A Solution

CrossConnector was developed to address many of these issues. CrossConnector is a website designed to help missionaries, churches, and mission agencies to plan, manage, and organize ministry and missionary work. The system offers simple tools for messaging, scheduling, and collaboration that are specifically designed around the needs of Christian missionaries and ministry workers. In addition to management tools, CrossConnector provides a public space, much like a blog, where anyone in the world can view, search, and respond to the ministry’s projects, messages, and files.

The strength of the CrossConnector system is that it is useful for more than just one facet of the communication process. Information that is put into these tools is automatically archived and made available in the public database, without requiring any extra steps to maintain the data. Data in the database is maintained almost as a by-product as missionaries, churches, and agencies use CrossConnector to manage and organize their regular activities.

The CrossConnector system has several important attributes:

• Searchable and Relatable
  
The information in the system is easily searchable. The system is smart enough to suggest related information based on the information that the user is searching for and viewing.

• Useful for planning, managing, and organizing
  
The system provides useful tools for missionaries, agencies, and churches to plan, manage, and organize their missions activity. This includes scheduling, messaging, collaborating, and file storage.

• Open (public)
  
The CrossConnector system is open to the public, meaning that anyone can search the database for current and even archived missionary activity and information.

• Enables dialog
  
The system enables two-way communication by allowing the public to respond to the information in the form of blog-like comments that anyone can post in response to any information in the system.

While CrossConnector does not erase the problems that missionaries face in communication, it does provide a common forum for communication, it encourages more frequent communication, it enables dialog, and it provides a framework for the formation and maintenance of relationships. We hope it will help missionaries form networks with people that otherwise would not have had an opportunity to work together.

CrossConnector is coming in January 2006!

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