Groovy Sputum

We’re Online

I recently got the ok from Pastor Mike to build a website for our church and last night I got the ball rolling with the purchase of a domain name. I also loaded WordPress onto the server and set up the MySQL database, so we are ready to roll. At this point, we just have to settle on the content, layout, and overall look of the site. Since we are going with WordPress, this shouldn’t be too difficult.

I also discovered a little plugin that is handy if you use WordPress. It is called Maintenance Mode and when active, it takes your site off line and replaces it with a customizable front page. As the name implies, this tool is used when you are doing maintenance on your site. It is nice to be able to quickly take down the site and put up a temp page. It is also nice for visitors to see a real page while you are working and not get one of those nasty “server not found” message. Check out the site and see what I mean: clearforkalliance.org. I just put up the church name, location, and meeting times. It will work for now and we can be working on the build behind the scenes and as soon as we are ready to go live, we can deactivate MM and BAM!…have an official web presence.

I thought about putting a spinning gif of a stick man digging with a message that says “under construction” (demo), or simply this icon (I like the backhoe), but I thought the simple page was more appropriate. The sad thing is, even in my 10 minutes of work getting the site up, it is probably better than 90% of the church web sites out there right now. I particularly like this site (check out the dancing Jesus) and am thinking of contacting the web master for some design tips.

My Obsession

If you know me at all, you probably know that when an idea gets into my head, I tend to go overboard thinking about the details. I can’t tell you how many times I have dreamed of starting a coffee shop, a racing team or business and have literally spent hours thinking about any and every little detail of the project. From color schemes to shoe sponsors, font styles to floor plans, I planned EVERYTHING. I used to just write my ideas on scrap paper or napkins, but when the technology revolution happened, I began to use graphic editing programs to “flesh out” my thoughts. I particularly enjoy creating logos or icons to “brand” my ideas. You know, make them more marketable. Right.

I thought I would list a few of these thoughts and ideas for you so that you’d have a glimpse of how I think. The more recent ideas may have a logo that have I created, while the older ones don’t. Now, keep in mind, many of these are quite old and have been gurgling in my brain for quite some time.

• The Mud Puddle

This was a coffee shop idea that hit me while I was trying to stay awake during my Tuesday / Thursday afternoon Educational Philosophy class back in college. Or was it Philosophy of Education? Who cares. All I know is that it was…(yawn)…a very interesting class. The concept for The Mud Puddle was based on John 9:6 where Christ spits, makes mud, and puts it on the blind man’s eyes. The tag line of the place was going to be “Opening the Eyes of the Blind” and the place would be all the rage with teens and singles…a place to turn troubled lives around. All of the menu items would have “dirty” names. You know, cup of mud, dirt pudding, gravel latte, etc.

• Groovy Sputum

This was going to be the monthly newsletter for the coffee shop mentioned above. It would contain poems and thought provoking proverbs from local writers as well as a list of the upcoming live entertainment that one could hear on the weekends. Raw acoustic, of course. “Where’d you come up with the name, Luke?” Glad you asked. I was taking microbiology the same semester The Mud Puddle hit me and at one point were running sputum cultures. I realize that sputum and spit (which Christ used in John 9) are not exactly the same, but they are close enough in my book to make a connection. Besides, Groovy Sputum just has a ring to it. As you know, Groovy Sputum has morphed into my personal blog.

• Extra Mile Racing Team

This idea here was to merge racing with ministry. I planned to round up some Christian runners & cyclists to travel around on the weekends with me to local races and triathlons. We would set up a tent / booth and, after the race, share our faith with people. We would give out water bottles, socks, and t-shirts with our logo and web site on it. I had even thought of giving away “In Quest of Gold”, the autobiography of Jim Ryun. The concept for the team was not to just race, but to go the extra mile and tell people about Christ.

• Intelligent Web Design

The now defunked web design studio, this idea actually existed. I purchased my first domain name and had absolutely zero people visit the site for a year. Eventually, I changed the domain name to lukeburton.us but the result was the same. Darn you, WordPress! Just like Wal*Mart, you have kicked the small business owner to the curb.

• myCathedral

This was my original blog. Chris Rice’s song and Apple Computers inspired this idea. You know, we have the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iBook…why not have myCathedral. Work with me here, people. I actually did the layout and styling myself and intended to use it as a spiritual journal. This took place during a time when I was just learning web design. I wanted to try out my new found knowledge of CSS (table-less design) and see if I could create my own blog. I quickly discovered that it is nearly impossible to archive and hyper link a blog without a well written scripting language and database.

So, come on, members of Extra Mile Racing. Let’s go down to The Mud Puddle, get a mud mocha, read Groovy Sputum, and save the world. Later, we can write about it on myCathedral…

The WordPress Driven Church

I was at prayer meeting a week ago and one of the requests that has been on the list for a while is for a person to coordinate community relations for the church. I inquired about this and found out that it is primarily a need to promote “Experience Bethlehem”, the church Christmas ministry. Anyway, the conversation lead to discussion about a church web site and I discovered that Clear Fork Alliance does not have one and the creation of one is not eminent. I told Pastor Mike that I have done that kind of thing before and would be interested in working on it if needed. He said he would check with the person who had been working on a site and get back to me. Well, last Wednesday at prayer meeting, PM said that I could have at it.

For some time I have been thinking about how to make a church web site into more than just a virtual visitors guide. I mean, let’s face it, that’s what the majority of church sites are. A static list of data that never is updated. Since Joe average visitor prefers to find info via the web, the site is used the way a yellow pages ad or newspaper listing was used 20 or 30 years ago.

Then I watched my wife blog. Man, can Valerie blog! I’m proud to say that there are no Google Ads adorning her blog and she is in it purely for the relationship building value blogging brings. It is the growth in her relationships that really started me thinking about having a church web site be a ministry.

That’s when the light went on. Why not make the church site a blog? Why limit the content of a church site to static data like times, locations, and a list of core beliefs? Why not allow the people in the church to express themselves by posting about their lives…what God is doing, how He is working, their faith in Him. Readers (church members and potential visitors) would be able to better know the body of believers and see what the church is REALLY about. Let’s face it, can a person really know what a church is like by looking at a picture of the building and reading their mission statement?

I think it would be great to have two main areas: static info that will serve as an advertisement for potential visitors and a blog area where there are new postings daily or weekly. Obviously, in order to have new posts, we will need writers to submit work and topics for them to write about. Here are some possibilities I have thought of:

• Testimonies: church members can write their testimonies out and we could post a new one each week. What a great way for church members to get to know each other. This would also be a great witness for unbelievers about how God reaches and changes lives.
• Pastor post: the pastor could submit a weekly post about whatever is on his heart. It could be a message to the church, something that God is doing in his life, or whatever. This would be a way for people to know the “lead dog” better.
• Age group posts: church members might write about various topics for children, youth, singles, family, seniors, etc.
• Discipleship: these could particularly be posts about topics that pertain to new Christians to help them grow.

I think if we had 2 or 3 regular people submitting posts weekly and then asked people for testimonies (we could post a new one each week), we could have enough new content to keep the site fresh. If people wanted to subscribe to the RSS feed, they could even get the posts delivered to their in-boxes! Also, if there is anyone into photography or video production, this could be a great way for them to express themselves.

I will post on how this church blog goes. I think the biggest challenge is going to be to make it visually look like a church site rather than a blog. Also, getting writers on board with the concept of it being a ministry may be a challenge. We’ll see how it goes.