Celebrating 20 Years at Commission Creative! 🎉 🥳
6 months ago • News • 2min read
This month (October 2023), Commission Creative will celebrate its’ 20th year in business!
A few things come to mind as I reflect on the company’s 20-year history.
First, I am incredibly thankful for God’s blessings and favor on the company. When Jason and I started the company in 2003, we wanted to use the skills God gave us to make a difference in His Kingdom by creating professional materials with a missionaries’ budget in mind. Over the years, it has been evident that our success is because of His provision and not simply our efforts.
Next, I am incredibly thankful to our customers and partner organizations who have believed in and supported us over the last two decades. Thank you for trusting us with your fundraising and communication materials. We are honored to be your design team and to create excellent materials to share your ministry work.
Finally, I would like to thank our current and former team members who used their creative talents to serve our customers so well, with a special shout-out to my fellow co-founder Jason Nill who helped build and run Commission Creative for 15 years.
I am fascinated by how a company begins and grows, so below are some highlights of our story.
AARON VAN GORP
Co-founder
Commission Creative
Company History
2003
Jason Nill and Aaron Van Gorp, two MKs, started Missions Linked as a side hustle to help missionaries share their newsletters online and design prayer cards for them. We’re pretty sure we made the first site in Adobe GoLive. 😆
2004
Missions Linked launched the Jumbo Prayer Card. It was a new size between a business card and a postcard that remains our best-selling card. It was later renamed to the Medium Prayer Card after we started selling larger cards and it was no longer Jumbo.
2005
We rented our first office space, a small 10 x 12 space in Springfield, Missouri.
2007
We outgrew our second office space and purchased a beautiful 100-year-old historic home. It had so much character and not so many level floors.
2009
We launched an e-commerce website for complete online ordering.
2013
In cooperation with ISMK, the MK ministry of our parents’ sending organization, we launched our MK Alumni Visual Arts Scholarship to support MKs studying visual arts. To date, we’ve donated $10,000 to the next generation of MKs who are learning to use their creative talents to share the Gospel.
2016
To align our name with our commitment to serving missionaries carrying out the Great Commission, we rebrand as Commission Creative. Plus, we got tired of spelling Linked on the phone… 😅
2019
After a seamless transition to remote work thanks to our beloved project management system, we became a fully remote company.
2023
We reached the milestone of 20 years in business while serving over 3,000 customers.