Media Outreach

Check out my interview with Diane Kist at Whitewater Crossing Christian Church.

1. Can you give me some background about the church and how long you have been there? Whitewater Crossing enjoyed a rebirth several years ago, buying 72 acres of land and not looking back! Over the past four years, they’ve actually tripled in size and have again started to run out of space–a great problem to have! Diane Kist has been at Whitewater since 2002 and currently serves as Assistant to Senior and Office Manager, where she is in charge of scheduling, keeping communication open for the staff and the calendar, as well as the website.

How has the use of technology changed the way you do church? They have been doing almost everything electronically! So much more communication with the congregation has been possible like online giving, database management, and more, and their paper trail is all but gone. The church has also set up a Facebook page, their own channel on YouTube, and account with Twitter

How are you using media to communicate your message? They are using projectors during worship to display words and video content, recording their sermons online, and they are hoping to begin to stream live sermons online as well in the near future. However, they don’t neglect “traditional” forms of advertising like yard signs, billboards, and mail-outs to the communities around the church.

Has the use of technology helped your ministry change lives? Technology makes church a lot more “interesting” and easy for people to invite others to hear the message–they have even created a Small Groups DVD in-house that is being sent to Afghanistan and around the world. Throughout it all, they have an “open-door” policy that invites people to come and check them out, but at the same time the key is to get people to the church to hear a message that’s biblical in nature

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The internet has become the most engaging tool in our culture for engaging  and connecting people.   Now, more than ever, churches are utilizing a website to communicate their message.   Once a website is created it resides on a server, this is typically referred to as hosting.   Many people are familiar with hosting and may have even seen advertisements for “Free or cheap hosting.”  The old adage, “You get what you pay” never rings more true than in the technology realm.

Hosting is an important part of website technology, but there are many needs that can only be met through an Application Service Provider, or ASP.

An ASP deploys, hosts and manages access to an application to multiple parties from a centrally managed facility.  An ASP is quite simply a company which, for a set monthly fee, delivers applications (software) to its clients through the Internet.  Software is traditionally sold; you physically receive a CD which you install on your hard drive or your office server. ASPs operate quite differently, by using the Internet as a medium to deliver software as a monthly service.

As an Application Service Provider, faithHighway addresses every need.  We provide an easy-to-use Content Management System that empowers Pastors, church leaders, and volunteers to maintain the most important part of their website, the content. This means that every time you want to make a change to something on your site, you don’t need go to tech school for 4 years or make a phone call to your webmaster; you can simply get on your website and make the changes yourself!

As the largest full-time web development company serving churches and ministries nationwide, faithHighway has received ongoing feedback from our large pool of churches and ministries. We are constantly developing new tools and features to improve ministry online, so you can relevantly connect with and engage young families, youth, etc. in your community. Along with ongoing access to the latest tools and features, your website is designed to grow with your ministry. We also provide every client with unlimited file storage with virtually no file size restrictions.

Here are some more benefits to using an ASP

• Being web-based, your church will have access to software literally anywhere in the world with internet access.
• You drastically reduce the risk of a bad technology investment.
• Better availability of applications, better security for your data, more frequent backups of your data, centralized technical support.
• You can spend more time focusing on the ministry that God has called you to, and less time on IT concerns.

As an Application Service Provider, faithHighway exceeds the needs of churches and ministries by providing unparalleled simplicity, scalability, security, and stability. Keeping website management simple, expandable, and functional continues to be increasingly more important as churches and ministries utilize technology for reaching people with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Photo By: Jamison_Judd

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The internet has become the most engaging tool in our culture for engaging  and connecting people.   Now, more than ever, churches are utilizing a website to communicate their message.   Once a website is created it resides on a server, this is typically referred to as hosting.   Many people are familiar with hosting and may have even seen advertisements for “Free or cheap hosting.”  The old adage, “You get what you pay” never rings more true than in the technology realm.

Hosting is an important part of website technology, but there are many needs that can only be met through an Application Service Provider, or ASP.

An ASP deploys, hosts and manages access to an application to multiple parties from a centrally managed facility.  An ASP is quite simply a company which, for a set monthly fee, delivers applications (software) to its clients through the Internet.  Software is traditionally sold; you physically receive a CD which you install on your hard drive or your office server. ASPs operate quite differently, by using the Internet as a medium to deliver software as a monthly service.

As an Application Service Provider, faithHighway addresses every need.  We provide an easy-to-use Content Management System that empowers Pastors, church leaders, and volunteers to maintain the most important part of their website, the content. This means that every time you want to make a change to something on your site, you don’t need go to tech school for 4 years or make a phone call to your webmaster; you can simply get on your website and make the changes yourself!

As the largest full-time web development company serving churches and ministries nationwide, faithHighway has received ongoing feedback from our large pool of churches and ministries. We are constantly developing new tools and features to improve ministry online, so you can relevantly connect with and engage young families, youth, etc. in your community. Along with ongoing access to the latest tools and features, your website is designed to grow with your ministry. We also provide every client with unlimited file storage with virtually no file size restrictions.

Here are some more benefits to using an ASP

• Being web-based, your church will have access to software literally anywhere in the world with internet access.
• You drastically reduce the risk of a bad technology investment.
• Better availability of applications, better security for your data, more frequent backups of your data, centralized technical support.
• You can spend more time focusing on the ministry that God has called you to, and less time on IT concerns.

As an Application Service Provider, faithHighway exceeds the needs of churches and ministries by providing unparalleled simplicity, scalability, security, and stability. Keeping website management simple, expandable, and functional continues to be increasingly more important as churches and ministries utilize technology for reaching people with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Photo By: Jamison_Judd

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With children out of school and the heat becoming unbearable outside, we realize that summer is upon us.  With summer, you will inevitably see more family trips, long drives, hotel stays and even big moves that will take most people away from their home church for long periods of time.  As a church, you want to make sure you are keeping these people connected.  You don’t want them to come back and feel like they have missed all of the great things that you did over the summer.

As my wife and I travel across the country, I see how important it is to stay connected to our church in Austin.  As we travel, we did not want to miss their summer preaching series or parent conference (we don’t have kids yet, but we want to be ready), and so we have been trying to listen to them online, but how great would it have been if we could have listened in real time to the sermons and conference and really be part of the worship.

Our sermon flow system is one of the most dynamic ways to present your media, but it was created to be the place you present all of your recorded, on demand media.  Now, we have created a way for you to plug live streaming into your website by using ustream or livestream!  That way, everyone can watch you media while it is happening, or at their leisure.  And, it is all done in an interface that they are used to, so they will be used to how to access the media they need.

In this world, it is important to make sure that we are connecting with people.  People are connecting with all kinds of things in all kinds of ways, and we want to make sure they are connecting with your church.  With SermonFlow and the ability to live stream, you will be able to make an even greater connection with people to retain members and grow your church.

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So I don’t think that I have spoken with one Pastor who would answer “No” to the question, “Would you like to raise more money for your ministry”? These days it is pretty much a no brainer to have some sort of online giving tool on your church website. Some of the main reasons are: giving members an opportunity to give easily other than on a Sunday morning, opening the doorway for people that aren’t members to give towards your vision, and just be very relevant to today’s culture of online banking. The list goes on why you should have online giving.

However, a good question to ask now is: What kind of online giving tools should I use for my church? How far do we go with this to raise funds effectively for our church? You can always plug in a simple giving online module that just lets people make a one-time donation to your church. Doing something like this of course is better than nothing. But have you ever thought of allowing members to tithe electronically or set up reoccurring automated giving? This will be something that helps you get a more constant stream of consistent giving established. Your church might be the kind of church that also has several ministries you would like people to designate their money towards. You cannot do these things with just your typical online payment gateway like Paypal or others. You can have this flexibility with Donate Linq though, which is faithHighway’s option to meet your giving needs.

Other than the above mentioned flexibility, Donate Linq allows its users to track their giving activity and also manage their own account with ease online. Why would you want to wait to raise more funds for the great vision you have been given to carry out?

Photo by: borman818

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