 Dave Corson is the webmaster
at the Pleasant Valley Church.
Thank you to NAD and PlusLine for the eChurch Award that was given to the Pleasant Valley Church. As has been noted before
by others, awards are not why we do this, it is just the recognition of another servant in the ever expanding work of God.
I volunteered and was accepted by the PVC church to upkeep the existing website. I found that many wanted a different
style, but most of all they wanted something that was easy to use and understand. I wanted those same things. I found an
interesting website called:
http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/
I found myself looking at websites all over the US and finding things that were very informative. I would recommend that site
as a great place to find a variety of information. I found that site before finding the www.awa7.org site.
One of my main goals was to find some easy to use software that could be used by anyone who had an interest in making and
updating a website. I tried quite a few, and finally settled on Web Studio (http://www.webstudio.com/ ). The program does not
cost much and if you spend some time with it, seems almost too simple.
I did a lot of work trying to figure out a menu system that was easy and fun to use and build. I used free software from
Coffee Cup software (http://www.coffeecup.com/ ) I have also learned a lot about integrating software from different
sources. I have a couple of people will (hopefully) soon be helping me so I can share the update duties and changes with them.
Some of the most used features are:
- The Church Bulletin and the announcements that are in it.
- We now have the Church Picture Directory on-line. It requires a user name and password and I have a form on the site that
can be filled out and sent to me automatically. I check for PVC membership and a few other things and then send them their
userID and password. There has been a high response for this.
- The Sermons are also on the site. I have them in two forms, first a listen area, where even with a 28 kbps modem, you can
listen to the sermon without first downloading it. I also make provision to download an MP3 of the sermon.
- We have an on-line church calendar that be modified by our anyone with login privileges.
- We also have a duty calendar identifying who has church responsibilities each week.
A little about myself: I have been working for a electric power utility for the past 21 years as a communication
technician. I started two other church websites in the past and have created a personal website. I am self taught in web site
design and find it always a challenge and interesting. My wife Bonnie has been putting up with me for over 28 years! We have
two daughters attending Pacific Union College in Angwin, Calfornia. We have one son at Portland Adventist Academy (please send
any educational donations my way. Thank you for your support !! LOL)
In closing, I still have plans of more changes to the website. The biggest will have a design that is more appealing to
first time website visitors. If you want to checkout a site that does this take a look at: http://www.bcc.org. What they do is
have a domain for the guests and another domain for the members, and it has a very effective message.
I read from a webmaster at a church here in Oregon, that of the last 100 new MEMBERs to their church, 100% (that was 100%)
learned about the church via the web before they ever set foot in the door. What a powerful tool God has allowed us to have in
this time of greatest need in the world.
Dave Corson |
