Thanks for the recognition. Winning awards isn't why anybody does any kind of ministry, but once in a while it's nice to hear "job well done." We will proudly display our eChurch award in a prominent place in our church.

We launched our Web site a couple of years ago, and this is the second iteration of it. The current version makes extensive use of CSS, which affords many new and exciting design options. Our goal simply is to reach out to everybody, not just church members.

I am solely responsible for the site (content and appearance), but I do have help in one area. Forrest Zink, another member of the church, takes the audio from each week's sermons and puts them into MP3 format for me. I guess I should also point out that our church photographers supply me with pictures of special events.

As for me, Web site design is a hobby, and I am self-taught. I love playing around with computers. Many years ago when I hooked up with my first ISP, I learned that I had space on their servers for a personal site. I didn't know anything about creating web sites, so that's when I learned HTML and created a personal site. As part of that, I developed a couple of JavaScript word games that were becoming quite popular. When I abandoned my site, I was averaging over 100 hits a day.

In the real world, my vocation is that of a freelance court reporter, for the last 25 years. For 17 1/2 years I worked for a judge in a state circuit court, and now I am a partner/owner of a small freelance court reporting firm serving northeastern Wisconsin. I am married to Connie, and I have a stepson, Paul, 23. I started attending the church in 1992, the year I got married to Connie, who had been an Adventist all her life. While I attended nearly every week, I wasn't baptized until 1999. I guess I'm a slow learner.

I think everybody, if they look deep enough, has something they can offer their church. I can't do a lot of things, but I feel this is my ministry. And I have fun doing it!

God bless,

John