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Reviewed by Gavin Richardson, Director of Youth Ministries, First United Methodist Church, Hendersonville, TN Web Empower Your Church by Mark Stephenson I have been developing websites for over ten years now. I started out by creating websites writing my own HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) and other script codings. It was a long process, but I enjoyed it. As the Internet grew, and everyone wanted a website, I found myself creating sites for many different agencies and friends. It was not until I moved into the creating of church websites that the process of creating websites (and maintaining them) became overwhelming. I began my first church website in 2000, at that time CMS (Content Management Systems) were expensive and very new. CMS was very new to the scene as well and not compatible with all browsers, so one still resorted to the old ways of writing individual pages. The problem with doing a church website is that this is a taxing way to keep up with the needs of a church and their web presence. I quickly pulled myself out of the church website business. In early 2005 I decided to recreate a new youth website for a new church I was attending. Although CMS had many Open Source options to use, they still needed tweaking for purposes of the church. It was not until I met Mark Stephenson in 2005 and heard of the Web Empowered Church (WEC) that I became excited about the potential power of Internet ministry available to myself and the general church. I immediately plugged in the pre-release of WEC with our youth website. It took some learning, putting time in front of the computer watching videos, reading the component manuals, and playing with the software. In the end, we had, and still have, a functioning website that I am able to keep current with reasonable maintenance. After a few months of using WEC I knew that I wanted to get further with the software in developing the sight. Instead of myself being the caretaker of the site, it was important to start to put others and their gifts in responsibility for the site. I looked around for some resources beyond the WEC site, from books to blogs, to aid me. Nothing seemed to fit all my needs as I saw them. The problem with computer books, website books especially, is that they are either philosophical or completely technical. In addition, there are few books that give good information on developing a team of web caretakers with the sensibilities of a church. This is why I was so excited to pick up and start reading Web Empower Your Church by Mark Stephenson. I found the book to be a refreshing blend of technical lexicon interpreted for the lay user, highlighting honest successes and failures related to web ministry within the context of the church. I consider myself to be a semi-savy person when it comes to web development, and yet I was impressed at how much I learned from Mark's very open and straight forward language of the complex issues associated with a website. From domain names and shared hosting, to streaming video and disability friendly website design, he covers a wealth of knowledge that anyone can digest. Being part of Ginghamsburg UMC's web ministry has obviously allowed Mark to see the good and the bad ideas encountered over the years of being progressive in using the web as a ministry tool. He shares many of those experiences with us all. This helps to give language to those who wish to have Internet ministries within their church life, but are unable to tell stories or explain important visions for the growing needs of this ministry. If you are looking for a programming book, this is not the one for you; if you are a experienced designer, then you will benefit from the broad introductions and explanations, but to write code or plug in things into your website (especially outside the WEC software) you will need to purchase another book for those needs (or download the WEC user manual if you use that software). Those who read this book will capture two things that will aid them in using the web effectively with the ministry of the church. First, you will have some clear ideas on how to start to incorporate a team of web ministers for the church. And second, you will have a general understanding of the technology used to help the group talk openly about needs of the church web ministry and the tools needed. If it were just the book, I would pay the asking price for Mark's insights. Added into the book is a CD with the Open Source software of Web Empowered Church and additional videos and documentation to help you along the way. Though this content can be found for free at the WEC website, in a packaged format I would pay an additional $20 for that as well.
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