I’ve owned the domain ministrysitehosting.com for a year or so and have done nothing with it. The other day, a friend of mine (Chris Price) suggested I do some kind of post about how churches can get started with a web presence. Instead, I decided to use this domain to open a single page web site to offer some basic information. I’d like to add to it and tweak it to be as helpful as possible, but for now, meet ministrysitehosting.com and by all means, spread the word.
I sometimes use space on my blog to pass along recommendations to church leaders who know my heart for technology and the church. I’m a big fan of using Wordpress as the basis of church website development projects, and when I run across a theme that I can instantly visualize as being used by churches, I pass it along.
Brian Gardner and the StudioPress team have created a very nice theme designed for use by educational institutions, but my assessment is that the educational emphasis is found only in the sample theme itself. Add your church’s logo and content and this is a very nice, very elegant theme with some great features such as drop-down menus, multi-columnar options for different pages, and a beautiful interface and color scheme.
Check it out here!
Disclosure: In the name of full disclosure, I am an affiliate with Studiopress. Any purchases you make clicking the above link may benefit me financially.
Today I released a new WordPress theme for the general public called Old News. I mention it here, partly because I want to get the word out, but also because I think it’s a great theme for ministry leaders who blog, or want to get started blogging. I’m especially happy with the strength of the code. It was developed in a WordPress 2.8 environment, is well-widgetized, and features such things as threaded discussions, breadcrumbs (without a plugin), and tabbed sidebars (like this site).
Head on over to my web design site and preview or download the theme.
When Moses didn’t know what to tell people who asked him why he thought he had so much authority, God responded, “You tell them ‘I Am Who I Am’ has sent you.’ The implication? If the self-sufficient Creator has commissioned you, you don’t need any other authority. God is whom God is. He never changes or compromises. He is Himself at all times and is completely sufficient within Himself.
I am whom I am also, but in a different way. My sufficiency can never be found in myself because I’m flawed. Depravity and finiteness prevents our speaking in the same tone and meaning as God on this subject. I can, however, define myself as I relate to my all-sufficient Creator. And as I am in Christ, I really am. I am nobody else. I owe apologies to no one for who I am, only to God for my sinfulness – and that has been washed in Christ’s blood the moment I came into a right relationship with God.
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Another cool premium-quality theme for churches has been released by Brian Gardner and his team over at the Revolution Theme Website. The theme is dark and includes the Featured Content plugin as well as two dhtml menus – one for pages and another for categories. The theme was designed around the needs of churches and ministries.
If you’re in need of a great WordPress theme for church or ministry, but can’t afford a custom site design, then take a look at the demo or visit Revolution Two for purchasing details.
Today, we started using Bethel’s new logo. I’ve spent three years being unhappy with every logo revision I’ve done to date. I’m finally satisfied. In fact, I’m ecstatic and ready to start splattering it everywhere. It’s simple and clean, looks good in black and/or white, fits on print materials well, goes along with the feel of Bethel’s web site, and conveys with ultra-simplicity the idea that we’re a church on a hill (see Matthew 5:14). So here it is…
(note that I updated this with the final version, tweaked by Jeff at Cre8ive Solutions)
What do I do in my spare time? I design web sites. In particular, I design themes for a content management system called WordPress. I believe that WordPress is one of the most powerful and easy-to-use tools for online ministry. I’ve released several free themes to the general public and my newest one, Bible Scholar, may look familiar, since I formed it from the design of this site.
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Well, if you’ve been here before, you’ll notice another design change. Brandon, why do you change designs so often? Because I feel like it. :-) That is, I enjoy the process. This particular change is pretty radical. I’ve gone from a mocha-feeling tabbed design to a plain white minimalist design so that the content becomes the focal point.
I’ve also encouraged interaction by highlighting the comments area a little better to encourage you to leave comments and I’ve built an email subscription form into the bottom of most of the article pages to encourage you to subscribe. So why not leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this next design, and what you’d like to see in future revisions. After all, I do change my site about every four months. Thanks for reading!!
I'm a Christian, a Pastor to 
