We Love Our Website!

I don’t know what your experience is with getting a church website, but mine has been a bumpy ride.  First we had a member volunteer to “do it” for us.  What she did was fine, certainly better than nothing, but once it was up, it never got up-dated.  People complained to me and as the pastor I was supposed to be responsible.  Unfortunately, I didn’t create the website, didn’t know how to maintain it, and found it more than a little awkward to get the person who did the work to keep it up.

A couple of years passed and another computer savvy member announce that he had secured a web address for us.  I was so appreciative.  That seemed like a big deal and surely he or some other interested party would produce a great website for us.  Two years later, we still had nothing but the assurance that we “own” a web address.  Desperate, I asked a college student majoring in computer science to set-up a website for us and he said he’d be glad to do it.  Two months later he told me that he really didn’t think website design was his “cup of tea”.

That’s when we turned to 2MKS.  Within 24 hours we had the right web address and work was begun on a look that was distinctly ours.  I’ve seen lots of church websites and most have a similar homepage, like it was chosen from among 3-5 stock designs.  Our website has an appearance that is totally ours.  It has lots of color, but is not too “busy”.  Once we had the home page appearance down, I worked on writing the articles for the drop-down menus.  They call that the “pages”.  By the time I had that done the format was ready and the material and the format came together quickly.

In only a week or so I got the “keys” to our own website.  Now I can go in the back door and edit things I wrote and make them better.  We added a picture gallery and everybody loves that.  We have a calendar and I can put things on the calendar and up-date those events.  The next five events are prominently displayed on our home page and that allowed me to go in and add the word CANCELLED when we were hit by a snowstorm.  One of the things I enjoy the most is the ability to blog.  I prompt our congregation to read my posts to see what I’m thinking about between Sundays.  Our next adventure will be to record the sermons and special music and put that on the website for those who miss a service due to sickness or travel.  Having a Facebook account tied to the website will be another adventure.  Did I mention that there is a button on our website that allows people to sign-up to receive our e-mail newsletter?

The folks at 2MKS know how to make the website do whatever I ask and they explain it in words I understand.  I only wish I had started with them sooner and the price is right.

Rev. Lawrence DuBose, Ph.D.

Pittsburgh, PA

Broadway Alliance Church

“Hello everyone!  We haven’t talked in a long time.  How are you and the grandkids doing?  Over….”
“Hi, Mom and Dad.  We’re doing Ok right now, and, boy, do we have the stories to tell you! Are you ready? Over….”

In the past, we and other missionaries in foreign lands sometimes used amateur (ham) radio to call home because international phone calls were too costly or non-existent. For many of us, hearing loved ones’ voices was a once-a-year Christmas treat!  And letters often took a month or more to get into our hands.  Sharing our news and hearing from others in a timely fashion was nearly impossible.

But this is now the 21st century…with instant communications—email, iPhone, blog, twitter, and Facebook.  And how about SKYPING around the world?  We can talk to and even see people almost anywhere in the world right from our most comfortable spot.  Now that’s a winner!

All of these tools provide easy and quick ways to exchange daily happenings, upcoming ministries, prayer requests and answers.  But is there another way to communicate 24-hours a day?  Ah, yes, there is—create your own website!

“Hum, this is a great idea, but we don’t know anything about it,” you may say, just as we did.  “Who can help us at a cost that we can afford and teach us to manage it?”

The answer is 2MKS.com!  The folks at 2MKS listened to our ideas and helped us design our website according to our specific needs and wishes.  Then, with much patience, they taught us how to manage it on our own. And they’ll do the same for you.  We wholeheartedly recommend 2MKS as the website designer with your best interest in mind.

Americo and Kathy Saavedra
HCJB Global
Quito, Ecuador