Many church websites are outdated in both it’s design and it’s content. Why? Many times it’s because the church website is done by volunteers or by someone who knows very little about web design.  However, there is no excuse today for an outdated, poor looking website.  You may argue that your church has no money or no one with experience.  Well, WordPress has enabled people with no web design skills to create a good looking church website easily and affordably.

Here are the easy steps to create a church website using WordPress.  Let’s get started…

Free Web Hosting (if needed)

First, you will want to purchase web hosting, and I have good news.  If you are a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, Dreamhost.com offers you free web hosting.  If you are unfamiliar with web hosting, it is basically the place were your website is stored and made available to the world via the internet.  To make things simpler, you will want to have a hosting plan that already has WordPress installed.  If you like to do things yourself, you can install wordpress on your web server by following these easy steps from WordPress.com. I did this for my blog and it was fairly simple.

WordPress Theme

The next step is to choose a WordPress theme.  There are thousands of WordPress themes out there. I’ve listed some here that could work for a church website.  You will have to choose a theme that fits your church’s style, budget, and needs.

Outreach WordPress Theme – StudioPress.com

Moses WordPress Theme - ChurchThemer.com

Micah WordPress Theme – MintThemes.com

WP Church WordPress Theme – Themeforest.net

Antioch WordPress Theme – ChurchThemes.net

Install WordPress Theme

Once you’ve downloaded/purchased the theme, you need to install it in WordPress.  It’s very simple.  Log into your wordpress control panel ( www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin/ ) then go to the “Appearance” tab, click “Themes”, then click the “Install Themes” tab, and click “Upload”.  Simply, “Choose file” and locate the theme you’ve downloaded, “Install Now”, and that’s it.

Customize Your WordPress Theme

Every theme is created a little bit different, but all themes will allow you to customize your theme from the control panel.  For instance, I tried out the theme from churchthemer.com, it  allowed me to add my logo, upload sermons, add online giving, create a contact form, and much more.  You will need to follow the instructions for your particular theme to customize the look.  However, the beauty of WordPress is the simplicity.  Updating the theme for your church will not require some special knowledge of web design.  If you know how to use your computer, you should be able to update your WordPress theme to represent your church and our Savior well.

So now you are ready to create a good looking church website that can be updated by your cousin, aunt, 80 year old secretary, or anyone else you choose. Your excuse is now gone…go create a good looking church website!

I’d love to hear from you. Do you know of other good themes?  Do you use WordPress for your church or ministry?  Any suggestions? Let me know!

“Is it worth it?” Have you ever asked that question? If you work with the media of the church, you undoubtedly have asked that questions before. The church graphics are not produced in minutes. Videos for your ministry are usually not produced in a day or two. Websites are not created in a night. Creating media for a church or ministry is not an easy or a quick task.

Maybe you can relate with this, it’s 3:00a.m. in the morning, you are on your 4th all-nighter in a row, and you are running on coffee, energy drinks, or a combination of both. You feel like giving up, and you ask the question (either to yourself or those you are with)…”Is it worth it?” Is it worth the sleep deprivation? Is it worth the neglect to other parts of your life? You haven’t really seen your family in days, except as you are coming and going…Is it worth it? Is this video/website/design really worth it? Before you answer that, I’d like you to read a few testimonies of how God has used church media to influence and/or change people’s lives in ministries around the country.

Seemingly forever ago (2007), I began drafting and engineering First Baptist Church’s first full-featured website. In spite of being in the Age of Information, our web presence was lacking and needed life support. Single and arrested by eagerness and ambition, I began sprinting 110 miles-an-hour. There were many days I spent countless hours late at night meticulously designing, coding, debugging, and learning and living on one meal a day with a few hours of sleep. These kinds of days became weeks and weeks became months. Soon enough, this website started to feel like a never-ending project. The more I progressed, the more I realized I had more to do.

Frustration crept in, and on occasion I’d ask myself, “Why am I doing this? Is this even worth my time? This church has been around for 100 years with no website. No one’s even gonna care!” However, I kept plugging away.

A few hundred hours later, I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The website went live and things haven’t been the same ever since. I came to realize over the next several months that hundreds and sometimes thousands of people every week depend on our website to be encouraged, get updated, and hear and watch the Word of God preached during our weekly services and yearly conferences such as Pastors’ School and Youth Conference. Through our website, tens of thousands and maybe even hundreds of thousands of people have heard the Gospel, been encouraged and infused, made life-changing decisions, and been influenced and touched by God and His Word. The countless hours of work, the sleepless nights, the ramen noodles for dinner…

It was worth it. It was worth it.

Jonathan Suh
First Baptist Church – Hammond, IN

I will always remember the first full-length book Pastor Sexton asked me to help him design and produce. When he told me that he wanted to begin producing books on a regular basis, I remember being rather overwhelmed. I remember how helpless I felt as I did not have any experience in producing a book. I really wanted to help Pastor accomplish his vision of producing this book by putting on paper what he had envisioned in his mind. With a heart to help the pastor, I dove in head-first.

As with any project, there were many revisions and many other technical bumps in the road, but God had given Pastor the desire to produce this and other Sunday School material to be a help to others––I wanted to be a part of it all. Of course, there were moments when I wondered if it would come to pass, but with the Lord’s help, the first of many full-length books was produced. Now, these many years later, I look back on that time and am truly grateful to God for the opportunity to be involved in helping the pastor accomplish what God had given him to do.

All of us in the Lord’s work need to remember that no task is too small, and that, if God has given us something to do for Him, it is worth the labor. Being in the work of the Lord is wonderful and it is sometimes easy to get weary in the work, but we must never be weary of the work. God not only knows the work we are doing, but also the labor that is involved. IT IS WORTH IT!!!

Stephen Troell
Temple Baptist Church – Knoxville, TN
(Currently on deputation to the Mission Field)

We created a video about the bus ministry for our national Pastors’ Conference. We wanted to encourage people not give up on the bus ministry. Many people have given up on this ministry, thinking it no longer works. We spent weeks gathering the testimonies, pictures, videos, and music for the video. As the conference approached we spent many all-nighters working on the video. We literally lived off coffee.

At times we were very frustrated with the progress of the video, but God brought it all together at the last minute. After we showed the video, we were amazed at how God used it. Scores of churches have asked to show it in their church. We have had churches that contacted us saying they started a bus ministry after watching the video. Many bus workers have said they wept through the entire video, because they were wanting to quit but realized the bus ministry still works. While we were working on the video, it didn’t seem like it was worth it. However, God used (and is still using) the video for His glory.

North Valley Baptist Church Media Team – Santa Clara, CA
www.busministryworks.com

I have a folder in my Mail app that is filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of emails from people all over the world, who have been helped and blessed by the media ministry of North Valley Baptist Church. That is not a testimony to me, but rather a testimony to the fact that God can and will use the project you are working on.

Remember, you are not working on that church media project so people will be impressed at your skill, but rather to bring honor and glory to God. So, the next time it’s 3:00a.m., you’re about to give up, and you ask, “Is it worth it?” Pray and ask God for strength and wisdom…then answer the questions, “Yes!”

Can you relate? I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or testimonies. Share them below so others can be encouraged as well.

Think about these stats for evangelizing the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ…

If Christians had their own country, they would be the third largest.

Someone becomes a Christian every second.

There are more Bible preachers than the entire population of Sweden, Israel, Greece, Chile, North Korea, and Australia.

167 million people regularly watch Bible teaching or preaching online.

A recent revival saw 20 million people saved in 24 days.

As you might have guessed, the above stats are not true.  Below are the actual stats.

If Facebook were their own country, they would be the third largest.

Someone joins LinkedIn, every second.

There are more people following Justin Bieber on Twitter than than the entire population of Sweden and Israel. If you added Lady Gaga and Brittany Spears’ twitter followers there would be more people than in Greece, Chile, North Korea, and Australia.

Over 167 million people watched the infamous “Rebecca Black Friday” video on Youtube.com.  2 billion videos are viewed on Youtube every day!

20 million people joined the new social network, Google +, in just 24 days.

These stats were convicting and challenging to me as I read them. Social Media is changing the way we interact with others and communicate.  It’s removing geographic barriers. Social media had a key role in seeing dictators overthrown in countries like Egypt.  So, why can’t we use social media to help reach this world for Christ?  The tools to evangelize the world are at our disposal more than ever.  We can literally reach this world for Christ…from our computer.  I’m not downplaying the role of people physically going out and reaching others.  I am, however, challenged to pray for wisdom and ideas on how to use technology to reach this world with the life-changing message of the Gospel.

Consider this, 25 billion tweets were sent in 2010…I wonder how many prayers were prayed in 2010 for world evangelism?  Would you pray for wisdom and power to reach this world?  I would love to hear your thoughts below.  Do you have an idea on how we can use social media and technology to reach the lost?  Leave a comment below.

*Social media stats are from Socialnomics

Working for a church is incredible. I get to work on things that matter for eternity. I also get to work on many things at once.  I have the privilege of overseeing all the media for the North Valley Baptist Church. This includes the graphic design, web, and video for the ministry.  I have 56 items on my to-do list now, ranging from book cover designs to website redesigns.  Thankfully, I have 3 incredibly talented guys that work for me.  Long ago, I tried to manage all my tasks on a running Word document.  That didn’t work out to well.  I needed something that I could access anywhere, and something that makes it easy to assign tasks to workers and/or volunteers.

I have found some great tools that have helped to keep all my tasks organized.  I’m sure there are many other great tools, but here are 2 that I’ve used and have really helped.  I think they could be a help to you as well.  If you use something else, please share it in the comments.

1.  37 Signal’s Basecamp

I used the free version for a couple years.  The free version was enough for me.  With it, you can only have one project, but you can have multiple to-do lists which I used as multiple projects.  I liked the fact that everyone in my office could see all the tasks on the to-do list and see what’s assigned to them.  You can also assign due dates with the tasks.  When I assigned a task to someone, they received an email notification.  It was very easy to see all that needed to be done, and who was assigned to what task.  Because it is web based, you can check your tasks or add a task anywhere with internet access.  There are also quite a few iPhone applications made for Basecamp.

Basecamp's to-do list (The tasks on here are old since I stopped using Basecamp)

2.  Behance’s Action Method

I switched a few months ago to Action Method.  Although it costs $99 a year (I got it for around $60/year because we are a non-profit).  I think it was well worth the money.  There are many things I like about Action Method. Here are a couple of reasons I like it better.

First of all, great intuitive design – The design for the iPhone application and the online application is very simple, yet robust and powerful.  You can color code your tasks (action items).  I usually use the color orange for web tasks, gray for video, and blue for design and miscellaneous action items. The layout of the application is very easy to navigate.  You can sort your action items by date, person or by project.

Second, I like the fact it is available online, on my iPhone, and also available as an Adobe Air Application.  The Air app acts just like a normal application.  I keep it open most of the time, and I always have it handy.

Some other great features include the ability to send send “appreciation” or a “nag” to team members.  It also warns you when you have a task overdue.  I don’t like the fact that it is not easy for everyone in office to see all the action items.  (I like it if they get done with a project and have time, they can start on another project that is yet assigned to anyone.)  Another downside, everyone on the team must use Action Method often. Someone may miss a task assigned to them, if they don’t check Action Method often.  Overall, it’s a great tool and I would highly recommend it.

Here is a screen shot of my Action Method

Action Method for iPhone

There are many other features to both of these tools including discussion boards, uploading images or files, chat, etc.  This post is just a quick overview of these powerful tools.  Check out their website for more information.  So, what program do you use for your to-do list?  What do you like about it?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.

I don’t know of anyone that uses the yellow pages anymore.  You may, but I don’t.  Everyone I know uses google or other search engines to find things.  Many churches know this and have built websites so prospective church visitors can find them.  Perhaps, you have paid for someone to create a website, took the time to create it yourself, or you may have used a template to design it.  So, what now?  You have a website, but does anyone even know it’s there?  Even more importantly, does anyone know your church is there?

According to a recent report there are over 183 million domain names…that’s a whole lot of websites!  Today, I will give you one way to attract prospective visitors to your website and your church.  In future posts, I will list other ways to get your website noticed by google and other search engines.

1.  List your church website RIGHT NOW on Google Local Businesses Center!

This is one of the easiest ways to get prospective visitors to your website and more importantly to your church.  It is very simple.  Go to www.google.com/lbc If you already have a google account, just log in.  If you don’t have a google account, click “sign up now” and follow the easy steps to set up an account.  Now, “Add a new business” and fill out the basic information about your church. You may also upload photos or video of your church to help prospective visitors.  When you are done entering all your information, you will need to validate your listing via phone or mail.  You’re done.  It’s that simple.

This may not seem like much to you, but in the last 26 days people have seen this free listing 1,923 times.  76 of these people clicked for more information on google maps.  90 people saw the listing and requested driving directions to our church.  38 people visited our website from this listing.  I realize that is not a lot of web traffic, but that’s not bad for a free listing that takes a few minutes to set up.  If only half of those who requested driving directions visit, that is still 45 church visitors in less than a month!

Google Local Business Center provides relevant business listing based upon geographic location and search keywords.  For instance, if I search for “church” while in Santa Clara, California, North Valley Baptist Church shows up along with a map of the area.  Google Local Business Center also provides you with free statistics to see helpful information.  For instance, you can see what people search for when they click on your listing.  Also, you can see where people request driving directions from. (see below)  This is a very powerful, free, and easy tool.  So, what are you waiting for? Set it up now!

Do you use Google Local Business Center for your church?  What results have you had?  Do you have any other suggestions on how to get your church noticed online?  I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Google Local Business Center Driving Directions Stats

Google Local Business Center Search Keyword Stats

Michael Moyer

Here are a few of the sites I go to if I need some inspiration.  I do not control, nor can I vouch for everything on these sites. I have found them helpful and clean, and I hope they will be a help to you as well.

CreativeMYK.com - Free Christian graphics for download shared by artists around the world.

MinistryCSS.com – A gallery of CSS websites designed to inspire you.

Kuler.Adobe.com – Colors swatches by a community of people who love colors.

Blog.SpoonGraphics.co.uk – Tutorials and others helpful tips

SmashingMagazine.com – Another website with tutorials, tools, and tips

MiniAjax.com – Code and instructions on how to make your website more dynamic and a richer experience for your visitors

What are some of the websites you go to for inspiration, tutorials, and/or tips?

Michael Moyer

I have enjoyed every year that God has allowed me to go the mission field, but I must say, this was the greatest year yet. God really touched my heart this year. We visited churches, talked to amazing people, preached in public schools, stayed in a rural home in the mountains, and were heartbroken at the leper hospital.  If you would like to view pictures I took from the trip, visit the North Valley Baptist Church Philippines Missions Page. You can also watch the video we made for our Missions Conference entitled, Making a Difference. I pray these will help you to see, YOU can make a difference!

Here is some of the gear that I bring on the Missions Trip.

I have the awesome opportunity to go with our church on the annual missions trip.  I document the whole trip with pictures, a blog and video.  (Check out the Missions trip website – real content will be available on October 6)  It has been an annual trip for me, and I love it!  It is truly a highlight of my year.  I covet your prayers. During the trip, I will take thousands of photos, hours of video, work on daily blog posts for nvbc.org, and have the privilege to preach several times. (This year I’m supposed to preach to a small churches we support and a large public school.)

I have quite a bit of equipment I use to document the amazing work being done by our missionaries in the Philippines.  I’ve accumulated quite a bit of technology/tools in the past 5 years of going on this trip.  This is more or less my checklist for this year’s tech equipment.  I would love to hear what you use or any suggestions.  Also, follow the trip on the Missions Trip website. I would love to read your comments!  Here’s my list of tech equipment for this year’s trip:

1.  MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with Snow Leopard)

Aperture on MacBook Pro

• Apple Aperture - I love editing my RAW images with Aperture.  I love the fact I can quickly edit my photos in full screen.  Time is of an essence.  Many times in the back of a jeepney or truck I’ll be editing my photos.  Thank God for Aperture…I would really hate for you to see my images before I use Aperture on them.
• Adobe Photoshop – After Editing my photos in Aperture I save them as jpg.  I then run a script to convert them to the right size and write the xml for my Slideshow Pro photo gallery.  I also quickly edit a few other images to add to the blog page and the photo page.
• Adobe Dreamweaver – I actually do not use WordPress (like this website) for the missions website.  I created it from scratch in Dreamweaver, since it will only document about 10 days of travel, this works out just fine.
• There are other programs I use along the trip, but the above software I use most frequently.

2.  Nikon D200 – The D200 is a phenomenal camera. It’s quick (5 frames per second), durable (magnesium alloy body), has a large viewfinder and is an overall great camera. (Here are some photos from last year – make sure and check out this year’s when they become available)

• Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 Lens – I take the majority of my photos with this lens.  This is a great lens for the price.  I love the shallow depth of field with this lens.  It is a great overall lens.
• Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 DX Fisheye Lens – I won’t use this very often, but this is a great fisheye lens for large crowds or small rooms where I want to get everyone in the picture.  You should definitely be able to tell which photos are taken with this lens.
• Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G – This is a decent lens, and I use it when I need to get closeups outside with plenty of light.

3.  Panasonic HVX-200 – I’ve really enjoyed shooting video with this beast.  It’s not compact at all, but takes great video.  At times, my back does not appreciate this camera.  I carry it in my backpack until I need to shoot video.  I try not to carry to much equipment out in the open.  Most of the time, I just have a camera out.  I’ve been using the Panasonic to take SD video (using MiniDV tapes) the past few years, and I thought I would finally be able to shoot some HD using my new P2 Cards.  However, I did not realize when I purchased the P2 Card that it doesn’t work with Snow Leopard.  So, I may once again be shooting in SD…oh, well.

• Sennheiser Evolution G2 100 Series Lapel Mic and Receiver – I use this to record audio for interviews.
• Panasonic P2 Card - I don’t want to talk about this.  I’m still a bit bitter that I just bought it and it doesn’t work with Snow Leopard!  Really though, my fault, I should have done the research before hand.

4.  Apple iPhone – This will keep me company on the long flight to and from the Philippines.  I’ve already preloaded it with games, music and video for the looong trip.

• Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones – Special thanks to Carl Harter, I will be in noise cancellation peace on the plane ride.  Carl has graciously lended me his headphones this year.  Good thing too, my Shure in-ear headphones that I usually bring were broken by one of my children during the course of this year….oops.

5.  Apple iPod - I have an old iPod nano for simply playing music, so I don’t use all my battery life of my phone.  This works out great when we are in the middle of nowhere and trying to sleep.  I’ve been able to sleep like a baby while roosters are crowing underneath the hut and people are laughing at us (they find Americans trying to sleep on the bamboo beds quite amusing, I think) thanks to the iPod nano and my Shure headset (may they rest-in-peace).

6.  Apple Airport Express – I use this to create a wireless network in my hotel room so I’m not chained to one area.  This is both good and bad.  Bad, because sometimes I fall asleep trying to work on the comfort of my bed.  If I don’t update the website one day,  you know why.  If possible, I may try to broadcast a live video of the Iloilo Baptist Church with Dr. Rick Martin.  I don’t know if it’s going to be possible, but I’m going to try and create a wireless network to do this.

7.  Flip Mino – This year will be the first time I’ve brought this.  I will use it to shoot video when I don’t have time or the energy to get the Panasonic out of my backpack.

8.  There is a lot of other random things like external hard drives, extra batteries for the laptop, camera, and video camera.  Also, because we break up into 2 groups at times, I will also be bringing a Nikon D100 and a Canon XL1 for the other group.

Well, I hope I didn’t bore you too much with this list.  If nothing else, I have a checklist of what to bring! I once again ask for your prayers, please follow the Philippines Missions Trip online and let me know what you think!

Michael Moyer

In a week and a half, I leave on the annual Missions Trip to the Philippines.  It is always a highlight of my year.  I have the privilege to document the work being done by our missionaries. Every year I take thousands of photos and hours of video.  I post pictures and a description of the days events online every night. (view photos and videos of previous years) Usually, when we return, I have about 2 weeks to complete a 10 minute video.  The way the dates fall this year, I will only have about 3 days before the conference begins and about 5 days before we show the video.  This has prompted me to find ways to create a professional video quickly and to create much of the video before I leave.

I recently found Animoto.com.  They have a very simple service.  You upload pictures or short video clips (or use theirs).  Arrange the pictures and add text.  Then choose a song (or upload your own).  It creates a very professional looking video in minutes.  Check out the short video clip I created in a couple of minutes using their stock video, a couple of my photos and some of my music. Of course, I would have to create much more than this, but this gives you an idea of what can be done quickly.

I think this could be a great help to churches that want to create first class videos/slideshows but don’t have a lot of time to do it.

UPDATE:

Here are 2 videos I create using Animoto, Motion and Final Cut Pro. Can you tell what pieces were done in Animoto?

Disclaimer: If you use the animoto link, you get $5 off and I get a month of free service. I was going to write about this before I knew about the referral program. I love Animoto, and if I could get a month free, I would love it even more.

In the Spring of 2001 North Valley Baptist Church began it’s live streaming video ministry.  We started the ministry for one young man who had cancer and was unable to attend church but desperately wanted to.  We had some brilliant volunteers in our church who set up the whole system.  It has come a long way since then and the video quality of the services are incredible now.  We have spent thousands of dollars on the setup. (read about our live streaming set up) Many churches, however, do not have the technical expertise or the equipment to live stream their services.  What if a small church has sick members who are unable to attend, but has no money to spend on setting up live streaming?  Is there a solution for them?  There is now!

Technology has come a long way since 2001 and there are now free services to live stream your church service. Of course, with any free service, there are drawbacks (like advertisements).  But if you have a situation like we did in 2001 and don’t have the money or technical know how, here are some great solution.

1.  LiveStream.com

LiveStream.com

In literally 5 minutes, I was set up and broadcasting live from livestream.com.  It is very straight forward and simple to broadcast live.  I simply attached my Firewire camera (you can use USB as well) to my computer, clicked “broadcast now”, and clicked “go live”.  I found the interface to be attractive and simple to use.  Below is the live streaming interface.

LiveStream.com Live Streaming Interface

Here is a short clip I recorded while preparing for a session at the National Pastors’ and Workers’ Conference. Notice, the quality is very good. The noise at the beginning is because I was watching live from my other computer and it caused feedback. Because it’s free, there is an ad at the beginning.

10GB of storage is available with the free account, This would be helpful if you want to make past church services available online.

Free Live Streaming from livestream.com

2. Ustream.tv

Ustream.tv

Another free option is Ustream.tv. It took a few more minutes to set up a Ustream.tv account. It wasn’t as simple and straight forward as livestream.com, but there seems to more features available. For instance, it is very easy to set up a poll, add text, and add video to your live stream broadcast. Broadcasting live is very simple, click “broadcast now” and then “start broadcast” and you are up and running.

Ustream's Broadcasting Interface

The advertisements seem to be a bit different than livestream.com. The advertisements are mostly ads overlaying the video (like youtube) as opposed to one commercial at the beginning.

Both livestream.com and Ustream.tv seem to have great quality and are free. I would love to hear what you think. If you have used either company or have any other suggestions, let me know in the comments.

Michael Moyer

Additional resources:

North Valley Baptist Church Live Streaming Video and Archived

How to Set Up Live Streaming for your Church (not free)