The Basilica Community has a ministry that brings organic fruits and vegetables to Southeast Houston, and they operate it as a volunteer-run co-op.

We got them their own domain (http://southeastco-op.com), and designed them a new site using WordPress.

Some of the content still needs some tweaking, but take a look at what we’ve got so far.

Thanks to a generous $500 donation to EasyChurchMedia.com, which is not a non-profit, we were able to donate a podcast to Christ Church Northeast, which is a brand new church in Kingwood, TX.

Take a look at the podcast site…
We matched it to their existing site as much as we could, and the result is that this brand new church has a working podcast, and now I get to hear one of my favorite preachers on my iPod effortlessly.

Pastor Bill Streger at Kaleo called me with an idea:
He wanted to create a blog on his site where the members of Kaleo could tell stories about what God is doing in their midst.

Also, we wanted it to match their current very well designed site.

Here is the result…

Kaleo Blog

Look for this in an email inbox near you…

I set up 2 churches this week.

Both of them were recording, but could not create a feed for podcasting software (like iTunes) to read.

Now they have the feed, and the training, to podcast from now on.

Here are the links to the iTunes store for each church…
Southeast Church of Christ
Deer Park First Baptist Church

Congratulations.

I apologize for not posting the last 2-3 weeks… I have been very busy with my church, and helping my entire family get over a pretty nasty stomach virus.

But, this week has been quite productive.

Deer Park First Baptist Church has hired me to create a feed for them. It’s done, and this coming week’s sermon will be their first podcast.
Congratulations.

I spoke to many of you this week, and it seems like you will be one of our success stories soon.

I also created a custom theme for our “feed-only” customers like DPFBC… since this all happens in the background of their existing site, I didn’t think they’d mind a little advertisement just in case someone stumbles upon the feed site.

Take a look… clean and simple… I like it.

This week, I also accepted an offer from the Down Syndrome Association of Houston to maintain the site they are having built. I’ll post a link when the new site is up.

I was driving north on I45 toward downtown, and I noticed something a little silly. At Telephone, there is a very large billboard that has a picture of a large screen TV hung on a wall, and above it, the sign reads:

Forget the Mistletoe…
Hang the TV.

At the bottom of the sign, there is information about how __________ has “this season’s” largest selection of flat screen TV’s and accessories.

The problem… It’s almost May.

How is this any different that your lazy neighbor who leaves the Christmas lights up all year?

Unfortunately, most church websites are just as guilty as this sign (or your lazy neighbor). Does your site still have the announcement about the “upcoming” Easter event? Or the registration info for the Women’s retreat in February?

Many of us can remember to update our sites when we want to promote something, but we rarely remember to quit promoting it once it’s passed. This can be addressed through simple planning.

Make a note on your calendar for the day after an event to remove the info from your site. Or, my favorite… Jott yourself.

These small steps can keep you and your church from looking quite silly… like your neighbor.

Another option that many use with success is to create a blog page for news about upcoming events. This is very easy to update (just as easy as writing a blog entry), it’s automatically date-stamped, and people can use the comments to ask questions and discuss the event.

Then, instead of deleting the information, you can post stories about the event itself.

This option creates an on-going and growing log of events and posts that show your church to be the active and engaged church that it is.

Of course, if you need help with setting this up, you can always call us.

We learned these things the hard way so you don’t have to…

Thank you for visiting our new site. As of right now, about half of the site is finished, but I plan to have it finished by the end of this week.

I am very excited about what we plan to do here at EasyChurchMedia.com.
~ weekly blog entries discussing church media…
~ bi-weekly podcasts…
~ and most importantly, partnering with you to maximize you church’s media offerings.

Also coming very soon…
~ on-line knowledge base/community bulletin board…
~ live AIM support (M-F, 9:00-5:00 CST)

Subscribe to both our blog and our podcast to stay up-to-date with what’s happening here at EasyChurchMedia.com.

Thanks,

Joel Burdeaux
Owner/Media Consultant
EasyChurchMedia.com
info@easychurchmedia.com

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