The website of the denomination has been a work in progress that was begun under my predecessor, Gerry Fisher.  When something is a work in progress it is a function of both a good and difficult thing; the notion that something can continually be improved upon is helpful.  The idea that we keep on realizing that we are missing things can be a challenge.  I am grateful to Gerry Fisher and to Steve Fisher for the early work in this area.  I am thankful to Ken Thiessen for the lions' share of revamping the website, which launched us into a new era.  I am particularly grateful for the input of the communications group under the chair of David Connop and the leadership that conceptualizes much of the new ways we have sought to communicate under the guidance of Bob Webber.  The extremely effective new level that the website has been improved yet again has been the work of Ceal Mclean who is the author of much of our writing and process at the CBWC.  She works with Brandon Webber, our webmaster, and continually seeks to revamp and re-evaluate what we do.  As I contemplated introducing the new website to you, I reflected on how bad an idea that was since, frankly, it would be the blind leading the blind, as I am not nearly as familiar with it as Ceal.  I've asked her some questions as to how we might benefit from the website.  Over the last five years, my own notion of the website is that it is like an "old village green or square" where people gather for encouragement, resources and learning, Ceal has made much of this possible.

Warmly

In Christ,

Jeremy

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Ceal, what is different about the website now than from before?  What does this new stage of the website look like?

The website is definitely a work in progress.  I don't suppose it will ever be done, but it has been vastly improved over the past year.  There are 3 major differences: 

•1.      Easier navigation

We have been working hard to make it easy to find useful information, move around the website, find the most popular information like job vacancies and church information, and to move between our main website and related websites.  It is no longer difficult to move back and forth among topics of interest to the reader or between the main website, http://www.cbwc.ca/ and the three websites focussed on regional content (http://www.bcyarea.cbwc.ca/, http://www.alberta.cbwc.ca/ and http://www.heartland.cbwc.ca/.) It has been a huge job, but Brandon has done great work to make all these improvements and to integrate content.  Most recently, Brandon has been able to add drop-down menus on all 4 websites so that viewers can easily find what is in each of the main menu tabs. 

We can't put everything on the home page, so some searching for information is needed.  To make that even easier, we have put popular Quick Links onto a sidebar menu so that people can go directly to items that are particularly interesting. 

The sidebar is also useful when drilling down to get more information on a topic.  For example, when a reader clicks on Ministries and chooses ‘Resource Ministries', the sidebar menu duplicates what is on the page by listing the various resource ministries - allowing readers to choose how they would like to access information.  The sidebar also contains the sub-menus found in the drop-down menu.  We're continuing to work on making this feature consistent throughout the entire website.

•2.     Up-to-date Content

We are working very hard to keep a steady stream of news articles posted onto the CBWC website and the 3 regional websites.  Our aim is to add at least a couple of articles to each site each month, sometimes more.  We post information and news of local and regional interest on the regional sites and articles that everyone would want to know about on the main website.  We have also been adding steadily to website content by adding items such as online versions of our print publications and all of our electronic publications, such as the Making Connections eNewsletter that goes to CBWC leaders.  Each month each regional minister writes a column, which you can find on the home page of the main website as well as on the appropriate regional site.  Also, as more resources  and information on ministries becomes available, we get them posted where it makes the most sense. 

We are experimenting by providing home page access to key events in our church life.  For example, at the moment the home page's ‘Welcome' section allows readers to click on it and get information and registration forms for the upcoming Gathering and BCY Pastors and Pastors & Spouses retreat.  Last month, we highlighted Opportunity Grants in this way.  When possible, we create an online registration function to make registering and paying for events like Assembly or the Banff Pastors Conference really easy. 

One of the new sections we've created is all about Church Planting.  We've created a lot of material for people hoping to start a church plant or to affiliate with the CBWC.  We've also created profiles of new church plants so that readers can learn more about what these new members of our CBWC community are like and ways in which they need our support and prayers. 

Almost every day, Brandon is working on keeping the job vacancies up to date.  He works very closely with Sharon Oncuil in the Edmonton office to get pastoral vacancies posted quickly and to take them off the website when they have been filled.  It is a big job to keep this current but they are both impressively on top of this task.  We also post the vacancies we know of for camps and ministries related to the CBWC.  We would like to encourage churches, camps and ministries to use our website more to help them staff job openings, since part of the website's purpose is to serve our churches and ministries.  Send us your job openings so we can help you get the word out!

We have put renewed emphasis on keeping the church directory up to date so that it is easy to find Canadian Baptist churches.  We are also trying to encourage our staff and all CBWC churches to use the calendar more so that everyone is aware of important dates in the life of the denomination.  Send us your event information - you can do this directly on the website by going to the News & Publications tab and clicking on ‘Submit News or Events'.

One of our most recent projects has been to provide information on Canadian Baptist authors and to describe their books.  We aren't quite done yet, since the list of authors continues to grow, but you can find this under ‘Spiritual Resources'.  Check them out.

•3.      Aesthetic Improvements

Brandon has been great at making the websites look good.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I think this is true.  Our best change has been finding and adding photos so that the website is friendlier and not just words, words, words.  We're trying to find ways to make the website bright and interesting.  Brandon continues to tweak the site to make our presentation of information consistent and easy to read.

If someone was new to the site, how would you suggest they familiarize themselves with it?

Start with the main menu, which runs horizontally across the top of the website.  Each tab has drop-down menus that make the website quite easy to navigate.  The drop-down menus drill deeper into each topic.  When viewers select one of these drop-down menus, they are taken to a new page.  The text of simple drop-down topics, such as ‘History' under the ‘About Us' tab, can be viewed right on the page.  More complex topics, such as any of the available resources or ministries, have been broken down into categories that can be accessed through a convenient sub-menu on the left side of the website.  This sub-menu also includes the other elements of the drop-down menu. 

We also have a special feature on the home page called Quick Links. You can find this on the left side of the home page.  Quick Links is a quick access route to popular pages, such as Jeremy's News & Notes, Job Vacancies, video blogs and Church Planting. We also highlight important partner ministries, like CBM, the CBWC Foundation and Carey Hall.

If you don't know where to look, try making a query through the ‘search' function available on every page.  Random browsing will also get readers familiar with the website quickly.  There is lots of interesting material that is worth spending your time on.
How can one use the site for personal and church resources?  For understanding ministries?  Supporting them in prayer?

The website has a wealth of resource information available for individuals, pastors and churches.  Under pastoral resources, pastors can find things like the CBWC Culture Statement, information on credentials and sabbaticals, and MIP forms.  Under congregational resources, churches can find what they need to know about issues about governance, church health, church planting, loans, Opportunity Grants etc.   In Spiritual Resources, individuals can find 14 Bible studies, links to online lectionaries, online lectures and notes on CBWC authors. 

Other useful resources include copies of Canadian Baptist print publications, archives of electronic publications, including all of Jeremy's News & Notes, the monthly eNewsletter for Canadian Baptist leaders called Making Connections and the Quarterly eNewsletter, Online Community.  Video blogs, faithfully posted by Shelby Gregg, are another great source of information.  These short videos provide a window of insight onto many of the ministries and individuals making them happen across the CBWC. 

One of our most searched items is job vacancies:  we post all vacancies we know of in Canadian Baptist churches and ministries, including camps.  The ‘Find a Church' resource allows viewers to type in the name of a church and get contact information.  Or, viewers can simply click on the map to find out what churches are in an area.  Note that information that comes up when clicking on the map isn't as detailed as the information that is shown if a viewer knows the church's name.

Everyone can keep up to date on some of the things going on in our Canadian Baptist community by following the latest news items - we try to post at least 2 new articles a month on each of the main and 3 regional websites. 

As for learning about ministries, we have an entire section of the website devoted to Canadian Baptist ministries.  This section includes brief introductory material, links to websites and contact information for ministries operated within the CBWC - like Short Term Missions, Refugees and Uprooted People, Women in Focus etc - Canadian Baptist camps and the many social justice and community outreach ministries arising out of the visions of local churches.  We will be continuing to expand this section in the near future, adding many more ministries that have their roots in local churches.  By providing this basic information, we hope that Canadian Baptists will get a better sense of the dynamic ways God is active through the denomination and the churches and that they get ideas of these ministries prayer needs.  We continue to add to these resource sections as more material comes available. 

Anyone interested in knowing what needs prayer can read through this ministry information, read the profiles of newly planted churches, check out the daily Bible verse and prayer request (on the top right hand corner of the website) or look at our Partnerships and Possibilities Ministry Guide for 2009 (which can be found in both the Donations and Publications section). 

How can you use the site to make inquiries?

There is a ‘search' command on every page of the website located in the top left corner. Simply type in key words relating to what you are looking for and every related item will be found for you.  The more specific you make your query, the more precisely the items will match your interests.

How can you use the site to make a financial contribution?

Making an online donation is easy - and completely secure.  Simply click the donations tab on the main, horizontal menu and follow the prompts to fill in the required information. 

Donors can make one-time donations or may choose to make recurring donations.  Donors can also choose where they wish their donation to go by designating specific CBWC ministries.  For example, if donors have read the 2009 Ministry Guide and wish to donate to one of the ministries described - such as youth ministry, one of the camps, short-term missions or refugees and displaced peoples - they simply need to include a note about where they want the money designated when they fill out the donation form.  Donations to Century II appeals are also accepted. 

Donors will be sent an email acknowledgement of the donation.  Just like donations received by mail or phone, tax receipts are available.

What future changes do you see for the website?

The long-term vision is to use the website as a ‘village green' that will draw Canadian Baptists together with a shared sense of identity and community, as well as in developing a common purpose in serving God.  If the website has one underlying theme, it is that we are not alone in God's service.  Through the tool of the website, we can encourage each other, share ideas for ministry and quickly access helpful information. 

This new stage of the website looks pretty good and works well, but we aren't done yet. Keeping the website up to date with frequently refreshing information is our biggest challenge.  We really need the help of local churches to help us know what is going on across the denomination.  We're looking for stories of God in our lives and ministries.  For example, if someone in a congregation has died, we would like to honour them by posting an obituary but we need to know about it and we need the information to publish.  Similarly, we want to know about events in your church life, but we need to be told about them.   Church leaders should feel free to submit information on upcoming events or to celebrate ministries or accomplishments for God's kingdom.  We also want to make better use of the calendar, including as many events as possible.  

We have more content to add, particularly in the ministries  section. Sometime soon, work will be completed on the revamped Resource Library and it will be easier for pastors to borrow books and other resources at no charge.  We'll also be finding ways to better integrate the main website with the 3 regional websites as we continue to improve the navigation. 

We would also like to be able to make the website more useful, primarily by making more resources available and by making the website more interactive and, as a result, livelier.  Any suggestions about what readers would like to see would be welcome.

If one wanted to make a suggestion, how would they make contact with you Ceal?

I am always in the hunt for ideas on how to improve the website and to add new content relevant to our Canadian Baptist community.  The more local content we can post, the better the website will be at becoming an interactive ‘village green'. 

If churches or ministries want to celebrate something they have done, call attention to something newsworthy or want to promote an upcoming event, please get in touch.  If you have ideas for new content, especially in the area of resources, get in touch.  And if you find any problems or broken links, please let me know.  I can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 604.922.5678.  Please, please, please send me ideas and feedback!

I would like to encourage readers to visit the CBWC website regularly to keep up to date on what is going on in our Canadian Baptist community - www.cbwc.ca.  Click early, click often!