started marketing online service. Compuserve had been online for several years, but its marketing wasn't aimed at the consumer market. Prodigy opened a number of forums. One of them was simply "Religion." The airman from North Dakota posted, "Are there any Nazarenes out there?" I was the second to respond. At first, "Nazarene" was just a thread, but it grew so rapidly that Prodigy gave us our own forum. They didn't think there would be enough Nazarenes so they named it "Evangelical/Nazarenes." Well, it became the most active Religion Forum on Prodigy.
It continued to grow until sometime around 1992 when Prodigy decided to charge by the minute. That decision caused our group to divide. Nazarene forums sprang up on most of the services, but it wasn't until the World Wide Web came into being that we pulled back together.
I think it was 1994 when Bryan Merrill registered NazNet.Com. He brought NazNet online with several pages linking to other Nazarene sites. When I saw Bryan's site, I volunteered to help him get a discussion forum started. Bryan did the technical side and I started emailing my friends from the Prodigy days. Within a month or so the fellowship board was up an running. Bryan Merrill was owner and webmaster. I was moderator of the fellowship forum.
I think it was 1998 when Bryan and I reached agreement for me to become the owner of NazNet. (Since NazNet does not generate any income, being owner really means "pay the bills.") NazNet has been pretty much the same since then.
So, to answer your question I would suggest that NazNet really started in 1987 although the NazNet name didn't come into the picture until much later.
-Dave
How is NazNet funded?
Dave McClung finances NazNet, and contributions are not sought or accepted.
Last Page Update: April 28, 2001
This page is maintained by G.R. "Scott" Cundiff
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