After she had completed one round of the Scriptures, Heidi was changed. "That reading revolutionized my life," she says. "The power, the passion, and the person of Jesus Christ captured me completely. I committed to sharing the picture I saw of Him with the world."

While reading the Bible, Heidi was impressed with its storylike features. "From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is one grand symphony of salvation. Running through this symphony, like the melody theme in a piece of music, threads Jesus' story. It was this thread, His personal story, that I needed to share," she says.

So on a computer in an office in Seoul, Heidi spent six days "praying and typing, praying and typing, praying and typing" until she had finished the first draft of what would come to be known as God's Diary-a summary of the story of Jesus Christ throughout the entire Bible.

"I felt like Moses at the burning bush," Heidi recalls. "It seemed as though I was holding something holy. There was no way, humanly speaking, a summary of the Bible could have been drafted in just six days."

But it was.

Originally God's Diary, "a fresh look at the longest lasting best-seller of all time," was to be used only in Heidi's Bible classes in Korea. But Heidi felt God calling her to an Internet ministry, and after reading Experiencing God, by Henry Blackaby and Claude V. King, she faithfully decided to move ahead.

Heidi returned home to Canada in the fall of 1997. There she continued work on God's Diary in kind church members' homes and on their computers. She also drew graphic design plans for a Web site.

Heidi spent the following spring and summer with her brother, Palmer Halvorson, in Vancouver, Washington. Palmer, according to Heidi, is a "master graphic design artist." Palmer designed the Web site and helped Heidi get it online during her stay. "Almost before we finished," remembers Heidi, "God miraculously provided us with HTML programmer Todd Hossack." Todd proved to be just what the blossoming ministry needed. He was able to link the Web pages Heidi and Palmer had designed and produce an operational rough draft of the Web site all within about 10 days.

Up and Running
With the Web site running, Heidi began creating Web pages for the 100 chapters of God's Diary. Again God provided Heidi with help. This time it came in the form of Sandra Vincent, a retired Seventh-day Adventist school teacher. Sandra helped Heidi edit God's Diary. Through five editing processes, Sandra and Heidi spent countless hours refining the manuscript.

Several months into the Web site work, Heidi was up late one Sunday night talking with a friend. They were discussing a possible name for the Web site, and the words "Word Sight" stood out. "[It] seemed to capture perfectly the essence of the program," says Heidi. "A place on the Internet where one can see Jesus and the Bible. The name stuck."

Word Sight became official with an eight-member board on March 22, 1999. Weeks later, on May 12, 1999, Word Sight and God's Diary were launched on the Web.

"[Word Sight's] goal is to reach at least 2 million people with Jesus' message before He comes," says Heidi. "Our aim is to connect ourselves and others passionately with the power and person of Jesus Christ. Essentially, we are actively and specifically working to increase the population of heaven."

To meet this goal, Word Sight has focused on evangelism. "Word Sight has essentially become a one-stop evangelistic Internet hub for the Seventh-day Adventist Church," says Heidi. "We want to provide [the Adventist] message to anyone out there who is searching the 'Net for spiritual food."

Four of the denomination's leading evangelists can be found on Word Sight: Doug Batchelor, Kenneth Cox, Mark Finley, and Dwight Nelson. The Voice of Prophecy's evangelistic Discover study guides are also available, along with their companion videos by Lonnie Melashenko.

Word Sight browsers who visit a topic such as the Sabbath will find direct links to presentations by these evangelists on that topic. They can also watch a Discover video on the topic right over the Internet. "This is exciting because it means that every one of earth's 2 billion people with Internet service has direct access to these vital messages all in one spot-in their homes, offices, schools, and in some cases on their Palm Pilots," an eager Heidi recounts. "God is so very good to us to provide witnessing tools in this twenty-first century that can cross all boundaries of state, country, culture, time, and distance."

Word Sight provides a haven for evangelists, pastors, teachers, and laymembers. Anyone can use the Web site to help them further the gospel in their own way. "Letting [people] know about the Web site and recommending that they check it out is an easy and inoffensive way to witness. Checking out Web sites is kind of a social fad right now," says Heidi. Word Sight also teaches traditional home Bible study instruction.

And who can forget God's Diary? Heidi's summary of biblical salvation is available at Word Sight, along with 14 study options, including "Question and Answer" and "Study Prophecy." A short description of each study option is available on the Web site's "About" page. The Web site also features study guides on topics such as death, baptism, Creation, and the unpardonable sin.

In the Works
Of the five interactive options Word Sight features, two are still in the works. The other three-prayer ministry, worship group locator, and newsroom-are in operation. Elements for the forum and the chat room are in place, but the Word Sight team is waiting for God to provide volunteers to manage those areas. They are also hoping to band with Encouragement Ministries (www.beencourageddaily.net) to assist in managing their prayer ministry.

Amazingly enough, all of Word Sight's services are free. You are charged if you order the hard-copy book edition of God's Diary or if you purchase the Leader's Guide for the in-home God's Diary Bible overview study.
But if Word Sight's services are free and Heidi works full-time on Word Sight, how does she get paid?

"One of the faith aspects of beginning Word Sight was the issue of funding," Heidi admits. "When I finally put Him on the spot to let me know if it was His will that I establish this ministry, I opened my Day-Timer and said, 'If You want me to do this full-time, You will need to provide a place for me to live and food to eat by September.' He did, and He has continued to provide all along."

Heidi's eight-member board and support team are also on volunteer stipends. Her teammates are John and Julia Darrow, Merton and Sandra Vincent, Dennis and Lucia Dexter, Crystal Woods, Gary Chythlook, and her brother, Palmer Halvorson.

The team began tracking hits on the Web site in 1999; since then, Word Sight has been hit 3,836,420 times. "The number that I like to watch is the number of distinct hosts we have served," says Heidi. "That number indicates how many individuals have visited Word Sight; at this point we have 89,846 individual visitors." (A hit indicates the number of items on the Web page that have been requested; thus, an individual site visitor may have 40 or 50 hits in one visit.)

Heidi and her team have heard back from several people whose lives have been touched because of the Web site. One couple, Bob and Sue from Illinois, e-mailed Word Sight this spring. They had been searching for a church for several years and had stumbled onto Word Sight. Through the Web site they watched all of the Kenneth Cox evangelistic meetings in their home. Having been convicted of the seventh-day Sabbath about three years before, they decided to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They wrote the Word Sight team hoping they could locate an Adventist church nearby. Using the Web site's church locator (called worship group locator), the team found a church just five blocks from Bob and Sue's home!

Branching Out
Word Sight's ministry has branched into several areas. Through a series of providential meetings and generous donations, a hard-copy book edition of God's Diary was published by Remnant Publications in May 2001. The book can be purchased on the Web site.

Also in 2001, Word Sight began conducting its own seminars. Heidi conducts two seminars; the focal point of each is to inspire a passion for Jesus Christ and for reading His Word. The "Welcome to the Word" seminar is designed to teach laymembers, pastors, and anyone interested how to use God's Diary and Word Sight in home evangelism, church revival, and unity study. Heidi's second seminar, "For the Love of the Text," focuses on the Bible itself. In Heidi's words it spans "Genesis to Revelation, bringing its message alive through culture, history, geography, and anthropology.

"I hope to add more seminar topics, including an evangelistic series, in the future," says Heidi.

"[This] entire experience has been a mysterious adventure and a real test of faith," says Heidi as she looks back on the Lord's leading.

Since its beginning Heidi's objectives for herself, for the Web site, and for those it may reach have never waned. "[I hope that the people will get to] know Jesus-intimately-on a practical, authentic level. I want them to know that He-God-is the hero; He is the good guy in the Old Testament and in our world today. I want them to know that He is there for them right now in any situation they face, [that He gives them] exactly what they need to come through it with peace, power, and ultimate success. I want all of us to fall passionately and eternally in love with Jesus."

Inspired by Heidi's love for Christ, Word Sight--like a web, on the Web--continues to grow.

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Amanda Sauder is a junior journalism and marketing major at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. She wrote this while a summer intern at the Adventist Review