Church Web Sites

Right now we're working on updating our church website. Before we spend the money, though, we are trying to determine what we want our site to accomplish. My thoughts are that it should simply give basic information about our church, show ways to find out more, and the home page should communicate no more than 3 opportunities for visitors to our site. The overall site should be focused on non-members, especially on the home page, with click-throughs to more member-specific content.
Not everyone shares that same idea, though. I know some people want it to always have 4 main items on the home page, even if they are not current opportunities. I know other people want it to talk about current events, whether or not they are available opportunities. Case in point - I was told to put something up on the student ministry camp trip coming up this week. Registration has been closed for several months, so it is listed as a way to pray for our students. I think that's great, but don't want to see it on the home page.
I just think the home page should be reserved for basic information for visitors, and should be laid out as simply as is feasible. Hopefully, I'll win. JM

Website Update

My wife and I got a website when we first got married. The idea was for us to stay in touch with family and friends while we went through seminary and so that I could learn basic web design. I never went to seminary and never learned anything about web development, but we kept the site, primarily just to hang on to the name and to post some random pictures.
We never updated it, though, and it quickly became obsolete. So now it's a blog that will be updated on a fairly frequent basis by my wife. It should contain her thoughts, maybe some of my thoughts, and hopefully some pictures of our family, with a heavy emphasis on our kids.
Check it out. JM