Customer Reviews

Web-Empower Your Church: Unleashing the Power of Internet Ministry

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mark Stephenson has written a good book on internet ministry, as it relates to the average church website. Mark is on staff with Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, OH. They have an active, community oriented website built using Typo, an open source content management system that they have customized into the Web Empowered Church (WEC). The only fault I can find for this book is that it is very narrow in solutions, with the WEC pushed as the best solution to churches communicating their message on the internet. After reading the book, the slant makes sense but I hoped it would be a broader scope. Nevertheless, Mark does a good job of covering why a church should have an rocking website and has many suggestions for what should go on there. It's a very non-technical read and is approachable from any experience level. I will use it in acquainting members of our church and ministry teams to web ministry.

I've been doing church websites for over 10 years, and wish I had the benefit of the teachings and tools presented in this book when I started. Many of the things the book talks about are lessons I learned through trial and error over this period. Many other issues, such as use of a Content Management System, were technical challenges that I thought were unobtainable, but now seem very possible. I found this to be a easy read and a worthwhile use of my time. Outstanding!

I have read and truly appreciated this book. Showed it to some church leaders who are set to get themselves a copy! It is great the way you are walked through the process of setting up the web ministry and what worked and did not. In a nutshell, they say, we made these mistakes, don't make them! Must read for anyone considering a minitry website! Especially if you are in touch with the current century

I found Web-Empower Your Church while researching the general topic of online services for churches. This is a great book, and provides demonstration software and training material to help jump-start the creation of a powerful web presence.

Stephenson writes from the perspective of someone creating Web content because he is passionate about being in ministry, and using the Web as a route to reach people. In that sense, it's a very genuine expression of his personal experience.

Key points:
- This is a practical, from the trenches guide to how to use the Internet to further your church's ministries.
- This is not a reference text nor a step-by-step guide - it gives guidelines and directions, but not enormous amounts of detail (there's no room in its 187 pages). For instance, the text suggests implementing policies to manage contributions to and comments on blogs and other user-generated feedback, and does give some guidance. However, it does not give explicit, detailed guidance for exactly what policies should be implemented - the details of this are things that each church will need to work out given their own circumstances.
- Both successes and failures are offered - it's very often instructive to learn what went wrong, so you don't inadvertently follow that path!

Wow! This book equips Christians to build and enhance a web ministry. It is easy to ready and is filled with practical encouragement.

I'm involved with our church's website and I found this book a hugh blessing. I'm recommending it to leaders in our church.

If you are interested in using today's technology to minister to members and the wider community, this book has much to offer you in your efforts.

It is worth the time to read it.

This book provides a rare, behind-the-curtains look into a very successful church website ministry. It describes how they did it, what didn't work, what went well, what became too successful and died, and how you can learn from them to avoid mistakes.

Mark Stephenson has written this book for those considering developing websites for ministry. If this applies to you then this book might really help. The biggest thing that it does is explain all of the tech & geek terms, which can really intimidate a novice. Stephenson writes from experience, and if you are new to websites, please please please listen to him and save yourself a lot of agony.

However, this book was written in 2006, and a LOT has changed since then, including:
- Web 2.0, including Facebook,Twitter and blogs, and
- WordPress, which is God's gift to novice website designers.

So, if you want to build a ministry website, read this short book, and then go to [...] and build a site in an hour.

On the other hand, if you've designed websites before, or you want to use Social Media in ministry, then this book is not going to help you.

This book was worthless. The CD did not work which is where the tutorials were for the actual programming instruction that was needed to have a web site. Total waste of money.