Church Website Ideas
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It’s Easy To Use Church Websites To Go “Fishing For Men”

It’s Easy To Use Church Websites To Go “Fishing For Men”

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Traffic

It’s easy to use church websites for outreach. But, one of the biggest mistakes I see small churches make with their websites is believing “if …

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My Transfer From Hostgator to SiteGround (And Why I Moved)

My Transfer From Hostgator to SiteGround (And Why I Moved)

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

There are about as many reasons to search for a new hosting provider as there are reasons to build a website. When the time came …

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Who Cares About Your Church Website?

Who Cares About Your Church Website?

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Who cares what you’re doing? Seriously. Who cares about the work you do maintaining your church website? Not long ago, I spent some devotional time …

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Does Your Website Content Violate Child Privacy Laws?

Does Your Website Content Violate Child Privacy Laws?

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

In the United States, it’s nearly Summer. And, you know what that means: Vacation Bible School! If your small church is like many others, you’ll …

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Why Learning To Say NO Is A Good Thing

Why Learning To Say NO Is A Good Thing

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Learning to say No is hard. But, I’ve discovered that learning to say No, even to “good things,” is a good thing. In fact, it’s …

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Boost Church Website Security By Updating WordPress

Boost Church Website Security By Updating WordPress

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Security

To boost security and help protect your website against attacks, one of the most important steps you can take is updating WordPress. WordPress 4.2.2 is …

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WORDPRESS SECURITY ALERT: Widespread XSS Vulnerability Exists

WORDPRESS SECURITY ALERT: Widespread XSS Vulnerability Exists

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Security

WordPress Security Alert For Churches Anyone running a website on WordPress version 4.2 and earlier should be made aware of this problem, and must take …

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Church Website Ideas Has A New Facebook Page!

Church Website Ideas Has A New Facebook Page!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I am SO excited to announce that Church Website Ideas has a new Facebook page! YAY! That Page has been a long time coming. I’d …

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So Grateful To My April Sponsors

So Grateful To My April Sponsors

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

My Sponsors are absolutely heaven-sent! And I’m so grateful to them! They make Church Website Ideas possible because of their faithful, generous support. Travis Sinks …

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Ultimate Beginner’s Guide: How to Use Infographics to Create Fabulous Church Website Content

Ultimate Beginner’s Guide: How to Use Infographics to Create Fabulous Church Website Content

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

The goal of every piece of church website content you produce should be clear, simple communication. And, there’s no better way to clearly and simply …

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Do I Need A Website For My Church?

Do I Need A Website For My Church?

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

So, do I need a website for my church? That was the key question in an e-mail I received recently from one of my newsletter …

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Get More Website Traffic Free

Get More Website Traffic Free

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Want to get more website traffic free? One thing you can do to increase traffic is to optimize your website for search engines. But to …

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How to Use Tooltips to Make Your Website “Sticky”

How to Use Tooltips to Make Your Website “Sticky”

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

I just love sticky websites, don’t you? Sticky content refers to content published on a website, which has the purpose of getting a user to …

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A Billion THANKS To My January Sponsors

A Billion THANKS To My January Sponsors

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I’m so grateful for my sponsors! Seriously. They make Church Website Ideas possible because of their faithful, generous support. And, I’m really stoked that two …

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Ask The Readers: Is A Corporate Sponsor Page A Good Church Website Idea?

Ask The Readers: Is A Corporate Sponsor Page A Good Church Website Idea?

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Not long ago, while updating a couple of my social media accounts, one of the services prompted me to get in touch with an old …

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Church Website Maintenance: 25 Tasks You Can Outsource Today

Church Website Maintenance: 25 Tasks You Can Outsource Today

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

What thoughts come to mind when you hear the phrase “church website maintenance”? Church website maintenance is time-consuming If you’re a busy leader in a …

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What Is The Purpose Of A Church Website?

What Is The Purpose Of A Church Website?

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Design

What is the purpose of a church website? Good question! I’ve read several articles on this topic around the Internet. At least a couple I’ve …

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Best Church Website Ideas of 2014

Best Church Website Ideas of 2014

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Design

It’s year-end, goal setting time! If you’ve been brainstorming simple ways to make your website a more effective ministry tool during 2015, here are seven …

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The Easy Way to Apply Church Website Color Schemes

The Easy Way to Apply Church Website Color Schemes

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Successfully picking and combining colors to produce beautiful palettes for visual design projects is both an art and science. Color pickers and palette (or color …

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How to Increase Spiritual Fruit in a Digital World

How to Increase Spiritual Fruit in a Digital World

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

As a member of His family, God is deeply concerned that my life produces spiritual fruit (John 15:16). But, how do I walk that out …

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THANKS to My November Sponsors!

THANKS to My November Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

God is so gracious! He’s given me many gifts, skills, abilities, and talents. Bookkeeping isn’t one of them. That’s why I’m SO GRATEFUL for my …

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Church Website Ideas Is A Flipboard Magazine

Church Website Ideas Is A Flipboard Magazine

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

The interwebs are full of discussions and advice about church tech. A lot of it is rock solid guidance, full of wisdom and value. Some …

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The Church Lingo Page is Your Website’s “Secret Decoder Ring” (Part 2)

The Church Lingo Page is Your Website’s “Secret Decoder Ring” (Part 2)

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Years ago—before God rescued me—I ran with a circle of fun-loving Puerto Ricans. We were employed at the same company, and worked the same crazy-late …

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Many Thanks to My AWESOME Sponsors!

Many Thanks to My AWESOME Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I’m so grateful for my Sponsors. They make Church Website Ideas possible because of their faithful, generous support. Unique, Christian-themed graphics, images, and media products …

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How to “Decode” Your Church Website Content (Part 1)

How to “Decode” Your Church Website Content (Part 1)

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Visiting a new church is stressful. It’s not easy to walk into a new, unfamiliar environment. Chances are, to alleviate some of the pressure, your …

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The Secret to Creating Inspiring Ministry Descriptions

The Secret to Creating Inspiring Ministry Descriptions

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Composing ministry descriptions that are both informative and inspiring to visitors of your church website is a bit of a balancing act. It’s also easier …

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THANK YOU September Sponsors!

THANK YOU September Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Church Website Ideas is made possible because of the faithful, generous support of my AWESOME sponsors. Unique, Christian-themed graphics, images, and media products, high-quality content …

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Church Website Design Tools: 3 Cool Finds

Church Website Design Tools: 3 Cool Finds

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Church website design and content creation is made so much easier with the right tools. It’s been awhile since a post was published here pointing …

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Special Thanks to My August Sponsors

Special Thanks to My August Sponsors

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Summer in the U.S. may be drawing to a close (oh, say it ain’t so!), but my sponsors are still AWESOME! Church Website Ideas is …

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Outsourcing: How to Work Smarter and Get Things Done

Outsourcing: How to Work Smarter and Get Things Done

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Building and maintaining a church website is time-consuming work. Accomplishing even small, simple tasks can be a huge challenge for the lone church Web worker …

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THANK YOU July Sponsors!

THANK YOU July Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Church Website Ideas is absolutely made possible because of the generous support of my sponsors. They are AWESOME! Their high quality products and services provide …

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7 Simple Web Design Tips for a User-Friendly Church Website

7 Simple Web Design Tips for a User-Friendly Church Website

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Design

Creating a satisfying and fruitful user experience takes a lot of time and consistent, ongoing effort (read: improvements never stop). Here are seven simple web …

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Church Website Ideas Made ChurchMag’s Top 30 Church Tech Blogs List [2014]

Church Website Ideas Made ChurchMag’s Top 30 Church Tech Blogs List [2014]

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

JUMPIN’ FOR JOY! I just learned that Church Website Ideas made ChurchMag’s list of Top 30 Church Tech Blogs for 2014! ChurchMag’s Top Church Tech …

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Special THANKS to my June Sponsors

Special THANKS to my June Sponsors

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

My sponsors are truly Heaven sent, and I sincerely thank God for them. Church Website Ideas is absolutely made possible because of their generous support. …

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A Church Website Powered by WordPress: What to Know

A Church Website Powered by WordPress: What to Know

By: Steven Gliebe|Posted in: Tools & Resources

It’s possible you’ve heard of WordPress. It powers tens of millions of websites and is a popular solution for church websites. The WordPress project began …

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THANK YOU May Sponsors!

THANK YOU May Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I sincerely thank God for all of my sponsors! Church Website Ideas is absolutely made possible because of their generous support. Their high quality products …

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12 AWESOME Student Ministry Websites for Your Inspiration

12 AWESOME Student Ministry Websites for Your Inspiration

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

My last post about youth ministry websites contains a roundup of expert advice to help youth pastors think through whether or not creating a website …

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SPECIAL THANKS To My April Sponsors!

SPECIAL THANKS To My April Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

So excited! Another awesome month! During April, Lightstock became a “Double Portion” Sponsor! WooHoo! “Double Portion” Sponsors provide an added blessing to Church Website Ideas, …

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Youth Ministry Ideas: How To Create A Magnetic Youth Ministry Website (Link Roundup)

Youth Ministry Ideas: How To Create A Magnetic Youth Ministry Website (Link Roundup)

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Website Ideas

These days, using the web to organize and share your youth ministry ideas and content with teens (and their parents) is a no-brainer. After all, …

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THANK YOU March Sponsors!

THANK YOU March Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Another awesome month! During March, I launched the Church Website Ideas newsletter, and welcomed one new sponsor. I’m also excited, because a new sponsor I …

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Link Roundup: Get Your Church Website Ready For Easter

Link Roundup: Get Your Church Website Ready For Easter

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Is your church website ready for Easter? The Easter season is just around the corner. When people begin thinking about where they’ll attend services on …

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A Productivity Tip For Smart, Creative People

A Productivity Tip For Smart, Creative People

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I really enjoy being a creative Web worker. But, sometimes, the work can be as tough as nails. On the one hand, I just love …

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THANK YOU February Sponsors!

THANK YOU February Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Super stoked this month! Three new sponsors joined me during February to support the work here at Church Website Ideas. Woohoo! I thank God for …

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600+ Free Worship Loops For Churches

600+ Free Worship Loops For Churches

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Years ago, as the Media Ministry leader for a local small church, I discovered free worship loops for Easyworship. What a refreshing change they were …

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Choosing An Online Giving Solution For Your Church Website (Part 2)

Choosing An Online Giving Solution For Your Church Website (Part 2)

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

In my last post, Choosing An Online Giving Solution For Your Church Website (Part 1),  I presented an overview of what you can expect as …

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Big THANK YOU To My January Sponsors!

Big THANK YOU To My January Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I thank God for my sponsors! Church Website Ideas is made possible because of their generous support. Their church website solutions offer high quality and …

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Choosing An Online Giving Solution For Your Church Website (Part 1)

Choosing An Online Giving Solution For Your Church Website (Part 1)

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Choosing an online giving solution for your church website should be pretty painless, right? Well, as I’ve been researching the idea of proposing online giving …

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14 Ideas For Building Profitable Church Donation Page Content

14 Ideas For Building Profitable Church Donation Page Content

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Offering the convenience of online giving is one practical way we can use our church website to care for God’s family (Galatians 6:10). I began …

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Special THANKS To My December Sponsors

Special THANKS To My December Sponsors

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

Image Credit: My personal thanks to Drew Goodmanson of Monk Development for the beautiful holiday graphic. Merry Christmas from Church Website Ideas! Church Website Ideas …

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Online Giving For Churches: Is It Spiritually Profitable?

Online Giving For Churches: Is It Spiritually Profitable?

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

Is online giving for churches spiritually profitable? Can it be? I think so. In my last post, I talked about how some churches communicate the …

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Online Giving For Churches: How To Make Cheerful Givers

Online Giving For Churches: How To Make Cheerful Givers

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Web Content

I used to be horrible at saving money. But several years ago, God used a particularly difficult season (financially and spiritually) to help me get …

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Huge THANKS To My November Sponsors

Huge THANKS To My November Sponsors

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I just love this image. Basically, the illustrator drew the characters “signing” (American Sign Language) the words Thank You. The image credit is at the …

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Preview WordPress 3.8 Features You Can Test Drive TODAY

Preview WordPress 3.8 Features You Can Test Drive TODAY

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Tools & Resources

WordPress 3.8 is scheduled for release on December 12th. YAY! WordPress 3.7, released about a month ago, was all about functional improvements. We saw plenty …

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A Great Big THANK YOU To My October Sponsors!

A Great Big THANK YOU To My October Sponsors!

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

I’m in the home stretch finishing up site transition tasks. YAY! I’m so ready to begin creating content. But, I just couldn’t go one more …

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Church Website Ideas Has A New Owner/Editor

Church Website Ideas Has A New Owner/Editor

By: Grace McCrorie|Posted in: Perspectives

If you follow @jesseorndorff in the Twitter-sphere, you may have seen a tweet or two at the beginning of July this year, indicating that the …

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Stay Focused – 8 Apps That Will Keep You Focused

Stay Focused – 8 Apps That Will Keep You Focused

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

We live in a busy world. Endless amounts of data are being presented to us, and all of them are fighting for a small piece …

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Urban City Theme Review

Urban City Theme Review

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

I am starting a new, hopefully weekly, feature were I review various church website services and offerings. This week I wanted to take a look …

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Organize Your CSS Properties Alphabetically

Organize Your CSS Properties Alphabetically

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

Everyone who writes code does it a little differently. Sometimes we get lazy, or we don’t know any better, or there isn’t a clear standard. …

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Creative Bible Verse: Proverbs 24:3

Creative Bible Verse: Proverbs 24:3

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Proverbs is a wealth of wisdom, because of this, my wife and I love to read a chapter before bed. As creative people, God has …

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Setting Smart Goals for Your Church Website

Setting Smart Goals for Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

I am writing a series of posts about setting goals for your church website. I’ve talked about goal setting before. In this post I want …

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The Old & New Project

The Old & New Project

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

The Old & New Project launched last week and it is an amazing showcase of illustrations from the bible. The Old & New Project features …

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Why I Removed Search

Why I Removed Search

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I am running a test. Something that might drastically change how a user interacts with Church Website Ideas. Last night I decided to remove the …

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8 Best WordPress Themes for Churches or Non-Profits

8 Best WordPress Themes for Churches or Non-Profits

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

I love WordPress. When done right, using WordPress for your church website is a great choice for a CMS. Unfortunately, there are not a lot …

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Why I Started Running

Why I Started Running

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

From time to time I post random things from my life in a effort to possibly help encourage people. I want to share part of …

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6 Tools for Responsive Web Design

6 Tools for Responsive Web Design

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

It seems like responsive web design is here to stay. I recently started designing and developing my new projects around the responsive web design methodology. …

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Your Path, Your Passion, His Calling

Your Path, Your Passion, His Calling

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Life can be crazy, it can be busy, it can be hard, but if you are following what God has called you to do, you …

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Fear of Failure?

Fear of Failure?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

What are you afraid of? You’re afraid. Getting more done would mean exposing yourself to considerable risk, to crossing bridges, to putting things into the …

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Creative Bible Verse: Amos 4:13

Creative Bible Verse: Amos 4:13

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Creative Bible Verse is a feature that explores the bible and what the Word has to say about creativity and our relationship with God. For …

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8 Things You Need to Setup Your Own Web Server

8 Things You Need to Setup Your Own Web Server

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Original Server Photo by: Tom Raftery via Flickr For some of us, paying a hosting service is worth the monthly cost. Being able to hand …

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Dribbble Invite Winner: David Pohlmeier

Dribbble Invite Winner: David Pohlmeier

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Well, I suck. It took me FOREVER to pick out a winner for the Dribbble contest! Thank you to everyone who entered! I am happy …

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

Enjoy the long weekend with your family & friends!

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Dribbble Invite Giveaway

Dribbble Invite Giveaway

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Dribbble is one of my favorite sites! It is a huge invite only site for designers to share what they are working on, and I …

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Creative Bible Verse: Exodus 35: 31-33

Creative Bible Verse: Exodus 35: 31-33

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Creative Bible Verse is a feature that explores the bible and what the Word has to say about creativity and our relationship with God. and …

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Holiday Apple Gift Guide for Church Creatives

Holiday Apple Gift Guide for Church Creatives

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

It’s coming up on the holiday season, and it’s time to start thinking about gifts for family and friends. It might also be time to …

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5 Great Free PSD Files for Designers

5 Great Free PSD Files for Designers

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

A great way to learn how to design is to look at other designers PSD files. I spend a lot of time breaking apart other …

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Ministry Related Blogs You Should Follow

Ministry Related Blogs You Should Follow

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I often get asked, what type of blogs do I follow? As part of my effort to stay in touch while living outside of the …

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Being Creative Takes Focus

Being Creative Takes Focus

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Creative people have a bad reputation. We have a perception that we are unorganized messes. The problem with this idea, is that being creative takes …

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Creative Bible Verse: Genesis 4:21

Creative Bible Verse: Genesis 4:21

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Creative Bible Verse is a new feature that explores the bible and what the Word has to say about creativity and our relationship with God. …

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The Sad State of the Online Church

The Sad State of the Online Church

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Make your church website better. That’s the battle cry I have been trying to shout for the last few years. It’s the reason I started …

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Speechless.

Speechless.

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I have no words.

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Going Through the Motions

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

With the ebb and flow of life, I have to remind myself to slow down. To be intentional. To focus on what is important and …

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Church Website Inspiration: Irving Bible Church

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

I found this website this week and thought it was a great example of a focused church website. Irving Bible Church’s website features a large …

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Adobe Please Leave TypeKit Alone

Adobe Please Leave TypeKit Alone

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

It’s official. Adobe has bought one of my favorite startups – TypeKit. TypeKit is a service that allows you to legally embed web fonts on …

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Our Refreshed Look

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

If you have have been a visitor here over the last few years, you know that I change the design randomly to appeal to my …

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Artistic Inspiration: David Fokos

Artistic Inspiration: David Fokos

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Drop what you are doing and check out David Fokos. He’s been my favorite photographer for years and his minimalistic photography will mess with your …

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How I Screwed Up My Twitter Account

How I Screwed Up My Twitter Account

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I have to make a confession. I hate Twitter. Hate is such a strong word, but Twitter is a blackhole, sucking the life out of …

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Quotable: Howard Schultz

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

What is driving your actions today? When we love something, emotion often drives our actions. This is the gift and the challenge entrepreneurs face every …

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Want a Google+ Invite? We have a bunch.

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

So Google+ is really cool. But it’s still in beta and you have to be a cool kid in order to get an invite. Well, …

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It’s Been Awhile.

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Ok. It’s been well over a month since I have posted anything. It would be an understatement to say that life has been crazy, it …

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How To Setup Your Facebook Fan Page

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Traffic

Most churches are just starting to get their presence built on Facebook. Getting your Facebook fan page is the first step. This short tutorial will …

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25 Places to Find Photos Online

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

First, you need to find a great image. This starts by identifying what message you want to convey. An image the matches in tones, and …

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Defined: What Is The Cloud?

Defined: What Is The Cloud?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Image Credit: mnsc @fickr The internet is always changing, it is always adapting, and it is always has something new to offer. The concept of …

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PSD Freebie – 16px Icons for Designers

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Free stuff is awesome! If you are a designer, you will love having this nice and simple 16px icon set laying around. PSD is included …

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6 Great Apps for Your Jailbroken iOS Device

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Apple products. I especially love my iPhone 3GS. But iOS doesn’t have all the features I want, …

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Creative Tech Bundle

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

Last week I was notified from our advertising network, Beacon Ads, that Church Website Ideas was featured in an advertising bundle focusing on the creative …

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Cool Things We Found This Week – May 27th, 2011

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Each week we highlight cool things we found on the internet. We spend way too much time looking at blogs and archiving websites in our …

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Quotable – Andy Stanley

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

What is your tipping point? “Often times a single act of courage, is the tipping point for something extraordinary.” – Andy Stanley

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5 Questions To Ask Before You Contact A Web Designer

5 Questions To Ask Before You Contact A Web Designer

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

I chat with web design clients all the time about their website projects. We talk about website goals, budgets, features, competitors, and technology. Looking back …

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I Love Subtle Patterns

I Love Subtle Patterns

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

This site is my new favorite. I am always looking for nice, clean, high quality patterns for my designs. Subtle Patterns gives you the ability …

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Cool Things We Found This Week – May 20, 2011

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I save just about every helpful web article I come across. At the end of the week, I would like to share the coolest ones …

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These Folks Keep Us Going

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Since launching this blog I have had the chance to meet some great people and very interesting companies. Once again I want to highlight our …

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Bundle Hunt Is Back, Still Awesome.

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

So I have no connection to Bundle Hunt, but whenever I see a pack like this for sale, I jump on it. The great thing …

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Quotable: Seth Godin

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Are you trying to make a change? Will you accept the responsibility without anything else? “Change is made by people who eagerly accept responsibility without …

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13 Apps From My Digital Toolbox

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

I always enjoy when people share the tools they use everyday to do their jobs. Today I am sharing with you a few of my …

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Is Your Pastor Bad At Blogging? Try Tumblr!

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

I have previously blogged about pastors being really bad at updating their blogs. Blogging is hard work, takes time, resources, and patience. Recently a client …

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Quotable: T.D. Jakes

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

What are you passionate about? “When people are passionate about what they do, they are far more effective in what they do.” – T.D. Jakes

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Simple CMS: A Preview of a Simple CMS

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

This is our first in a series of content management system previews. Church Website Ideas is taking time to highlight content management systems that we …

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Happy Easter

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

Happy Easter from Church Website Ideas! I am praying that today people will come to your church and experience the joy of the God who …

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4 New Twitter Tools for Your Church

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Twitter is a big deal to some people that attend your church. I have believe that we should use as many platforms as possible to …

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11 Great Ways to Publish Your Sermon Online

11 Great Ways to Publish Your Sermon Online

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

One of the hardest battles for small to mid-size churches is how to get their sermons online. The benefits of adding your sermons to your …

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Why Your Meetings Suck

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I’ll be honest, I really hate meetings. I never really knew why I hated meetings until I read Re:Work from the fine folks at 37signals. …

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5 Free Fonts For Your Designs

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

I love finding new fonts. I wanted to share with you five recent fonts I have come across that I am loving to use in …

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Another social media app…

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I ran across another social community building application for your church. The Table Project is a very interesting and free application that will allow you …

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Website Idea #4 – Make Your Site Mobile

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

Let’s be honest, you haven’t given any thought to making your church website mobile friendly. With smartphones everywhere in the US, as web designers we …

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Website Idea #3 – Optimize Your Web Forms

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

I am a big fan of clean and simple websites. I also believe that your contact forms should also be simple and easy to use. …

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Check Our New Sponsor – PushChurch Podcast

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

At Church Website Ideas, this blog is supported by our advertisers and we love them for supporting our mission for helping kill ugly church websites. …

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Website Idea #2 – Add A Google Map

Website Idea #2 – Add A Google Map

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

Getting people to your church can be hard work. You would be surprised how many church websites I see without a directions/location page! But even …

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The Standard Theme Switch

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

I have made a few changes to Church Website Ideas today. First is the new design, which really was pushed by our move to the …

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My Predictions for the Online Church in 2011

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Ok, I am still here and still focusing on church websites. I wanted to start off this new year by laying down my predictions for …

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The Disadvantages of Flash

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

Adobe’s Flash technology has recently come under much debate in the design community. One one side of the debate, the strong willed Flash designers and …

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Increase Your Facebook Fans

Increase Your Facebook Fans

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Traffic

Facebook is where you church is at. Most people at your church use their Facebook account just about as much as they use email. So …

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Church Website Ideas on Facebook

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

Well, this has been a slow week for posts, but I have one piece of news that I want to share with you. We are …

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Web Designers vs Web Developers

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

This was just too good. Had to share it. Source: Web Designers vs. Web Developers

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Website Idea #1: Personilize Your Church Website With Your Photo

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

Website Ideas is a new series that features quick tips on how to better improve your church website. Personalize your church website by featuring your …

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7 Donation WordPress Plugins for Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Developing your church website on WordPress is a great solution for most churches. It’s free, there are thousands of great themes, and you can extend …

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A book to read: Linchpin

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I am big fan of Seth Godin. If you don’t know who Seth Godin is, you can visit his site here. Seth Godin is a …

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7 Emotions of Web Design

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Taking on a new design project is exciting, I love feeling God’s inspiration, working hard, and delivering a great design project.  But with each new …

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Case Study in Web Design: Westwood Christian Assembly

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I want to introduce you to Westwood Christian Assembly in Seattle, WA. Westwood is your typical mid-size church located in a urban community. Westwood has …

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9 Blogs You Should Be Reading

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I love blogs. I love finding great content to read on a daily basis. Today I wanted to share a few links from my Google …

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Where does inspiration come from?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

I heard an interesting sermon last Sunday at my church about inspiration. It made me think, where do we reach for inspiration. The christian answer …

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My deal for your church website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

I have been extremely busy the last few months. I am a full time flash designer and developer, I run a freelance business, and I …

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I think pastors are cheap

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Yep, I said it. I think pastors and churches are cheap. Now, I am not saying all are, I know there are some churches that …

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Why Thesis Theme Rules

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Recently we posted a list of top content management systems for churches and ministries. While all of these systems are great for building your website …

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Church Website Ideas Growing Pains

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

This week was a slow posting week for Church Website Ideas, we have been undergoing a few changes and unfortunately I didn’t have the time …

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Did the iPad Change My Life?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

“This will change how I work!” That is what I told myself anyway. When I saw the Apple announcement for the iPad, I started to …

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What Kind of Designer Are You?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Make no mistake about it, some of the largest companies in the world are technology companies. Right now some of the most innovative, lifestyle changing …

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7 Best Email Marketing Software Apps for Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

As a church you have special needs when it comes to marketing. It has to have a large reach, have impact, generate a response, be …

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What did you dream about?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Today I am doing something different. I wanted to share my heart, my passion, challenge you, and I want to pray for you. We all …

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The 7 Best CMS Systems for Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

As a web designer, developer, or church staff member, you have to update your church website. Usually it is a small change, updating an event, …

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The Art of Saying N

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

One of the most powerful words in the English language is my least favorite word: No. I am someone that likes to hear the word, …

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The Future of the Church Website?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Once again the Internet is at a turning point, with HTML 5 moving to web standards, everyone is on Facebook, and for the first time …

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Things that annoy me as the “Church Website Guy”

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

This is more of a rant post than anything. Being the website guy/girl at your church often you get asked to do a variety of …

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5 Quick Tips to Improve Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

Summer is over, well at least in the Northwest it is. So time to retreat to our offices and get back to work! Today I …

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6 Free Pastor Tools For Online Goal Tracking

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

After our last post about setting goals for your church website, we felt it was important to highlight a few tools pastors can use to …

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Setting Goals for Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

Goal setting, whether it is for your job, or your website can be a difficult task. Often I find myself forgetting to set goals for …

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Developing A Vision For Your Church Website

Developing A Vision For Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

Your church website is likely the first place most people will visit long before stepping through your church doors. But today, most church websites read …

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4 New Church Sites for 2010

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

I am always on the look out for great church websites. We have highlighted some of our favorites on our Top Church Websites of 2010 …

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38 Free Creative Fonts for Your Designs

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

We are all fans of free fonts. I bookmark every free font I come across and today I want to share some of them with …

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Importance of Online Giving For Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

This post discusses one of the primary issues concerning online giving for churches. A pastor I know is looking into adding online giving to his …

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22 CSS Layout Tutorials and Tricks

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

CSS is the style guide for all websites, it tells the browser what the page should look like. Today I share with you 22 resources …

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Outreach and Genesis WordPress Theme Review

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Studio Press is a WordPress template company that has over 20 different WordPress themes that are ready for your WordPress site. StudioPress is also one …

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7 Blog Posts to Check Out

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I wanted to share with you 7 links I was challenged to post. I looked back at all my previous posts to share with you …

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10 Reasons Not to Upset Your Church Website Designer

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

We have all been there, upset, angry, and really, downright pissed off. It happens for all sorts of reasons, missed deadlines, unreasonable requests, endless after …

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PSD to HTML Services

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

PSD to HTML conversion services are nothing new to the industry, but if you enjoy design more than coding or if you don’t have the …

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No One is Reading Your Pastor’s Blog

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Talk to most church website compaines and they will tell you that your pastors should be blogging. That it will connect your congregation with your …

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5 New Online Event Planning Tools

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Planning church events can be time consuming and overwhelming. Today we bring you 8 tools that will help you manage your next church event, party …

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21 Additional Free Video Loops

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

This is a follow up to one of our most popular blog posts, 21 Free Video Loops For Churches. As some have pointed out in …

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Favorites of the Week – May 28th

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

I spend hours everyday finding great resources, images, galleries, and code to share. Each week I want to share with you some of my favorite resources I …

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Making Sure Your Video Is Legal

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

There has been a lot of news recently about HTML5 and the use of video. Apple is endorsing a codec (a way of encoding video) called h.264, but with any new technology it is important to understand the licensing issues involved and to make sure your church is not breaking any type of licensing requirements.  After the break I will walk you h.264 and what to expect if you are posting videos to your church website.

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I emailed Steve Jobs about iAd and HTML5, his response…

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

This morning I emailed Steve Jobs. My full time job is designing and developing flash ads and I wanted to make sure that I am …

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I got an iPad. Wonder what God would think?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I bought an iPad this weekend. I had to wait 2 hours in line. Would I wait in line for two hours to get in …

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Freebie of the Day – Video Road Movie Loop

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Everyday, I try to bring you a free item to use for your website, in your church, or for any project you might have! Today …

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iPad for the Church?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

After nearly a decade of rumors Apple finally unveiled the much hyped Apple Tablet, the iPad. While this device could never live up to the mass hype that internet has built over the last decade, most people seem to be disappointed in Apple’s latest gadget. Not me. I see a tool that can help pastors and the church. After the break I outline few a reasons why this device will help you.

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20 of the Best Church Website Designs

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

Churches have always have a hard time fighting the persona of being slow to adopt new trends.  In web design churches have made up a lot of ground. I am very happy to see that a lot of churches are putting emphasis on their church websites!

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28 High Quality Graphics for Your Sermon Series

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

A friend of mine recently introduced me to CreativeMYK, a site dedicated to providing church designers free resources for their designs. The idea is simple, create an account, provide some of your stuff to share and network with other designers. The site is very cool and provides a ton a resources for designers new and old.

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Why No One Visits Your Church Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

“I just don’t think our church is using our website.” It’s an issue I hear all the time.  The truth is that this has very little to do with your website design. It really has to do you and how your church utilizes your website.

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Freebie of the Day – Free Website Template For Your Church

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Everyday I am bringing you my lastest finds from around the ‘net. Today comes a free fully functional website from Forest Theme! Check out the …

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Freebie of the Day – Reflect Media HD After Effects Video

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Everyday I am bringing you my latest free find of the day! Today is a very cool HD After Effects video source file from the …

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Freebie of the Day – Bible Apps for iPhone, WebOS, Andriod, and Blackberry

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Today I wanted to share with you a small collection of free mobile apps for your smart phone. I love gadgets and I love being …

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Freebie of the Day – Youth Pastor Toolkit

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Well all love free! So in honor of free, everyday I am adding a free resource for you to use on your website or something …

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Freebie of the Day – Fall Video Countdown Timer

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Today I am going to start sharing with you all a free item of the day. What type of item? Depends! It can be a …

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Church Website Ideas: Google Business Listings

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Traffic

The most common question I get when talking to pastors and church website staff is: “How can I get my church to show up on …

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22 High Quality Video Loops for Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Two weeks ago we shared 21 free video loops for churches. Well, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. This list includes …

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22 Church Website Design Inspiration Galleries

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Design

We all need a little inspiration from time to time. Today I share with you 22 websites you can use that will inspire your next …

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27 Online Tools For New Church Website Designers

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

It can be difficult if you are tossed into updating your church website and have no idea what you are doing. I want to provide …

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A blog you should be reading! (Part 1)

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

I am going to start sharing with you all more from my Google reader. I currently have 67 christian blogs the I subscribe to. These …

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21 Free Video Loop Files for Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

Video can provide a wonderful dimension to a worship service, it can serve as a great tool for intro for sermon series, and can provide …

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23 Podcasting Tools for Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

A lot of the questions I have received over the last few weeks have been in regards to podcasting. Podcasting is a great tool we …

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Zondervan Launches New Social Network for Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Uncategorized

Last November Zondervan bought a community building platform from Mars Hill Church, named simply, The City. Zondervan has now re-launched The City out to the …

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Top 10 Pastors to Follow on Twitter

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

It has been awhile since our list real update, so now that things have calmed down over at Simple Church Marketing, we will be getting …

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17 Images for Memorial Day

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

I wanted to take time today to share wit you some images in honor of memorial day. Often it is easy for me just to …

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16 More Online Apps For Your Church – File Storage and Email

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

This is the last of the online application posts for awhile, I think. Today we look at file storage and email marketing apps. Churches should …

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24 Collaboration, Workgroup, Conference, Presentation & Meeting Tools For Pastors

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Yesterday I shared Top Chart, Diagram, and Whiteboard Tools for Pastors. Today we look at the top applications for collaboration with your team! Managing your …

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Top Chart, Diagram, and Whiteboard Tools for Pastors

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Yesterday we covered online calender and scheduling tools for pastors. Today we move on to online chart, diagram, and whiteboard tools for pastors. Each of …

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What is Church Website Ideas?

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Website Ideas

I wanted to take time this week to organize my thoughts about what the overall vision is for Church Website Ideas. To be honest, I …

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Online Tools for Pastors Part 1: Appointments and Calendars

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

This week I am going to share with you online tools that pastors should be using. Today is part one: Appointments and Calendars. I have …

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Top 12 Pastor Blogs to Help Deepen Your Faith

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

I love blogs! I love that all the content I want is sent to me so I can read it on my time. I enjoy …

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Spring Images for April Inspiration

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Happy April Fool’s Day! Instead of the typical jokes, fake news articles, or photoshoped images I am happy to share with you some Spring images …

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Bottom 3 Reasons to Use Google Docs

By: Brent Colby|Posted in: Tools & Resources

This week we are reviewing the bottom three reasons to use Google Docs. G-Docs (that is what we call it in the hood) is an online service that allows you to manage documents online.

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39 Apps to Organize Your Church and Life

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

A lot of companies have really embraced the Web 2.o movement and the church can make use of a lot of the applications available online. …

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46 Joomla Resources for Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

It’s all about Joomla today! Joomla is a free, open source Content Management System that is used to power a ton of websites. It has …

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Top 23 Websites from the 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

Today we wanted to take a look through Outreach Magazines 100 Fastest Growing Churches and see what those churches were up to online. We were …

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21 Facebook Apps For Your Church

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Yesterday we shared with you 45 Twitter App For Your Church, today we are going to share with you 21 Facebook Apps for Your Church! …

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45 Twitter Apps for Churches

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Today we share with you 45 Twitter apps that churches can benefit from! Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users …

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Top 3 Reasons That Google Docs Will Help Your Ministry

By: Brent Colby|Posted in: Tools & Resources

Here are the top three reasons that Google Docs will help your ministry team get the word out to your church. None of these ideas …

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7 Reasons Your Church Should Use MySpace

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Perspectives

MySpace has been around for six years now, it’s not going anywhere. I still talk to churches that are not sure if they want to …

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200+ Free Icons

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Freebies

We are always looking for new icons. We are happy to share with you over 200 icons that you can use for your design projects …

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30 Images to Inspire Your Designs

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

I love photography. I am always looking for new inspiration when it comes to designing websites. Exploring other mediums of art and design give us …

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Find Powerful Images for Your Website

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Tools & Resources

This is a follow up article to “Make Your Website Better“. I wanted to take a chance over the next few days to dive deeper …

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Make Your Church Website Better Today

By: Jesse Orndorff|Posted in: Web Content

This was a post I originally made on my business website simplechurchmarketing.com. The idea was to get some basic information to pastors to help them …

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