I am excited to announce another new website design, this one is for Jenkins Travel. The new website launched less then a month ago and features a new presence for Jenkins Travel online. The site was built with wordpress as a backbone which provides the client with an easy way to manage content and updates in the future. The site is designed with travelers in mind. Go ahead and check out www.jenkinstravel.com.
Last November I helped out Bridge Connections Inc. by creating a new logo and website for there ministry. Bridge Connections needed a way to communicate with sponsors as well as the teams of people who will be going on short term missions experiences through Bridge Connections. The website was designed using wordpress which allows for easy management by the organization. The logo reflects the organizations passion for global awareness and being the bridge between local churches in the United States with grassroots orphanages in countries like Uganda and Haiti. Check out the new website and logo by visiting www.bridgeconnections.org.
I am sorry to report a disturbing trend that I am seeing in blogs, facebook, twitter and other social media and I wondered if it troubles you? It seems to me that more and more people are voicing opinions through new posts, status updates and comments that are filled with bitterness, envy, criticism, anger, and self-pity.
Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters.sIf you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. James 4:11 NLT
The bible is clear on this issue of criticizing and judging others. That is why I believe that using any social media platforms such as twitter, blogging or facebook to criticize others is a sin. So why do people do it? I think some do it for the traffic it generates to their blog. I also think that it is much easier to criticize someone online. We don’t often get into yelling matches in the hallways of our local churches. We don’t criticize or humiliate our neighbors or friends when we invite them over for dinner or small group in our homes. Because in social media online we don’t have to look the person(s) in the eyes, we can pretend that they don’t hurt.
I continue to wonder why other Christians look on and even support those who behave this way and don’t say anything. Do we not have the nerve to speak up? Maybe it’s that we don’t recognize what is happening, or that it is just happening so much. I just doubt very much that we would just stand by as a brother or sisters property was being vandalized? Why is it that we stay silent as someone vandalizes the sites and esteems of others?
“In the Epistle of James, the author says no one can tame the tongue because it is a restless evil (James 3:8). In our day and age, we could say the same for our fingers as we write blog posts and leave comments online. Fingers can tap out to their fair share of destruction, effectively tossing Jesus’ Golden Rule into the desktop recycle bin.” -Ed Cyzewski We each have a choice to make. Will we continue to attack one another online or will the next time we witness an act of e-vandalism we will respond by trying to bring peace, clarity, and inspire meaningful conversation, or keep our flamethrowers ready?
-Portions of this post were inspired & taken by reading Collide Magazine’s January/February issue.
For those of you out there who are designing websites or are just curious what your own website or favorite website looks like to the rest of the world Google has released a fun tool called “Browser Size”. Google Browser Size is a visualization of browser window sizes for people who visit Google. For example, the “90%” contour means that 90% of people visiting Google have their browser window open to at least this size or larger. This is useful for ensuring that important parts of a page’s user interface are visible by a wide audience.
So if your wondering why a certain link or button is not being clicked in comparison to others it might be because a majority of users are unable to even see the button or link. Googles example webpage shows how a good percentage of people can’t even see the “donate now” button. It’s a simple tool, but a great resource! Click here to give it a try.
Just a few weeks back, I launched a brand new website for New Covenant Community Church. NCC Church is located in York County Pennsylvania. Using wordpress as the backbone I was able to provide a complete web solution. NCC had a previous website that was limiting in features, space, and design. The new site is far more robust and offers a fresh design with a new logo design, sermon audio, photos through flickr, and blog updates. Each time I work on a project like this I am encouraged with the positive response of churches being able to take into their own hands the maintenance and updates of a website that fits them. You can visit the website by clicking here.
