Crayons for Jesus started as a devotional journal originally entitled Daily Inspiration on January 19, 2002. Rebeckah Reader began the journal on a popular teen site in an attempt to have accountability for her own walk with God. Each entry offered a passage of the Bible, random trivia, and a place for prayer requests of subscribers to be listed. As time progressed, the subscribers increased as did the quality of content.

Rebeckah abandoned and re-tried the journal off and on several times. Over the course of the years it was not uncommon for an entry to not be written for months. It wasn’t until May 9, 2002 did Rebeckah begin adding her own interpretations of verses. Randomly, she wrote her interpretations but usually only reposted inspirational stories. July of 2002 was the first month where an entry was posted every single day and the format became a little more consistent.

On July 21, 2002, Rebeckah changed the name of the journal to Crayons for Jesus as she realized that everyone has a purpose and she felt the journal was hers. The format of the became a verse of the day, a prayer, and any random inspirational stories, songs, or bible facts. By the end of the month the journal boasted 30 subscribers.

Over the course of the next four years, Rebeckah would struggle emotionally and spiritually. The journal would have periods of great strength and then it would abruptly stop for months at a time. For a time, the format reverted back to a simple copy and paste of inspirational stories. Constant defeat, fear, depression, and uncertainty prevented Rebeckah from truly experiencing a walk with God or writing in her journal.

After another failed attempt at life without God, Rebeckah reached out in desperation in December of 2006. After realizing she truly didn’t know as much as she thought or had a handle on how relationships with God or others worked she cried out for understanding and truth. What started as another attempt to ‘get back on the horse’ turned into a life changing journey and the revitalization of Crayons for Jesus.

As Rebeckah grew in Christ and after her heart had been opened to exactly what a relationship with God was truly about, her desire for her journal changed from simple accountability to a ministry designed to share the joy, peace, hope, strength, and wisdom she had been shown with everyone. In the span of a few weeks, Rebeckah felt she had learned more than she had in all of her years before. A desire to help others find the true love and live a true life in Christ became her passion.

In late January, Rebeckah decided to convert her writings over the past five years into a book in an attempt to reach more people. The journal grew by 11 in only a few weeks and boasted 83 subscribers by mid-march. After being approached by several people with questions of just how to have a relationship with Christ and just what that meant she felt an urgency to share the discoveries she‘d made by God‘s grace in late February. Rebeckah had about 116 pages compiled with over 100 different writings in her book but felt more needed to be done.

After struggling with the logical order of such a book, the overall goals, and the struggle of trying to meet the urgent need for intimacy and guidance she felt her new subscribers had, Rebeckah needed some answers from God as to what to do.

After several weeks of prayer and petition, an idea popped into her head around 2 a.m. that the fastest, most effective, and most logical way to accomplish her goals of reaching people was to expand her ministry from a simple journal to a full-fledged website. God led her to believe that it was time for more growth. She began to feel limited by a simple posting each day and wanted to share more than just a verse a day, she wanted to share the entire truth. She felt there were very few devotional sites aimed specifically for teens and college-aged young adults and with past web building experience felt equipped to take on the challenge.

Her ministry’s goal turned from simply helping Christians in their daily walk to include a goal of showing people how to start that daily walk.  Rebeckah felt there needed to be more places and resources for people just starting their walk to become truly grounded in Christ. Rebeckah announced her decision on March 25, 2007 to friends online and in her Christian fellowship group.

After six months of coding and creating content, Crayons for Jesus was launched officially on January 20, 2008. Its goal is to provide encouraging truths and to share the blessings and revelations God's word produces.

Crayons for Jesus has undergone a lot of changes and its history is still being written. As ideas and God’s plans are formulated and realized in the minds of the staff, content will continue to be added. All of Crayons for Jesus’ goals and desires are detailed in the Mission Statement.