Category: Uncategorized

Jesus Loves Me!

Nothing engages the heart, the mind, and the soul like music.

Churches in particular have an opportunity to take the music from their Sunday gatherings and use it throughout the week.  Let me share a few proven ideas with you.

1) Post videos of worship music.

Many of the worship songs sung in churches today have music videos posted to YouTube.  Even hymns and older songs often have been made into “lyrical videos” in which the lyrics are shown while the music plays.  Churches can post these videos to the church website, blog or Facebook

Watching/listening to these songs during the week can help people reflect on the lyrics, the truths they contain and the character of God.

Posting videos weekly and emailing your church email list a link can help bring people to your website regularly. People may share the posts/videos on their social channels which can lead to more engagement, and more website visitors

2) Post devotionals that reflect on song lyrics

Hymns and song lyrics naturally lead to further reflection on themes continued in them.  Pastors and church leaders who do this can create devotionals  which can be posted to the church website, blog or social media channels.

We’ve all had times where we’ve sung through a hymn or worship song without really thinking about the words. These devotionals can help people slow down and reflect on the lyrics so the next time they sing them, they have more meaning.  Perhaps those lyrics will even get stuck in the heads of a some people, causing them to be mindful those themes throughout the week.

As with posting videos, posting devotions that reflect on song lyrics can become a monthly or weekly part of a church’s communications strategy to build engagement, traffic and better search rankings.

3) Add The JoyFM player to the church website

When you add The Joy FM player to your church website, it enables your church members and website visitors to listen to Christian music, stories, and scripture throughout the day, helping to keep their hearts and minds focused on the things of God.

A man should hear a little music… every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul. ―Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Continuing this month’s theme Church Website Builder Tips and Tools…

Blogging has been around for about 2 decades now. Because it’s no longer the “shiny new thing,” there is a tendency among some people to dismiss it as “old school” or no longer effective today.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

7 Big Benefits to Blogging

1) Helps Others. The main reason people blog is because they want to help others. As a church leader, the insight you have gained through your experience and time with the Lord, is valuable in helping to disciple others – both those who are a part of your church and those who might find your blog online.

2) Builds Credibility. Sharing information, insight, and inspiration though a blog helps to establish your authority and credibility. Every church and faith-based organization claims to know “The Way” and wants people to join them. And there are millions of non-religious people out there giving advice about how to live life. By sharing your insight through a blog, people can read your perspective and see for themselves you are credible and worth listening to.

3) Shapes Culture. The topics you choose to blog on, the issues you address, and the tone you use, can all contribute to the culture of your church. Do you address controversial issues or avoid them? Do you address real-world concerns or focus on abstract theology? Are you argumentative or gentle with those who see things differently from you?

4) Fosters Engagement. If you allow commenting on blog posts, they can be a great opportunity to build relationships and facilitate discussion among the people in your church.

5) Amplifies Social. There seems to be a lot more focus and excitement around church social media than blogging these days, but the question shouldn’t be which is better or more important. Blogging and social media amplify and compliment each other. Blog posts make great social media content. And in turn, when you and others share blog posts on social media, that helps to build your blog audience.

6) Tells Stories. A blog is a great platform for sharing the stories of what God is doing in your church. Some of the best stories include, individual stories of people coming to Christ, stories of answered prayers, stories of the people of your church helping one another, stories of the people of your church serving your community. This world needs to see that “Christian” isn’t just a label or a club you belong to, but it is a transformative relationship with the Living God.

7) Improves Search Rankings. Search engines love fresh content. Additionally, people tend to share and link to insight, inspiration, and stories far more than general info you might put on your web pages. These shares and links help to improve your search rankings.

These 7 benefits are why our church website builder tip of the day is:

The best church website builders have great blogging tools.

We want you to absolutely love your website!

This is why we’ve declared February to be “Love Your Website Month” at OurChurch.Com.

Every meaningful relationship takes insight and effort, and this includes your relationship with your website. This month we want to help you understand your website better, spend some quality time together, and help your relationship with your website reach its full potential. ?

We’ll be expanding on many of these topics throughout the month. In this post, we’re just going to introduce the ideas…

10 Ways to Grow Your Love for Your Website

1) Upgrade a free site. Imagine a guy who likes a girl and asks her out, but won’t spend a dime on her. Won’t buy her dinner, won’t take her to a movie, won’t buy her a gift. That relationship is probably not going anywhere.

It’s not that a guy has to spend a lot of money on girl to woo her, but as Mathew 6:21 says, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

If you’re not willing to spend anything on your website, your heart is probably not in it. If you’re ready to take that next step, you can order a Gold, Silver, or Bronze site here.  Order by Feb 28 and get half off your order!

2) Make your site fun. Ask any man what qualities he’s looking for in a woman or ask any woman what she’s looking for in man, and usually in the top 5 you’ll hear a good sense of humor. ?  The same is true with the websites we love. Most of them – even those that are spiritual or mostly serious – weave some humor into them, or occasionally post something funny. Blogging and social media can be good media for humor. (Added 2/16/23) See 5 Ways to Infuse Your Website with Fun and Humor for more ideas.

3) Get a logo. Have you ever gone out with someone who lacked self-awareness? Pretty awkward isn’t it? Understanding your identity is important in a relationship. It’s also important on a website. A logo helps an organization communicate who they. If you’re interested, here’s more info on our logo design service. (Added 2/7/23) Read The why, when, and what of church logo design to go more in depth.

4) Get a free website review. Sometimes when a relationship is going through a rough patch or even when things are going well, it helps to see a counselor and get a fresh perspective on how to improve things. The same is true with a website. Get a free website review here. It’s like a free sessions with a marriage counselor. (Added 2/16/23) For more details, see What You Don’t Know.

5) Choose a theme you love. Hopefully, when considering someone you’d go out with, appearance isn’t the number one factor, but it’s nice to have some level of physical attraction, right? Same is true with a website. Appearance isn’t usually the most important thing, but you want a website that looks good to you. Our WP-EZ Website Builder has dozens of themes to choose from. There’s never a charge to switch to a new theme. (Added 2/16/22) See How to Select a Church Website Design You Will LOVE.

6) Watch video tutorials. One of the most important qualities in a love relationship is that both people have a humility and passion to learn about each other and learn about relationships. If you want to love your website more, learn more about how it works by watching the video tutorials in our knowledgebase. If you built your website with our WP-EZ 2.0 Website Builder, the WP-EZ Training Center will take you step by step through the most important things you need to know.

7) Make your site insightful. One of the things I appreciate most about my wife is the insight and perspective she brings to our conversations. I find the same is true of the websites I like. If you want to love your website more, post insightful blog posts, online resources or links to insightful articles that will provide wisdom and knowledge to help you visitors grow. (Added 2/9) Check out The Surprisingly Simple Thing that Changed My Life!

8) Take some new photos. We all take photos of the people and events that are important to us. If your website has stock photos on it or photos from 3 years ago, it implies the people and events from the last 3 years aren’t really that special to you. Take some new photos! Get them on the website! Everyone will love it and appreciate it!

9) Add video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many more words is a video worth? People who are considering visiting your church, school, ministry or business really want to see what you’re doing before they join you. For church websites, sermon videos are essential, a welcome or “what to expect” video is very helpful, and background video at the top of your homepage can have a huge impact.

10) Talk with our team. If you’re felling stuck and frustrated in a relationship, the wise thing to do is talk with someone about it. You need a fresh perspective. You need an objective opinion. And hopefully, the person you talk to has some experience and wisdom when it comes to relationships. Same thing with your website. If you’re feeling stuck or frustrated even in the slightest bit. Reach out to us by phone (727-723-2454), email (support at ourchurch dot com) or live chat. We can work through with you any problems you may be having with your website.

BONUS: Check out Website Makeovers with Erica – Ep 1: Church of the Eternal Word to see how Erica took their website from good to great!

We are most alive when we’re in love. -John Updike

Don’t put your Christian/church web hosting in the hands of a massive secular corporation with outsourced support!

It’s just not worth the risk, anxiety, or the hassle.

OurChurch.Com’s Christian/Church Website Hosting gives you…

Trusted Ministry Partner
Our mission is to help Christian organizations live out their mission online. We have helped thousands of organizations do that since 1996. Our team has served as teacher, elder, school board members, business owners and missionaries. We share your faith and values. You can trust us with your Christian/church web hosting and website.

Powerful, Easy to Use Web Builder
Every Christian/church website hosting account includes our WP-EZ Christian/Church Website Builder, Which is as easy to use as a word processor, and includes powerful features- eNewsletter, calendar, shopping cart, photo gallery, audio, video- that enable you to communicate with excellence. It’s WordPress made easy and with a Christian web host!

Superior Support
You’re always just a call, chat or email away from our friendly, knowledgeable, U.S. based, Christian support staff to help you with your website and all your Christian website hosting services.

Mobile Friendly
Rest assured your Christian/church website will work just fine on any device – computer, tablet or phone.

Email Trouble Shooting

Sometimes we try to login to our email account and we know the username and password, but it isn’t allowing us to login.  Then after 3 unsuccessful tries, my IP address is blocked and I can’t access my site, my cPanel, or my email.  It could be that your email settings need to be updated or changed. 

Settings for Microsoft Office

You have to have an email account created in your cPanel in order to be able to set it up through Outlook.

When you have Outlook open –

Click on Tools followed by Account Settings.  This will open a different window.  

Double click on your email account or click new if you need to create a new account.  

When you have the correct password and are not able to login to your email through Outlook, it is probably due to an email setting that needs to be changed.  Check to see if your email settings are similar to the settings below

Since this video tutorial was recorded, we’ve made some improvements to the WP-EZ Website Builder. When you go to insert a header module onto the page, you’ll see some additional options. The settings in this video are ones we recommend.