In this day and age (information age) it still amazes me that there are so many ministries that do not see the need for a web presence. This is one of the reasons we offer free websites for ministries that don’t have any idea how to get online. There are even more free options for people that have a little time to invest in some great, free, template based solutions that offer professional looking websites for very little effort!
I received a comment from the Pastor of our sending church (Harvester Baptist Church) this week which should tell the whole story, particularly if you are a missionary on deputation, or on the field: “Thanks for the great job you are doing. When I search in vain for a missionary or church’s website I wish they would contact you.”
Admittedly Pastor Simpson was way ahead of the curve on technology as far as Baptist churches go. Harvester Baptist Church and I had their ministry online back in the 1980’s with an old TRS-80 Model 1 computer (with 48K of memory, 4 floppy drives and a 300 baud modem)! Most of you reading this post would have NO IDEA what I am talking about!
As I like to say, I was on the Internet before Al Gore invented it, as a matter of fact I registered my first domain in February of 1995, twenty-one years ago! FMLYNET.ORG – you can check it on the WHOIS record to verify it. The domain had to be 7 characters long to interactwith a BBS Network called FIDONET for those of you that were BBSers back then.
Enough about me, what about you? In North America, 88% of the people are online. When they go to find information on a ministry, many of them go to the Internet first. As Pastor Simpson indicates they EXPECT to find information on you on the internet. They get frustrated if they don’t find you.
For a missionary on deputation, this could mean the difference between a meeting or an open date. For a church this could mean a person from out of town visiting the church five blocks away from yours, or your church. Free Websites! So – if your ministry does not have a web page – I will set one up for you today – a free website – no strings no hidden costs. Just get in contact with me and let’s get you online.
