While checking information for an obituary for Coy Cecil Lee, I encountered abundant life and not only in the remembrance of the former synod and presbytery leader.

Lee was pastor emeritus of Harmony Presbyterian Church in northwest Arkansas, a congregation of 50 members that knows how to celebrate and share the joy through their website. I was particularly impressed by celebration of two graduates and by how recently the pages were updated.

You won't find a site polished with corporate public relations. Instead, you will find pages shining with hospitality and fun, including the captions and arrows superimposed on the photographs. Visit the Honoring Our Graduates page to see what I mean. I assumed they were talking about high school grads, but I soon saw they wrapped the fellowship hall and the two college graduates with affection.

One thing they might want to add is any mission work they perform or support. But having Vacation Bible School for the first time in years was great news to read!

Congratulations to the web worker and the congregation. They don't simply tell, they show why you can believe the motto on their heading: When you're ready for a church where you're loved and not judged, come home to Harmony.

Nearly free

The congregation makes use of the free pages and publishing system offered by the American Bible Society's ForMinistry.com, which is "completely donor supported." I recommend that you do as Harmony Presbyterian did and buy a domain name, which can cost less than $20 a year.

Invaluable

The attention given to taking and publishing photos an updating news is priceless. Contact a church whose website you like and ask how they did it. Like many ministry projects, a dedicated volunteer usually is needed. And that person needs to share the information of how to access the website creation with a staff member and member of session whose committee can support and guide the site.

Photo tip

Some pages may be slow to appear on Harmony's website and any others which have large photo files. A free program that helps you correct this is Picasa, which is part of Google. The largest photos on a website should generally be 5"x7" with a 72 dpi resolution (dpi = dots per inch). That last part is very important. A note of caution with Picasa: It will help you (whether you want it or not), organize ALL the photos on your computer. This is a great help to some folks. Learn more here: http://picasa.google.com/#utm_medium=embed&utm_source=pwalogin.

Please respond to this blog with other tips or encourage your congregation or another congregation to launch or update its website.

Peace,

Shane

Shane Whisler, managing editor of PNNews.org

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