Cards on the table: When I started the Original Church Community here on Locals, I thought that participation was only for supporters - in other words, supporting me here at $10 per month was the price of entry into the conversation - and I wanted that because I wanted a kind of closed community where the people in the conversation were serious about the Christian faith and we would not be distracted by antagonistic trolls or politics or other drama.

Also, I was really opposed to any kind of "tier" system (like how it works in other communities or similar platforms) where if you pay more you get more access to me. I wanted to avoid that at all costs, no pun intended, I just wanted everyone to be equal and we could all have some great conversation here in a place without the trolls and haters that would be there on YouTube or other social media sites.

I did not realize that it was possible to be a "follower" without being a supporter, and once it was too late to go back, I found out that there are all these things built into Locals to encourage followers to become supporters - for example - I could flip a switch in the middle of the Bible Study, and people who are not supporters would be kicked out. I never want to do that. But I admit I had tried other things like making the translations available only to supporters. But I'm done with that - from now on, everything I do here is available to everyone - whether or not you are a supporter for the $10/month.

Supporting is optional, and I'm leaving it at that. I'm done with anything that smells anything like marketing. So please become a supporter, if you want to, but if you don't, you are just as welcome here, and just as welcome to participate in everything as anyone else. I won't even look to see who supports and who doesn't. For those who do become supporters, I will work hard to keep the community active, and if you think of the Bible Study like a kind of course (but with no homework) that alone should be worth the ten bucks a month.

Full disclosure - 100% of the money I receive from supporters goes to fulfilling my commitment to help support my step-daughter, who is a single mom with two kids, ages 5 and almost 1. (The five-year-old is the one we are getting from the Philippines). With both of these sweet boys, when their mom was pregnant with them, there was a brief time when some people whispered the A-word, and I made a promise to help support her so she could keep them. So any money I get here goes toward keeping that promise.