This week concludes “Design month”, so we wanted to finish it off with two more of our Template Personalization Service clients. These two churches literally received their new template in the past 2 days and started the personalization a week ago. We are proud to be a part of their ministry.

Faith Lutheran Church

FLC is one of our most recent recipients of our TPS (Template Personalization Service) product. They had chosen the “Travel Portal” template in the building process of their website, using the NE1 Website Builder’s template gallery. They sent us a logo (off of a scanned piece of paper) and provided their own header images. We then graphically embedded them (along with their name and slogan) into the template. The result was a unique website design personalized just for Faith Lutheran Church. Visit their site at http://www.flcnpr.org/.

Druid Hills United Methodist Church

Druid Hills UMC is located in Ocala, Florida. They recently purchased one of OurChurch.Com’s Bundle packages which includes the TPS that we mentioned above. They had chosen the “Worship the Lord” template. They sent us a sketch of their church building to use as the church logo, but then the rest of the design was left up to us. We decided to make the header of the website a little larger so that the logo cold be seen, then we created a dark gray background with some lighting effects to finish it off. Check out their site at http://www.druidhillsocala.org.

In this week’s showcase, we are featuring one site that was actually a winner of a custom header design and another that invested in their own Custom CMS website. We felt that both of these websites were great examples of the possibilities that the NE1 website builder and our Custom CMS products can offer.

Faith Bible Church

Faith Bible Church, located in Libby, Montana, is a “Christ-centered, Bible-teaching church whose mission is exalting Jesus Christ, evangelizing and discipling people in service for Him, and connecting with each other.” They were fortunate enough to be a winner in one of our contests called the “Extreme Makeover OCC Edition.” As the winner of this contest, they received a Custom Header for the template of their choice. They chose to go with a Flash header with rotating images and animated text. You can visit their site at http://www.libbyfbc.org/.

Heritage United Methodist Church

Heritage United Methodist Church is located in Clearwater, Florida. They are a multi-generational community of believers in the United Methodist tradition growing together under the leadership of Jesus Christ. Their primary focus and audience is young families and children. Because of this, they chose to have an “edgier” website design. They also chose to have a second, yet similar design for the Student Ministry section of their website. Two of the favorite features on their website are their “Sermons Online” section, where visitors can stream audio recordings of past sermons from the website, and the event registration software, which allows the church to collect both information and money directly from the website for upcoming events. These are just a couple of the features that keeps their website remarkable and saves them time in the end.

In this week’s showcase, I want to highlight two clients that took advantage of our Template Personalization Service (TPS for short). With the TPS, our NE1 clients can have their chosen template personalized to include their logo, name and slogan embedded into their website as a part of their template.

Syosset Gospel Church

Our first TPS showcase is Syosset Gospel Church, in Syosset, New York. They had chosen our “Amazing” template, but then asked if they could design they could replace the entire image that was at the top of the template. They had sent in 2 different images of an open bible and then asked if we could just add their name and a bible verse to it. We did just that and they were extremely happy with the results. You can visit their website at http://www.syossetgospelchurch.com.

Grace and Truth Ministries

Grace and Truth Ministries is a ministry run by Pastor Marty Dickerson. He has placed several of his teachings and sermons into MP3 format and is using his website to distribute these teachings to the public for free. Pastor Dickerson did not have a logo to use, so what we decided to do is design the title of the organization in a way that would represent a logo. The “Heavens” template was chosen and we used a beautiful script font to represent God’s beauty and the wonder of His grace. The end result came out very nice. Feel free to visit pastor Dickerson’s site at http://www.gracereigns.org/.

What do you think?

With February being Website Design Month, we decided to let you into the “inside” and feature a few of our recent clients that hired OurChurch.Com to design either part or all of their website. This week we are featuring 2 different school websites. An NE1 Website and a Custom CMS Website.

Paradise Leadership Christian Academy

Paradise Leadership University is an academy in Jacksonville, AR that partners with universities, churches and seminary institutions to develop well-round youth that will excel as 21st century leaders.

They currently have only a summer program, but plan to start a year-round program in 2014.

They hired OurChurch.Com to create a Custom Header for their NE1 Website. You can visit their site at http://www.paradisechristianleadershipacademy.org/.

College of Christian Studies at Anderson University

The College of Christian Studies is a department of Anderson University, located in Anderson, SC. They offer programs that emphasize practical ministry training for a new generation of Kingdom leaders. Anderson University is an accredited university affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

While being a part of the college, they decided to create a separate website than the website that Anderson University already had. They were looking for a professional look, but with a “grunge” twist to be more appealing to their target audience: High School Seniors.

Their site not only includes a custom design, but many other features such as a custom forms feature, Twitter widget, and more.

You can visit their website at http://www.auministry.com.

Here is another organization that is doing a great job with the design of their website.  Today, we’re featuring Heritage United Methodist Church.

Located in Clearwater, FL, Heritage United Methodist Church is a multi-generational community of believers in the United Methodist tradition growing together under the leadership of Jesus Christ. The custom Pro Website package that they have with OurChurch.Com has enabled them to serve their members and community by posting their sermons on their website, connecting people with areas to serve within the church, and serving their community through Kairos Prison Ministry and other community needs. They also have had OCC create a separate design for the part of their website dedicated to their Lighthouse Student Ministry. This gives their youth a section of the website with a different look that they better identify with and one that they can call their own.

Take a look at this video in which the Heritage UMC staff share their thoughts on their website.

If you’d like to talk with some at OurChurch.Com about web design options that can help you better achieve your mission online, read more about our web design services and request a free phone consultation.

What do you think about the design of the Heritage United Methodist Church website and how it’s helping them achieve their mission online?

Santa Maria Del Mar Catholic church is located in Flagler Beach, Florida. They are an active community that serves local residents, community, and hundreds of visitors every year. Their mission is to commit themselves to living the Four Pillars of Stewardship . . . Hospitality, Prayer, Formation, and Service as they respond to God’s love with compassion and creativity.

They contacted OurChurch.Com to build a website using the Custom Express Website package.

A few things I want to point out about the design of their site.

1) Content rotator. When you visit the Santa Maria Del Mar website, the first thing that jumps out at you is the content rotator on the homepaege. The bright images and movement get your attention and convey a sense of life and vibrance.

2) User-friendly Admin. The staff and volunteers at SMDMCC have been extremely active in updating their website creating more than 100 pages of useful information for their visitors and parishioners. The WordPress platform makes adding and updating pages very easy and accessible for multiple administators.

3) Organized, sub-menus. With so much content, it’s important that it be well organized and easy to find. Using drop-down sub-menus allows visitors to quickly mouseover each main menu item and see the list of pages available in the sub-menu.

4) Upcoming Events. One of the most important purposes of Santa Maria Del Mar’s website is to keep paritioners informed about upcoming events. Not only does the site include a calendar plugin, but there is also an integrated “Upcoming Events” plugin in the right sidebar which is display on every page of the site. So no matter what page a visitor is on, they can see what’s coming up and can click for more info.

5) Simple Design. With so much content on their site – pages, events and bright images – it’s important that the design of the site not clash with the images or make the site look busy. Going with a very simple design that makes the content stand out.

All of these design elements are contributing to the success of the site and the mission of the church. I hope they help you with the design of your site. And of course, if you’re interested in having our team work with you to develop an effective site, let us know. We’d love to talk with you.

We invite you to visit www.smdmcc.org to see more of the wonderful things Santa Maria Del Mar Catholic Church is doing with their website ministry.

Comments? Question?

First United Methodist Church of Middletown is located in Middletown, OH. They are community of Believers who has been serving their community and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ since the 1800′s. They understand the value and importance of living in community as a way to reach those outside their church and support those within.

Earlier this year, they partnered with OurChurch.Com to build a custom website.

A few things I want to point out about the design of their site.

1) Unique Design. They decided not to go with the common, clean cut, sharp edge look that is seen on many websites. Instead, they wanted a torn edge look; textured backgrounds; and warm tan and brown tones to go with the red of their logo.

2) Quick links. They used quicklinks to the right of their homepage image slider to make it easy for both church members and visitors to find the information most commonly requested.

3) Online eNewsletter. The integration of an online eNewsletter where those in the church can sign up to receive it via email, allows members to easily keep current on upcoming events, news, and serving opportunities by just checking their email. It also helps save the church on printing and postage.

4) Online giving. First UMC Middletown understands the importance of meeting people where they are, which includes how people prefer to give. They have integrated the service of paytrace.com (an online giving processor) to make giving directly from their website simple.

Jaime Albaugh from First UMC Middletown said the following about working with OurChurch.Com…

“Working with OurChurch.com to create a new custom website sparked an entire image overhaul for us! We found that to develop our web presence we needed to establish a current definition of who we are, where we are going in ministry, who we want to connect with in our community and who we want to reach on the web and in person.

The staff at OurChurch was extremely supportive and patient with us throughout this process as it took us longer than we thought to do it with genuine purpose. They took our thoughts, history and mission and made it into a digital website that really reflects our ministry. As a result we are so satisfied with our new digital look and feel it represents us as we go forward.

Thank you, OurChurch!”

All of these design elements allow First UMC Middletown to accomplish their mission online.

You can read more about OurChurch.Com’s custom web design services, and if you are interested in discussing how OurChurch.Com can help you achieve your mission online, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We invite you to visit First UMC Middletown at http://www.myfumc.net.

What do you think of their new site and the design choices made?

Brethren Retirement Community is located in Greenville, OH. They are a Continuing Care Retirement Community who has been serving retirees for over 100 years. Their mission is to foster, maintain, and operate a Christian retirement community, enabling persons to live securely with dignity, continuing to love, learn, and achieve personal fulfillment.

In 2008, they contacted OurChurch.Com to build a custom website. Recently, they reached out to OurChurch.Com to build a new website with an updated design.

A few things I want to point out about the design of their site.

1) Beautiful Design that matches their logo. Their design incorporates the green color from their logo. The leaves and flowing lines give it a peaceful, natural feel.

2) Content rotator. The content rotator is large and presents images of the colorful and well manicured grounds residents enjoy at Brethren, while matching the colors and feel of the overall design of the website.

3) Menus, sub-menus, & quick-links. Brethren has done a fantastic job creating a lot of content to provide information to current and prospective residents. The use of submenus and large quick-link buttons at the bottom of the homepage make finding the desired information easy.

4) Online forms. It is very important for prospective residents to be able to request information. Brethren has made it simple to fill out an online form to request information, schedule a visit, or refer a friend.

5) Font Size Option. It is very important to remember who your primary audience is when creating a website. On each page, visitors have the ability to choose the size of the font in content areas. This is especially important when serving retirees, some of which may prefer a larger font.

All of these design elements allow Brethren Retirement Community to accomplish their mission online. If you are interested in discussing how OurChurch.Com can help you achieve your mission online, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to talk with you.

We invite you to visit Brethren Retirement Community at www.bhrc.org.

Comments? Question?

First United Methodist Church – Located in Stamford, CT, FUMC’s mission is to worship the God who created us, to grow in our faith, and to serve others in compassionate ministry.

With OurChurch.Com’s Custom Pro website package, they are able to effectively communicate with members about upcoming events, how to get involved with mission and outreach programs, child and youth programs and much more. They are just starting the next phase of their package – having OCC perform a search engine optimization service to give them better exposure through top 10 search engine rankings. Please go to http://www.fumcstamford.org to view their website.

Here is another organization that is doing a great job with the design of their website.  Today, we’re featuring Lutheran High School South.

Located in St. Louis, MO, Lutheran High School South has provided leadership in Christian education for over 50 years.  With OurChurch.Com’s Custom Pro Website package, LHSS continues to keep students and parents informed through their online calendar, downloadable forms, and student handbook.  They have been able to give many staff the ability to maintain specific parts of the website, ensuring it is kept up to date and distributing the responsibility of the website to many individuals.  They also are attracting new students through OurChurch.Com’s Top School Search Rankings service.  This service drives traffic to the LHSS website where prospective parents can find information about tuition, open house dates, and testimonials from current students.

Take a look at this video in which the LHSS staff share their thoughts on their website:

If you’d like to talk with some at OurChurch.Com about web design options that can help you better achieve your mission online, read more about our web design services and request a free phone consultation.

What do you think about the design of the Lutheran High School South website and how it’s helping them achieve their mission online?