Last weekend, my wife went back to visit our old church which we left 10 months ago (well, not really that church, but those that were left after the merger with another local church...but anyway...). It was nice to see the familiar faces and visit, but it was affirmation that we did indeed make the right decision to move on.

After the service, one of the women pulled me aside and asked for my forgiveness. She said that in my time as a worship leader, she often overlooked my servant's heart to fill a need that the church had because she didn't feel that my talents were up to snuff, and upon reflecting on it, she was sorry for doing so (ah, the backhanded compliment...I may not be a concert quality musician, but enjoy playing my guitar and singing). I simply told her not to worry about it and forgave her.

But it did remind me that, even though others may not praise our efforts, if we are serving in a role that God has called us to, He will smile upon us. Heck, so many times I could play through a worship set that I didn't even realize, or care, if anyone else was there. It was just a time to praise him.

So, even if we silently serve as God's web workers and nobody ever acknowledges it, make your commitment to Him be know and do your best, and He will smile upon you as well.

Normally, I try to stick to information directly related to church website design, but from time to time I like to hilight other uses to technology churches are using to reach out to the world.

Today, I came across a very cool article on ESPN today about how a number of German churches are looking to appeal to soccer fans by showing World Cup games in their buildings. Not only that, but the churches in communities where games are being held will be holding services in the languages of the countries playing there that day. Talk about trying to appeal to the masses.

While the article does raise some concerns being made by observers, the general idea is a great way to get people in the door. Once people come and find a friendly environment, they are more likely to come back and hear what you have to say about God. As always, any good relationship is built upon a solid friendship. And if that friendship is built upon soccer, then there is nothing wrong with that.

There are some times when I work really hard for something at our church, and then nobody says anything about it, especially with our website. I did a complete redesign of our site last month to make it more functional and professional looking, but hardly anyone said a word.

I'm sure some of the same for most of you. Us church webmasters toil away to make the best sites we can, and if nobody recognizes it, it can make it hard to keep putting the same kind of effort and energy into the work. This occurs despite the fact that we know that we aren't striving for recognition of our work, but to do our part in God's work and His ultimate glory.

It can be a tough walk at times, but it is at these times that we must reflect on the words of God:

Joshua 1:9
...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Keep doing what you're called to be doing! Even if nobody ever says a peep, but you are doing your work inline with God's will, you will be rewarded. And if you do get some compliments, just take them as encouragement to keep up your strength in your work.

Remember: God Is Priority #1

No worries...I'm still here. I've been out for a bit thanks to my wife, who brought me with her to San Diego while she attended a conference of the American Association of Neurological Nurses. You may be thinking "lucky guy", and you'd be right, but it did get me thinking...

While in San Diego, already known as a conference hotbed, I was just amazed at the number of conferences going on out there. I counted at least 5 different ones over a 3 day stay, with hundreds, if not thousands, attending each one. Why are these people meeting? Sure, some are there for the trip, but for the most part it is an opportunity to exchange knowledge with peers.

Now, a few years ago I attended a conference on worship that was held nearby, thanks to the funding from my church. We're only a small church, but they recognized that I was a relatively new worship leader and that I could use the guidance. So I got a chance to go out and learn from a number of other worship leaders over two days, including Paul Baloche and Israel Haughton, and it was a great experience that really helped me to grow in that area of my ministry.

Now, I was wondering if we needed something similar in the area of web ministry. Are our online efforts any less important than the worship efforts of the church? Of course not, especially as the usage of the internet in daily life continues to grow. Also, I know that 1 Corinthians 12:14-27 applies here because we all have different skills and talents when it comes to web programming, design, and management techniques. We all could learn something from one another to make the whole stronger.

So, I have to ask: If we were able to put together some kind of conference for church webmasters would you be interested in attending? Would an association that provided a regular newsletter of useful tools, tricks and reviews interest you? Let me know below in the comments section, and if it does interest you, pass the word along and have them let me know as well!

Yea, you just read that right. And, yes, this is a Christian site!

Over the weekend, I read a lot of blog articles that linked to a church website that prominently features scripture from Luke 4:7, where Satan is speaking to Jesus. Now, I'm going to allow that church to save face and not point them out directly, but I would like to use this as an example of what not to do. As the person in charge of content on your church website, it also becomes your responsibility to use proper biblical context.

Now, last week I posted a story about the Ten Best E-Ministy Practices, with one of them being "Do your best, then post it", saying that in today's internet, errors are ok because they can be fixed. Today, I want to emphasize that statement, but constrain it to typographical and grammatical errors. These errors occur and shouldn't impact the nature of the content you are trying to convey. However, misleading biblical reference and using scripture out of context can have a long-lasting impact. Once people see an example of biblical illiteracy, it can be really hard to live down. It takes away the authority of the local church, and reflects poorly on the church as a whole.

So, while mistakes are sure to be made, do your best to demonstrate your church as biblically literate on your website. While doing so may not lead to many noticable benefits, not doing so will lead to numerous detractions.

When Jesus preached to the world during his time on earth, he almost always preached in large venues, where as many as possible could come and hear the Truth of the Lord. He didn't hide his teachings in a dark corner of the city hoping people would stumble across them, but he put the message forth to as broad an audience as possible.

While there are many lessons to learn as a church webmaster, none is harder than establishing your church's voice on the internet. But with so much going on in the world wide web, this is often a difficult task. We need to find as many ways as possible to make our church website as easy to find as possible. Otherwise, our sites will just continue to hide among all the commotion and not be effective outreach tools.

So, how do we make our sites easy to find?

• Put your church website on all printed materials that your church distributes. It should be as important to your church as the phone number. Think of it as your online calling card.
  
• Take some time to read up on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The more easily someone can find your website through a search, the more likely they are to come across your online outreaches.
• Network with other churches. If your church regularly collaborates with other local churches with outreaches and other activities, you may want to exchange links to each others sites. In time, you may develop a strong online community as well and strengthen one another in the process.
• Join directories of churches. If your church is affiliated with a denomination, then chances are that the denominations site hosts a directory of affiliated churches and their contact information, including their websites and e-mails. You probably also want to look at other directories where you commonly search for information, or just generally search the web for where a listing for your church might fit in.