As you read this, a major snowstorm is bearing down on the greater Washington, DC, area, with up to two feet of snow anticipated in many areas. It's not the type of weather one normally associates with renewal.

But renewal is very much on the minds of all those who work on the Congregational Resource Guide—blizzard notwithstanding.

Marty Davis directs the Congregational Resource Guide. Reach him at mdavis@alban.org.

The CRG has always been, above all, a guide to the best in congregational resources. And for nearly a decade, we have worked to sort through the chaff to bring you the wheat. Changes in web technology, however, along with an explosion in the amount and types of resources available, have required that we look anew at how our site is structured and the resources that we make available.

We've thought about ways to deploy our visitors—those closest to the ground in America's congregations—as resources. Who, after all, is better informed about the challenges and opportunities in congregations than the ministers and laity who lead them? And who has a better sense of the resources that are effective? So we launched a Facebook account to give you an opportunity to talk with us. And we started a radio show to give individuals a forum for sharing what they've learned with time-pressed religious professionals.

We've worked to develop new tools for communicating with you about what's new. After all, your time is important, and anything we can do to deliver the information you need in a timely manner is a plus. So we launched an email newsletter and a Twitter account.

We've worked to create community. After all, at the end of the day, you've told us repeatedly that it's important for you to receive information from people you trust. So we've experimented with blogging.

And we've worked to be timely. After all, there are times and events that demand special attention. So we've launched daily headlines that connect resources with news, and bundled groups of resources that address pressing needs, like those facing people in Haiti right now.

The time has come to take what we've learned and begin anew, to combine the rich resources that we've collected over the years with new technologies and ways of interacting. And most of all, it's time to recognize and deploy the most important resource—you, the leaders of churches and synagogues.

On Thursday, the CRG hired a design firm to help us translate the lessons learned into a new site that combines the best of the old with the best of the new in a people-friendly virtual library. Over the next six-eight months, we will be working to build this new site. And we want you along for the journey.

We will be keeping you abreast of our best thinking, and we will be soliciting your feedback as we go along. So stay tuned. If you have thoughts on the process or what you'd like to see, send your thoughts to me. We'd love to hear from you. And for the latest information, sign-up for our newsletter.

It's a time of renewal. And it's a wonderful time of year to begin.

— Martin Davis
February 5, 2010