I have been doing volunteer ministry in the communications department at Granger for over two years now. It began with basic web maintenance and some simple graphic design work and has blossomed into two full-blown websites complete with dynamic back-end administration panels, integration with the current CMS used by the church, flash navigation, flash feature sections on main and series pages, and media features that are taking us to entirely new heights.

It has been awesome to work with the team on these projects and peer into the future together. But from now on it will be from a slightly different perspective.

I recently began talks with the Administrative Pastor (Tony Morgan) about what it would look like to actually move into full time ministry at the church. This would mean leaving a career in the mental health field to do something totally different.

After much prayer, personal reflection (and of course conversations with my wife) I (we) accepted the position as Web Director at the church.

My first day at the church will be September 5th.

On one hand this is just a continuation of my two years of ministry. But on the other hand it is a brand new adventure - an incredible opportunity that I believe God was preparing me for with years of leading, teaching and testing.

I'm looking forward to this next leg of the journey!

New Look

You might be asking yourself why the site looks so different. Well, lets just say I thought a small face lift was in order to celebrate the transition. Hope you like it!

I was reviewing local and regional stats on the use of dial-up versus broadband recently and was surprised to see that the percentage of broadband users was less than 30%!

My mind started racing with questions about our site, the target audience, the pageloads, our optimization practices with both images and flash elements, etc. I emailed a few people on the team and ran some questions by them. And when it was all said and done, we'd dotted all the "i's" and crossed all the "t's."

You see as it turns out, our site (gccwired.com) is still accessible to dial-up users (though I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to view video clips in the media player) so no one is being excluded.
Also, our target audience is much more likely to use broadband that dial-up regardless what the regional stats are showing.

Because of this, we have chosen to design the site with the broadband user in mind. This allows greater flexibility in the technologies used and allows us to keep our sites fixed on cutting edge technology as we strive for excellence in web communications.

With HD on the horizon and other more interactive web applications popping up every day, the future is looking bright. Better get my shades...

Tony Morgan, Administrative Pastor at Granger Community Church and one of the Simply Strategic Guys, put it this way:

I've recently responded to a number of inquiries about the Media Player and Evite components on gccwired.com. Most are questioning who designed them and if they are third part plugins that can be purchased for use on their websites.

Unfortunately I must answer "No" to these inquiries. Both the Media Player and Evite components were designed and coded by our designers at Aspire!One.

The Media Player is a flash interface that has an XML driven playlist. We create the thumbnail images and convert our media into flash video (.flv files). All parts are uploaded to the server and the player dynamically pulls the thumbnails to populate the playlist and creates the link to play the flash video clip in the window on the left.

Similarly the Evite component was coded and integrated into the administration panel used to maintain the site. We have the option to add the Evite component to any new page we create. There is an Evite text entry box in the admin panel that allows you to add copy and html as needed when creating a "story" for publication on the site. When the "story" runs on a page, the evite link is visible and pops up a window with the appropriate copy/images for that "story" (usually an event or service).



Thanks for your inquiries and keep them coming!

Recently I have been peering into the future - attempting to figure out what the Internet might look like 10 years from now, 5 years from now or even 1 year from now for that matter.

Audio is quickly becoming exclusive to the "podcast" while video is quickly becoming the media standard on the web. And one could assume that audio-only information may one day be completely done away with if a video version is always an option.

With the increasing availability of DSL and broadband connections, the development of streaming servers and the use of streaming video (often in flash video (.fla) format), the possibilities appear to be endless.

But in my humble opinion, it seems like all this advancement could meet a dead end someday. And here is why I say that:

Doesn't it make sense that technology (not all technology, but the technology that drives media via the Internet) only needs to develop to a certain point. In other words, won't this technology someday reach it's full potential? Won't it get to the point where any further advancement would be undetectable to the human given our earthly limitations?

Allow me to get more specific:

• At some point the quality of audio ceases to be important because the ear cannot tell the difference beyond that
• At some point the quality of video will cease to be important because our eyes will not be able to tell the difference beyond that
• When your broadband connection is capable of streaming this level of audio and video to the device of your choice, any speed above and beyond that may cease to be important (unless it's to download gargantuan files that require greater bandwidth)
• When you are able to get anything, from anywhere, at any given time, in any format, on whatever device you desire - isn't that good enough?

This is what I'm talking about. This is what I'm trying to figure out. This is the underlying hypothesis that drives my questions about the Internet and how we will be using it in the next few years.

All you have to do is look at the iPod revolution which allows you to carry video in your pocket. And some of the new features on the web like the way ABC now offers streaming video of some of their popular shows each week.

The Church must harness the power of this technology if it is to be relevant in the upcoming years. I love being a part of it and can't wait to see what's next.

I'm not a huge programmer, but I love to learn small tricks that make my workflow easier. One such trick is the Server Side Include (SSI) or PHP Include. These awesome little workhorses make designing a dynamic website a bit more time intensive on the front end, but much easier in the long run.

(Very) Simple Explanation
An "include" is a short function that you place in your HTML/XHTML page. It is just one line that says something like "include "your_document.html" or something like that.

Go here for full explanations: Server Side Includes / PHP includes

When the browser gets to this function it goes looking for the "your_document" file and "includes" it in the page. If "your_document" is a text file that says, "Hi - I'm an include" then "Hi - I'm an include" will show up on your page.

The cool thing is that you can now duplicate this HTML/XHTML page as many times as you want and each page will still pull "your_document" into that page. This allows you to make global changes in a websites look and feel by simply changing the "your_document" file.

In the past I used includes for navigation only. I would create an HTML page called "nav.html" and it would just be a list of links. Each page called this file to populate the navigation panel on that page. If I wanted to add a link to the site, I simply updated the "nav.html" page and every page on the site had the new link!

However recently I have experimented with includes for headers, navigation, footers, and even simple form elements.

Coupling includes with the power of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) makes website maintenance a breeze and makes routine site enhancements much more doable.

I love a new idea, product or version of a product that makes life easier for everyone. So it is no wonder I am constantly on the lookout for the latest and greatest in browser technology.

I am staying away from Netscape for now, but use IE6 and Firefox interchangeably. IE is the standby that never fails, while Firefox offers the cool features and has awesome extensions to personalize and maximize the performance.

But the other day (3/20/06) IE7 Beta 2 was made available and I have been trying it out to see what I think. So far I love it! Reminds me a lot of Firefox with integrated RSS feed management and tabbed browsing. I like the new minimalist approach to the toolbars and the floating favorites menu that can either fly out or be pinned to the sidebar. Also, check out the zoom feature to see the small stuff!

Of course there are drawbacks to any Beta version (I purposefully did NOT try Beta 1 to avoid the initial bugs). Already I see some issues with flash objects (requires you to click on them initially to make them active) but I haven't had it long enough to give a full list of my likes/dislikes. The thing I'm really looking forward to is whether or not microsoft is going to play nice and work toward standardization for cascading style sheet (css) support...

Hopefully after a bit more work, they will release IE7 and the world will be a better place for all of us!

I've been using Blogger for quite a while now with no problems and excellent flexibility. Sure there are more robust applications out there (TypePad, WordPress, etc.) but for now I'm happy with the simplicity of Blogger for personal blogging and even for some side projects I have been working on.

For example, I am currently doing a website that will have four sections completely driven by Blogger. The Blogger Admin Panel serves as the Content Management System (CMS) for the pages which allows "less techie" people control over the site in a more dynamic way. The awesome thing is this: the people who will be updating these pages are already bloggers! So there is NO learning curve (how cool is that?)

All the work is in the front end - incorporating the Blogger specific tags into your existing page (similar to html tags but are dynamic to call data from the appropriate places after a post has been published). After that it's a detailed incorporation of your sites stylesheet.css and the styles from the blog template (if you're stripping down an existing one) and that's a wrap.

Blogger allows two publishing formats. The first (and easiest) is to publish all posts/images to the Blogger servers (called "blogspot"). But the second option is the one that rocks! Blogger will publish posts/images directly to your website via ftp or sftp. Simply enter the correct path(s) to the correct directory(ies) and Blogger does the rest...

What was designed for blogging can just as easily be used as a CMS!

Thanks for everything Google!

One of the best things about doing ministry with the technology and communications team at Granger Community Church is being able to work with top notch professionals. Not just because they are good at what they do, but because they go the extra mile to ensure what they are doing meets a "higher" standard of quality.

I guess you could call it a "culture of excellence." It's an understanding that something should only be done if it's going to be done well. And I've seen it over and over again. We will come up with an idea, develop it, possibly even test it out a bit but then trash it if quality isn't there or if there isn't a support team in place to back it up and ensure longevity.

For years I have worked in the field of mental health and unfortunately strategic planning is often the last thing tried. In fact, what usually happens is the old "knee-jerk" reaction where you experience a problem and quickly slap a bandaid on it. However, this bandaid quickly falls off and the problem is still there. "Plans" are often initiated just to show that something was done to address the problem - regardless if it is a good solution or not.

But with this team, it seems like everything is well thought out. You weigh the pros and cons long before making something policy.

A good example of this is our web strategy which consists of the following:

• Overall site design (what we call "heavy lifting") will be outsourced. Aspire!One designed our websites, the content management systems behind the scenes and will complete any full-scale site improvements or large upgrade projects.
• Staff at GCC keep the site running smoothly by adding and removing content on a regular basis.
• Volunteers add value to the team by helping out with maintenance, developing graphics, adding flash content, doing simple layout/scripting projects, etc.

It's an awesome strategy that has worked well since I've been involved at the church.

I can't wait to see what the next 5 years brings!

One of the cool things I get to do once and a while is answer web-related questions that come in via phone or email. The way I look at it - I ought to give back since there have been numerous others that have patiently answered my questions and taught me little tricks to make my life easier.

So I thought I'd give you a sample request and what I sent in response:

Bob wrote:

I am looking around for web site companies to use for our church and I was wondering how well Aspire!One has worked for you. Do they provide great tools? How much of your site do you do in house? Do they have a great feature that just makes them stand out?

Bob,

Sorry I didn't get back to you right away. I've been doing MACH 10 for the past week or two but have some time this weekend to respond.

Prior to Aspire!One we were using a small wed development company that posed numerous problems to our site, our ability to maintain the site and our ability to expand our site and integrate with our backend database.

We began talks with Aspire and things went very well from day one. They had meetings with us to hear our vision and to see what our needs were. They did phone conferences and were available every time we reached a milestone in the preliminary design phase and development process.

Our site is dynamic in that it is based on a number of templates (some pre-designed by Aspire but others we have modified as needs change). Each template is populated with content or data entered through a central Admin Panel [see screen grab below]." Data are entered as stories that can be used in their totality (as a full HTML page) or in smaller chunks on other pages (in a sidebar or on the main index page for example). When a page is scheduled to be in a sidebar of an existing page, the only information sent is the thumbnail graphic and the title or subtitle. This then links back to the full story.

This concept may be difficult to understand without seeing it in action. But this is the basis for the entire site. We have some flexibility within the admin panel to edit the html and we can use Dreamweaver to develop more robust pages or templates if we need to.

The cool thing about this Admin Panel is that it allows varying "permission" levels, so someone can enter the panel and only see/edit certain things. I could go in later and schedule story that person wrote. This is huge in helping maintain consistency and standardization requirements necessary to keep the site looking professional.

Another awesome feature is the ability to schedule stories to appear on a certain date, and then leave on a certain date. This proactive approach to web maintenance is not only helpful to our team, but will probably be the standard in the near future.

Aspire has been very approachable and helpful in customizing the website and Admin Panel to our specific needs. They are great to work with and I look forward to a long relationship with them for both minor adjustments and major site overhauls in the future.

Hope this helped. Let me know if you have more questions about Aspire!One or gccwired.com.

Taking the Message to the world via the web...

Daryl

I know - I'm way behind the times. We have some prolific bloggers at the church - some manage to post on stuff that hasn't even happened yet (you know who you are). But I thought I'd post about the new screen since I probably look at it in a slightly different way than the average person.

You see, when I look at the screen, I see pixels and resolution. I asked myself how graphics would need to be designed in order to fill the entire screen and what resolution would be required, etc. Then I thought about future flash movies and how the initial design would influence their appearance on the big screen.

Oh yeah - and it also looks awesome during a service...

See Jason's post for the installation and technical specs on the new screen and the system that runs it.

I was approached a while ago about helping the church create buzz about their upcoming sex series. It would be a 5 week series held on the weekend, and would be promoted just a bit differently that other series we have had.

This was the brainstorm:

1. Rent a few billboards around town.
2. Throw up a picture that has nothing to do with the church (and everything to do with sex).
3. Acquire a domain name just for this series (mylamesexlife.com).
4. Develop a Flash Movie to walk people through a few introspective questions about their views and emotional responses to sex.
5. Have the Flash movie redirect at the end to another page (on gccwired.com).
6. This page (with series details) would introduce people to the fact that it IS safe to talk about sex in church!

I jumped at the opportunity because I love Macromedia Flash and it was something that would test my abilities. The cool thing was the fact that there were a team of others behind me the whole way. Pictures were expertly chosen and sent my way, the copy was well written and emailed to me, the audio was custom fitted by an audio guru at the church and others edited and commented along the way to make sure we had the best possible product (thanks all!).

The project had been done for a few days, and I allowed myself to sit back and relax - only to be shocked back into reality when the billboards went live and the hits began to roll in on the site. Local news picked it up and a radio station dedicated an entire morning to the billboards by starting a discussion and allowing listeners to weigh in.

I'll admit I was a little overwhelmed - but then again, God has been doing things on a grand scale ever since He created this little planet and He wants to do even bigger things through those willing to tag along...

I can hear the buzz - can you?

See what others are saying: Becky, Corey, Jason, Kem, Tony, and More Tony

I have always remained faithful to Macromedia products for a number of reasons. First, they were what I started using when I began my journey. Second, they have done everything I've ever asked them to do. And third, the competition really turned me off (Microsoft and Adobe products mainly). So you can imagine my shock and fear when they announced the merger between Macromedia and Adobe.

How can they do this? I asked myself. You can see from the graphic above, times are changing! They are already bundling Macromedia Studio 8 with Adobe CS2. But I can see at some point being able to purchase one combined "web developer" product - possibly the following:

• Dreamweaver (better not mess with that...)
• Flash (better not mess with that...)
• Photoshop
• Premiere (possibly for working with video?)
• Illustrator
• Acrobat

I envision Fireworks and Freehand going away for good. Very sad, but with the power of Photoshop, it just makes good business sense.

So we'll have to see how it all works out. But my question still begs to be answered, "Should I be worried? Or just angry?"

Actually, it is. This post I mean. But only so I can give you a snapshot of my life story. And once you see that I think you'll agree that it's NOT about me - it's all about Him.

I currently work as the Program Manager of a psychiatric inpatient unit in Plymouth, Indiana. I am a therapist by trade (licensed clinical social worker) and did that for a few years before making the transition into management. Definitely a far cry from the world of the web (in fact it was like pulling teeth just to get computers in the facility).

But somewhere in my not so distant past I began getting into computers, web design and the like. Not the traditional way (taking classes toward a degree) but by simply diving in, buying the software and teaching myself the ropes. Books, the help of friends and online tutorials have been more beneficial to me than any class I could have paid an arm and a leg for...

Back in the day I put all my energy into learning new ideas. I practiced on my own website and would redesign it every few months just to try my hand at the new things I had learned. At one point I purchased Macromedia Flash 5 and redesigned the entire site as a flash movie (not such a cool thing now...)

Then the day arrived when a friend of mine said, "I think there is someone you should meet."

So I did. After one meeting with the Communications Director at the church I was attending, I began to volunteer my time doing web design, web maintenance and anything else that came up. After a few months I was hooked. Something changed inside me and there was no turning back.

My hobby suddenly took on new meaning and relevance. I now had a purpose behind my interest which opened a new realm of possibilities. I have learned more than I thought possible and have been able to add value in a variety of ways.

So that's why it's NOT about me. I'm NOT a web designer by trade. For all intents and purposes I shouldn't even be able to do this stuff! But He had a plan. He put the thought in my head and He gave me the abilities I have. Without Him guiding me I might still be coming home every night and just plopping down in front of the TV (oh wait - I still do that a lot...)

I stand in amazement at what God can do with a life. We just have to be willing.

I worked for years in the mental health field as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). Then, in 2004 I was asked to volunteer in the Communications Department at Granger Community Church. For two years I helped keep the websites running as the church readied itself to launch completely redesigned versions of their two websites.

Then in 2006 I was asked to join the team on a more permanent basis.

I currently serve in full time ministry as the Web Director at Granger Community Church. I get to work with an incredible team of dedicated professionals. We cast vision for, maintain and oversee all aspects of both gccwired.com and wiredchurches.com.

WebDrivenChurch.com is not only one of my creative outlets, it's also where I get to process day to day goings on and advances in technology that impact progressive churches. If you have any questions about this site or the information presented here feel free to contact me (use contact button in the header menu).

I hope that this will be a safe place to discuss the following:

• Web design/layout
• Web technology
• CSS
• Programming languages (php/xml/javascript/etc.)
• Software/hardware/plug-ins/etc.
• Flash
• Online audio/video
• Podcasting/vodcasting
• Streaming video
• eCommerce
• etc.

Once again, thanks for joining me on this journey.

Daryl McMullen
Web Director :: Granger Community Church

630 E. University Drive
Granger, IN 46530

(574) 243-3506 x346

dmcmullen@gccwired.com