I believe it was the slam of a large piece of plywood falling 2 some-odd stories onto other lumber that rudely awoke me at 7:40 AM this Thanksgiving morning. An no, I couldn’t go back to sleep as the hum of a noisy air compressor placed precisely next to the property line driving the pneumatic [...]
Posts under ‘Theology’
Study reminds us why we’re always fixing our pastor’s PCs
“According to Pew, almost half of adults said they needed someone to help them set up or learn how to use their gadgets. Once they finally get them going, however, things aren’t all smooth sailing—44 percent of adults with home Internet connections reported service failure sometime in the last 12 months.”
With apologies to Ars Technica’s [...]
Follow-up: bad church web design inspired by bad theology
Judging from the feedback on my last post – I’ve either let you down or built you up. To those who were critical, thank you for your honest comments in love. It is always welcome. To those who sent private form-feedback, I’m glad I was able to encourage you. To those confused – I think I need this follow-up post to clarify some points.
5 things we can learn from the Winston-Salem Hampton-Inn Toaster Czar
This weekend, I ran into an elderly gentleman whom appointed himself the ‘Toaster Czar’ in a fashion similar to the infamous ‘Soup Nazi’ of Jerry Seinfeld fame. I made the mistake leaving my bagel momentary unattended to go get coffee while trying to enjoy the complimentary breakfast at the Hampton Inn Winston-Salem-I-40/Hanes Mall. Here are 5 things your church and/or charity webmaster can learn from this experience:
Is Church marketing dead? Nope, just stuck on stupid!
There’s no getting around it, despite the efforts of many to teach, rebuke, correct & train in righteous web design, there still exists a great cloud of witlessness when it comes to the Church’s presence online. A fact painfully corroborated by the persistent body of ‘kitsch‘ out there that distracts, annoys and otherwise drives-away people seeking and/or serving the Lord.
5 Things Eight Belles and Church Webmasters have in common
Last night while listening to various speculations as why the horse that ‘placed’ at the Kentucky Derby was put down, my mind drifted to 5 things Eight Belles has in common with many church webmasters I know, including …
Signs and blunders: legibility and the marquee on the church front lawn
Like Mark Pilgrim, I too live in Apex, NC; “the peak of good living.” I know this because that message is proudly and conspicuously displayed on both water towers. A lesson in good old fashioned marketing if ever there were one: make it large enough and simple enough so someone driving by can read [...]
XML v. JSON and the Pizza Delivery Model
Software services – such as on demand sermons – is like pizza delivery, it’s all about WHAT the customer receives and less about HOW the product was made and conveyed. I think that’s a point lost on many of the vendors and speakers here at the XML 2007 Conference.
10 Things an Effective Church Website can do for You
As I peruse the great cloud of witlessness that is the Body online, I find one of the primary problems afflicting many sites is vision. That is I often find those responsible for delivering the goods don’t really see their site as much more than an online color brochure. As a result, more often than not, very little staff and/or funds are allocated to the church’s web presence past the server, the domain name and perhaps a content management service.
A comparison of 6 common website navigation methods
Below is my take on a case study comparing 6 common navigational methods by the Usability Professionals Association including among them Rollover, Flash, and Flyout menus I often see ‘crufting-up’ various church and/or charity websites. The results, while not surprising to me, may sober-up others drunk with GUI gadgetry:
Too cool for Old School – Sonrise Baptist Church Newnan, GA
I don’t care how cool your seeker-centric, Flash-based church website is, if an individual can’t find it with a typical search engine query, then all that energy in actionscript and video production is lost. Take for example a new resident seeking a place to worship with this simple query: ‘baptist church newnan georgia’ … the result is everything but the overly-slick and entirely unsearchable church website for the Sonrise Baptist Church of Newnan, GA. With that, let’s get into our fast-five analysis:
Why Christians Should Have Nothing To Do With Snowmobiles
7 reasons why snowmobiles are sinful, or a comic-serious example of foolish arguments often used to “prove” that certain things are “worldly” by Norman Street.
